SoCal Myeloma Community Conversation with Dr. Amrita Krishnan

Todd Kennedy was diagnosed with myeloma in 2017 and has become a tireless advocate for myeloma patients and research. His background includes over 30 years working in the pharmaceutical industry until he and his wife Diane retired from their respective first careers to devote their time and talents to strengthen the myeloma community. They collaborate with HealthTree and other trusted partners to educate and empower myeloma patients and caregivers and accelerate the arrival of cures.

Diane has been an active and engaged care partner with Todd, her husband, since he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2017. In January 2020 they retired to devote their time and talents as patient advocates, HealthTree coaches, and myeloma community leaders. They are committed to helping improve and advance cancer care for all patients and feel a collaborative, virtual support group is an excellent way to help educate and empower patients and their families. Diane and Todd have lived in Orange County, CA for over 25 years where they raised their two sons.

Amrita Y. Krishnan completed her medical degree at Albany Medical College in New York as part of a combined BS-MD six-year accelerated program, where she was selected for the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. Her postdoctoral training comprised residency and internship in the Strong Memorial Hospital Department of Medicine at the University of Rochester, as well as fellowships at City of Hope Medical Center, Harvard Medical School Beth Israel Hospital, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Krishnan is a Diplomate of the American Board of Hematology. She is also active in several professional societies. She is the former Chair of the American Society of Clinical Oncology plasma cell committee and former Co-Chair of the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research Plasma Cell Committee, and former Chair of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network myeloma committee and is a subcommittee member of the American Society of Hematology, American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, a steering committee member for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and the North American representative for the International Myeloma Foundation and is a member of the state of the science committee for ASTCT focused on defining the next generation of therapies in myeloma. Dr. Krishnan has authored almost 200 articles, abstracts, and book chapters, and she is a reviewer for several journals, including American Journal of Hematology, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Haematologica, Blood, and Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. An active researcher, Dr. Krishnan was instrumental in bringing successful transplant therapy to HIV patients with lymphoma when many believed such patients were too weak to tolerate the procedure. She is currently the principal investigator of an innovative trial utilizing zinc finger nuclease–based stem cell therapy for HIV treatment. She is also the co-chair of one of the largest myeloma transplant trials in the United States evaluating the role of minimal residual disease to guide maintenance.