Gregory Abel, MD, MPH (DFCI)
Leukemia Program; Outcomes Research Program

Research focus: health services and outcomes for patients with cancer, especially as they relate to patients with hematologic malignancies. Specific projects include understanding how cancer care is marketed (with a focus on direct-to-consumer advertising of hematology and oncology medications), epidemiology of genetic markers in patients with myeloproliferative disease and thrombosis, outcomes for hematologic malignancies in large databases such as the Nurse’s Health Study, and understanding referral patterns/delays in diagnosis for patients with hematologic malignancies.

Li Chai, MD (BWH)
Leukemia Program

Research focus: homeotic gene family SALL in human development, tumorigenesis and hematopoiesis. Areas of research include characterization of SALL family gene structure, transcriptional regulation, and tissue distributions to its function study by generating knock out or transgene mouse models.

Toni Choueiri, MD (DFCI)
Kidney Cancer Program; Prostate Cancer Program

Research focus: development of novel agents in renal cell cancer and bladder carcinoma, including assessing changes in the expression of clinical, tissue, and serum biomarkers that can predict response VEGF-targeted therapies in renal cell carcinoma. Other research involves managing a prospective clinical database linked to blood and tissue banks for kidney cancer patients.

Irene Ghobrial, MD (HMS)
Invasion, Metastasis, and Angiogenesis Program; Lymphoma and Myeloma Program

Research focus: understanding the regulation of homing and migration in Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia (WM) and Multiple Myeloma (MM), and identifying dysregulated signaling proteins that can be specifically targeted with novel therapeutic agents, specifically focusing on the role of the PI3K and PKC pathways in WM and MM. The main focus of this research is understanding mechanisms of the trafficking of B cells into and out of the bone marrow. These studies improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of WM and MM, as well as the development of methods to overcome resistance to therapy in these diseases.

Hadine Joffe, MD, MSc  (MGH)
Breast Cancer Program

Research focus: the mechanisms, inter-relationships, and treatment of menopausal symptoms in healthy women and women with breast cancer, including the neuroendocrine mechanisms that underlay hot flashes and the impact of hot flashes on sleep and mood. Joffe also conducts clinical trials and intervention studies on optimal therapy for women with hot flashes and to understand whether targeting of specific menopausal symptoms (e.g., hot flashes, sleep disturbance) is central to optimization of well-being in women with hot flashes.

Jan Lammerding, PhD (BWH)
Invasion, Metastasis, and Angiogenesis Program

Research focus: subcellular mechanics and the cellular signaling response to mechanical stimulation, including how mutations in nuclear envelope proteins such as lamins can render cells more sensitive to mechanical stress and affect their mechanotransduction signaling, and investigating the relationship between changes in cellular structure and mechanics and its role in cancer progression.

HaeOk Lee, DNSc (UMB)
Cancer Disparities Program

Research focus: assessing knowledge and attitude toward HBV infection and liver cancer among Asian American/Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). Research aims also include developing culturally sensitive and group tailored public health education for AAPIs to enhance knowledge of HBV infection and promote early liver cancer screening behavior among HBV-infected AAPIs.

Janie Lee, MD (MGH)
Cancer Imaging Program; Outcomes Research Program

Research focus: breast imaging and the early diagnosis of breast cancer, including decision analytic modeling, cost-effectiveness analysis and technology and preference assessment methods to improve the early diagnosis of breast cancer, ranging from policy level evaluations of emerging modalities for breast cancer screening to supporting health care delivery at the point of care.

Ivan Pedrosa, MD (BIDMC)
Kidney Cancer Program

Research focus: implementing novel MR techniques to improve the ability to diagnose kidney cancer and monitor treatment response, with a focus on both clinical and translational research efforts in kidney cancer including the use of feature analysis of MR imaging findings for the presurgical determination of histological subtype and nuclear grade of renal tumors, the identification of vascular MR imaging measures in renal masses that correlate to molecular measures of angiogenesis, and the measures of tumor perfusion as an indicator of initial and acquired resistance to antiangiogenic therapies in patients with metastatic kidney cancer.

Aliyah Rahemtullah, MD (MGH)
Lymphoma and Myeloma Program

Research focus: novel pathologic, immunophenotypic, and molecular markers in lymphomas that may help to define new clinicopathologic entities and predict tumor behavior and response to therapy. Interests also include the delivery of pathology services in resource-limited settings.

Susan Rittling, PhD (Forsyth)
Cancer Immunology Program

Research focus: exploring the origin and development of mammary cancer in the mouse, especially the early development of these cancers, by analyzing the stem cell origin of carcinogen-induced mammary tumors, and the role of progesterone in enhancing tumorigenesis.