Assessing the State of Myeloma September 25, 2021 Myeloma Round Table

Myeloma survivor, patient advocate, wife, mom of 6. Believer that patients can help accelerate a cure by weighing in and participating in clinical research. Founder of the HealthTree Foundation.

Greg Brozeit has been engaged in myeloma patient advocacy since 1998. He began working with the Myeloma Crowd in 2015. Prior to that, he consulted with Dr. Bart Barlogie at the University of Arkansas after working with the International Myeloma Foundation for 15 years, where he inaugurated the public policy advocacy program, patient support group outreach and IMF Europe, organizing more than 100 physician and patient education programs. He earned his BA in political science from Loyola University in New Orleans and lives in northeast Ohio.

Rafael Fonseca, MD, is the Getz Family Professor of Cancer, Professor of Medicine, interim Executive Director of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, Director for Innovation and Transformational Relationships, and a consultant in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Dr. Fonseca’s practice has focused on the diagnosis and treatment of plasma cell disorders and leading the multiple myeloma team in its effort to understand the disease and its impact on patients. In his laboratory, Dr. Fonseca has led his team of researchers in concentrating on the genetic nature of the clonal cells of plasma cell disorders. He is also interested in myeloma bone disease, prognostic markers and development of new therapies. Throughout his training and career, Dr. Fonseca has received numerous awards and honors, including the Young Investigator Award in Hematology (Celgene – Achievement Awards for Clinical Research in Hematology), the Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Clinical Investigator Award, and the International Waldenström Macroglobulinemia Research Award. Most notably, he is a Mayo Clinic Distinguished Investigator, the highest academic distinction given to investigators at his institution. Dr. Fonseca holds memberships and serves in positions for organizations such as the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the International Myeloma Society. His research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute (R01, P01, SPORE), the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Multiple Myeloma Research Fund, and the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fund, for which he also serves as a clinical investigator. Dr. Fonseca serves as reviewer and in editorial capacities for medical publications including Blood, Lancet, Nature Medicine, Cancer Cell, Leukemia, and the New England Journal of Medicine, among others. He is a frequent reviewer of grants and sits on the SPORE grant review panel. He has given many national and international presentations as a visiting professor and has authored more than 300 articles, book chapters, editorials, abstracts, and letters.

C. Ola Landgren, MD, PhD, is Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Myeloma Program, and Leader of the Experimental Program at the University of Miami Sylvester Cancer Center. Read more about his move to Miami here. Dr. Landgren is a pioneer in the drug development and minimal residual disease (MRD) testing in myeloma. In collaboration with colleagues throughout the world, he develops new strategies (including cell-based, molecular-based, and imaging-based) and continues to be a leader of using advanced MRD testing in clinical trials. He is involved in the service’s rational treatment program (small molecule, monoclonal antibody, immune-based) for newly diagnosed, relapsed and refractory myeloma and amyloidosis patients. His research focuses on early drug development, advanced disease monitoring by new minimal residual disease (MRD) assays and biomarkers, and immune-PET to monitor treatment. He also studies mechanism and markers of progression from MGUS/smoldering myeloma to symptomatic multiple myeloma, and the identification of high-risk precursor patients who may be candidates for early treatment. Prior to joining Miami, Dr. Landgren was the Chief Attending Physician of the Myeloma Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering and Professor of Medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City and Chief of the Multiple Myeloma Section of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD. Dr. Landgren received his MD at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden; and he has had fellowships at Karolinska University Hospital and the National Cancer Institute. He is a frequent speaker at national and international meetings, and has published more than 400 peer-reviewed papers.