Indianapolis Myeloma Round Table

Dr. Suvannasankha is a graduate of Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. She completed her residency at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia and a fellowship at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York. She joined the Indiana University School of Medicine in 2003 and currently serves as an associate professor at the IU School of Medicine and researcher at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Suvannasankha’s research interests are in the molecular mechanism of drug resistance in hematologic malignancy and precision medicine. Her clinical expertise includes hematology-oncology and bone marrow transplant.

Dr. Ravi Vij is Jeffrey S and Prue H Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Division of Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he specializes in hematologic malignancies with an academic focus on Multiple Myeloma, transplant, and cellular therapies. He also serves as Director of the Multiple Myeloma Program and as Medical Director for Satellite Operations in the Division of Oncology. Dr. Vij pursued his medical education at Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi, India, before completing postgraduate training in the United Kingdom. He subsequently moved to the United States, where he undertook an internal medicine residency at Rush University in Chicago, followed by fellowships in medical oncology/hematology and bone marrow transplantation at Washington University. Since joining the faculty in 2000, he has advanced through the academic ranks to full Professor of Medicine. His career has been dedicated to advancing treatment for multiple myeloma and related blood cancers. He currently serves as Senior Editor for the journal Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma and Leukemia and has served on the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB/Alliance) Myeloma, Leukemia, and Transplant Committees, the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium Steering Committee, Clinical Trials Network Myeloma Committee, American Society of Clinical Oncology education and scientific committees, and as Chair of the ASH Scientific Committee on Plasma Cell Dyscrasias. Dr. Vij leads a programmatic effort to further research in multiple myeloma. As the Principal Investigator for the Multiple Myeloma Tissue Banking initiative, he has fostered several collaborative efforts with laboratory researchers at Washington University to study the mutational landscape and clonal heterogeneity of multiple myeloma and its microenvironment. An active clinical investigator, Dr. Vij has led and contributed to numerous pivotal clinical trials that have shaped the modern therapeutic landscape of multiple myeloma. His research includes early development of proteasome inhibitors and immunomodulatory drugs, monoclonal antibodies, novel transplant approaches, immunotherapies including CAR-T cells, bispecific antibodies, and genomics-driven strategies. He has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts in leading journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Blood, Journal of Clinical Oncology and Leukemia. Dr. Vij has mentored more than 25 fellows in clinical research, nurturing the development of future leaders in hematology and oncology. His contributions have been recognized with multiple honors, including the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation Innovator Award, the Center of Excellence Award, and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Visionary of the Year Award (2023). He has also been repeatedly listed in Best Doctors in America and received the Teacher of the Year Award from the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program, underscoring his enduring commitment to education and mentorship.

Craig Emmitt Cole, M.D. is a board-certified Hematologist who received his Bachelor of Science degree in physiology at Michigan State University and the College of Lyman Briggs, in East Lansing, Michigan. Dr. Cole went on to receive his doctoral degree at the Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus, Ohio. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency and Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at the University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dr. Cole subsequently had a post-fellowship laboratory research position at the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center of Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. This opportunity then led him to becoming an attending hematologist at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, Wisconsin for 9 years. There he was an instructor for both the medical and nursing schools of the western campus of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He also served as an Affiliate Faculty Member of Graduate Community Health Programs at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Department of Health Professions. While in Wisconsin, his clinical research interest was in multiple myeloma, malignant hematology, clinical apheresis, and patient reported outcomes in hematology. He then returned to the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the Division of Hematology/Oncology with his primary clinical and research interest being in novel therapeutics in multiple myeloma. In 2019, he came back to Michigan State University in College of Human Medicine - Karmanos Cancer Institute at McLaren Greater Lansing as the Director of Clinical Cancer Research. Dr. Cole next expanded his work in myeloma research and clinical care in July of 2024 by joining the Multiple Myeloma and Amyloidosis Multidisciplinary Team at the Karmanos Cancer Institute as Associate Professor at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit Michigan and Clinical Associate Professor at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. Dr. Cole has participated in over 60 clinical trials in Multiple Myeloma and Malignant Hematology. Currently, he is a member of the International Myeloma Working Group, International Myeloma Society, the American Society of Hematology and European Hematology Association. He has published in high impact international journals and presented at the American Society of Hematology, International Myeloma Workshop, and the American Society for Apheresis meetings. Over the past 20 years, he has lectured around the world to patients, researchers, and clinical providers on multiple myeloma, plasma cell dyscrasias, and disparities in cancer care. Dr. Cole has been fortunate to have won awards for his work in student, resident, and fellow teaching, multiple myeloma research, and patient advocacy. Craig has always had a strong commitment to equity of cancer care, patient empowerment, and community education by working with several local, national and international patient advocacy associations to bring the news of myeloma research to everyone.

Dr. Natalie Callander is a faculty member in Division of Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care within the Department of Medicine. She is the Director of the UW Carbone Cancer Center Myeloma Clinical Program, Vice Chair of the NCCN Myeloma Committee, and Interim Director of Bone Marrow Transplant. She is a member of the NCI Myeloma Steering Committee and the ECOG Myeloma Committee She has received three UW Health Patient Experience Physician Champion Awards, named to Best Doctors in America list since 2004, a Madison Magazine Top Doctor three times, and received the Chuck Koval Award for Excellence in Myeloma presented by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Kelvin Lee, MD, is Director of the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center in Indianapolis. Additional roles at IU include being Associate Dean for Cancer Research, professor in oncology, hematology/oncology, micro-biology and immunology and he currently serves as Interim Chair of the Division of Hematology/Oncology in the Depart medicine. Dr. Lee is a pioneering expert in CAR T cell research and application in the clinic. His work has identified sites to target and bind CAR T cells to malignant cells, defined how myeloma cells survive, and how cells communicate with each other to be more-or-less effective. Before leading the Simon Cancer Center, Dr. Lee became also became a leading expert in cancer disparities at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York, where he served in roles ranging from Vice Chair of Medicine to Senior Vice President of Roswell Park’s Basic Sciences division. He also spent time at the University of Miami, Florida and started his career in various federal military-based medical research institutions. He served his medical fellowship in oncology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, a residency at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver and earned his medical degree at Ann Arbor.