The Hollings Cancer Center 8th Annual Hematological Malignancies Symposium will be held on Friday, February 17 at the Holiday Inn in Mt. Pleasant. The Symposium is planned for members of the Hollings Cancer Center Research Programs, Hollings Cancer Center members, MUSC faculty, and graduate and postdoctoral students interested in cancer research.               

>> View brochure for the Symposium (PDF)

>> Directions to the Holiday Inn, Mt. Pleasant, SC

Speakers

Stephen M. Ansell
Stephen M. Ansell, M.D, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Division of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Ansell’s clinical practice interests focus on non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, and Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia. His laboratory is currently investigating the importance of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes to the improved clinical outcome of patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He is also developing strategies to enhance T cell infiltration into B cell lymphomas. Dr. Ansell receives funding for research from the National Institutes of Health, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Lymphoma Research Foundation and the International Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia Foundation.

Kapil N. Bhalla
Kapil N. Bhalla, M.D. is the Deputy Director and the Program Co-Leader of the Drug Discovery, Delivery & Experimental Therapeutics Research Program at the University of Kansas Cancer Center (KUCC). He currently occupies the Schutte/Speas Endowed Chair in Hematologic Malignancies at the University of Kansas Medical Center. His research focus is cancer epigenetics and chaperone biology as well as novel targeted therapeutics of leukemia and other cancers. He is currently a member of the Basic Mechanisms of Cancer Therapy Study Section of NIH and member of the Translational Research Study Section of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Dr. Bhalla also serves as a member of the editorial boards of Blood, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, Clinical Cancer Research, Cancer Biology and Therapy and Blood.

Jean-Pierre Issa
Jean-Pierre Issa, M.D. is Director, Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology at Temple University. His laboratory has made significant contributions to understanding of the importance of epigenetics in the pathophysiology and treatment of cancer. In 1994, he made the landmark discovery that human aging is accompanied by progressive accumulation of epigenetic lesions marked by promoter hypermethylation, a process that accelerates in cancers. In 2000 his research group initiated clinical trials that showed that the hypomethylating agent, decitabine, specifically targets DNA methylation in leukemias. His group then conducted the pivotal studies that led to FDA approval of this drug. This laboratory-optimized approach provided proof-of-principle for epigenetic therapy of cancer and it is now standard of care in several types of leukemias. Dr. Issa’s research has been recognized by numerous awards including an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professorship and the Rosenthal Award from the American Association for Cancer Research.

Zihai Li
Zihai Li, M.D., Ph.D. is Chairman and Professor of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology and the first endowed chair in the Health Sciences South Carolina-supported Cancer Stem Cell Biology and Therapy Center of Economic Excellence. His research suggests there is potential to develop a vaccine against colon cancer. Recently he developed interest in the study of the regulation of both normal and cancer stem cells; particularly hematopoietic stem cells, gut stem cells and cancer stem cells by inf lammation and HSPs. In a potential paradigm-shifting work, his group discovered that transplantation of human embryonic stem cells is able to stimulate a cross-reactive immune response against cancer in mice. Studies are ongoing to discover shared antigens between tumor cells and stem cells, and to understand the mechanism by which normal and cancer stem cells are perceived and dealt with by the immune system.

Mary M. Zutter
Mary M. Zutter, M.D. is an Assistant Vice Chancellor for Integrative Diagnostics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the Louise B. McGavock Professor, and Professor of Pathology, Immunology and Microbiology and Cancer Biology. Her laboratory focuses on the molecular basis of cell adhesion to collagen and its role in cancer biology and host-tumor interactions. Much of this effort has been centered on the α2β1 integrin. Dr. Zutter assumed the role of director of the Tumor-Host Interactions Program in the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in the spring of 2004 and continues to lead that program. In the fall of 2008, she initiated the development of a hematological malignancy cooperative group within the Cancer Center. Dr. Zutter has focused much of her recent efforts on the hematologic malignancy management team project to guide clinical decision-making and effective test utilization in diagnosing and treating blood cancers.