"I am truly honored to receive the prestigious LLS Career Development Program award. Our proposed project focuses on a new immunotherapy approach for myeloma patients, with a particular focus on those with high risk phenotype. We aim to identify novel therapeutic combinations that may stimulate patient immune system against their own myeloma, a process known as immunogenic cell death (ICD). The generous support from LLS will help to characterize the role of specific genes in controlling the induction of ICD by specific anti-myeloma treatment. This award will significantly advance our research toward a rapid translation in clinical trials for our myeloma patients."

"I am immensely grateful for the LLS for supporting our research work focused on improving the quality of life and care for patients with blood cancers and their families.  The LLS is providing critical support for our research focusing on developing and testing supportive care interventions to address the immense needs of patients with blood cancers throughout their illness course and the needs of their loved ones.  Our work is focusing on improving the quality of life, and reducing symptom burden, and enhancing overall psychological well-being for patients with blood cancers throughout their illness and into survivorship.  We are also fortunate to have the LLS funding to support our ongoing efforts to reduce caregiving burden and improve the quality of life of caregivers of patients with blood cancers as they support their loved ones during the illness course."

"Support from LLS has enabled significant progress in the successful treatment of pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML). As we continue to work toward not only cure, but lifelong health in survivors of pediatric leukemia, the safe delivery of both conventional and novel, targeted therapies is critical. Funding through this LLS career development award will improve our ability to protect the heart from the deleterious effect of AML therapy, which not only threatens delivery of effective therapies and leukemia survival, but also the long-term cardiovascular health of pediatric AML survivors. The assessment of cardioprotective strategies and cardiotoxicity biomarkers, supported by LLS and embedded within the upcoming Children’s Oncology Group phase III trial in children with newly diagnosed AML, will help identify the most efficacious and safe therapy for this high risk population. Additionally, this study will augment our ability to identify children at highest risk for heart failure to allow timely initiation of medications aimed at preserving heart function and maintaining the long-term cardiovascular health of AML survivors."

"This Career Development Program fellowship from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society will support my work as a postdoctoral fellow, studying how cells translate abnormal signals from the Notch pathway that tell them to grow uncontrollably. The Notch pathway is misregulated in a variety of cancers, including T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and B cell lymphoma. My research will identify cofactors that work with Notch and uncover the mechanisms by which gene expression is regulated by Notch. The results of my work will not only help us better understand how the Notch signaling pathway works, but will also suggest potential therapeutic targets among the proteins that work with this pathway."

"I am honored and grateful to receive the Scholar Award from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This award will help our lab continue to study how cellular metabolism and epigenetic alterations control leukemia development. How these two processes influence leukemia development is not well understood currently, but discovering the link could help us find potentially curative therapies for the treatment of blood cancers."