Clinical Repository to Understand, Study, and Heal Myelodysplastic Syndrome |
Amy Elizabeth DeZern, M.D. Johns Hopkins Medical Center
Dr. DeZern is a hematologist and medical oncologist at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and is an Assistant Professor of Oncology and Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She received her medical degree in 2005 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and her Master in Clinical Investigation (M.H.S.) from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She completed residency training in internal medicine as well as fellowships in medical oncology and hematology at Johns Hopkins. Dr. DeZern sees patients at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Dr. DeZern’s primary clinical and research interests are focused on bone marrow failure disorders and acute leukemia. She has expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome, aplastic anemia (AA), paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), and other bone marrow failure syndromes as well as acute leukemias. She sees clinic patients weekly with these diagnoses as well as patients in need of bone marrow transplants. Dr. DeZern greatly enjoys taking care of patients with bone marrow failure and hematologic malignancies, and is dedicated to improving the care and outcomes of patients with these conditions. To that end, she is an active clinical researcher who specializes in clinical studies of diagnostics and maintains a database of samples and clinical information for outcomes research in marrow failure and leukemia. She is the principal investigator of a clinical trial treating patients with severe AA using a specialized bone marrow transplant regimen at Johns Hopkins as well as the PI of multiple other clinical study protocols for myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia. Her work has resulted in multiple publications in the scientific literature and presentations at national meetings.
She is also involved with the Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation and the local principal investigator of the MDS Clinical Research Consortium.
Rami S. Komrokji, M.D. Moffitt Cancer Center
Dr. Komrokji is the Clinical Director of the Malignant Hematology Department and the lead clinical investigator for the Myelodysplastic Syndrome Program at the Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida.
He is a senior member of the Malignant Hematology and Experimental Therapeutics Program at the Moffitt Cancer Center, and Professor in Medicine & Oncologic Sciences at the College of Medicine, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida.
After earning a medical degree in 1996 from the Jordan University School of Medicine, Dr. Komrokji completed an internship and residency at Case Western University, St. Vincent Program. He then completed a fellowship at Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester, in hematology/oncology and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Dr. Komrokji is a member of the American Society of Hematology, American Society of Clinical Oncology. He was President of the American VA Hematology/Oncology Association.
He has authored or co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 20 book chapters, and more than 200 abstracts in hematologic malignancies. He serves as member on the myelodysplastic syndrome panel of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. He was member of the editorial board for Journal of Clinical Oncology. He is peer reviewer for several medical journals including Blood Journal, JCO and Leukemia Journal.
Dr. Komrokji’s research interests are in phase 1 and 2 clinical trials, and in the outcome research in hematologic malignancies with focus on myeloid neoplasms. His clinical interests are myelodysplastic syndrome, acute leukemias, and myeloproliferative neoplasms.
Gail J. Roboz, M.D. Weill Cornell Medicine
Dr. Roboz is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Clinical and Translational Leukemia Programs at the Weill Cornell Medical Medicine/NewYork-Presbyterian in New York City. She graduated summa cum laude from Yale University and received her medical degree from The Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, where she was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and achieved the highest academic standing in the graduating class. She completed Internship in internal medicine at The Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and Residency in internal medicine at the NewYork-Presbyterian. Dr. Roboz was a Fellow in hematology and medical oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine/NewYork-Presbyterian and is board-certified in both specialties.
Dr. Roboz is an internationally recognized expert in myelodysplastic syndrome and acute leukemia. She is the principal investigator on investigator-initiated, cooperative group and industry-sponsored clinical trials in these areas and has authored or coauthored many manuscripts and abstracts. She sits on the editorial boards of and acts as a reviewer for several journals, is well-known for her media appearances discussing myelodysplastic syndrome and leukemia, and is frequently invited as a speaker and panelist at regional, national and international conferences. Dr. Roboz also serves on the Medical Advisory Board of the Aplastic Anemia and MDS International Foundation. In addition to her extensive research activities, Dr. Roboz maintains an active clinical practice and is highly regarded as an outstanding, as well as compassionate and caring clinician.
Mikkael Sekeres, M.D., M.S. Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute
Dr. Sekeres is Professor of Medicine, Director of the Leukemia Program, and Vice Chair for Clinical Research at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, and Deputy Associate Director for Clinical Research of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, in Ohio.
He earned a medical degree and a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr Sekeres completed his postgraduate training at Harvard University, finishing an internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and a fellowship in hematology-oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
He chaired the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee of the F.D.A and is co-chair of the medical advisory board of the Aplastic Anemia and Myelodysplastic Syndrome International Foundation.
His current research focuses on patients with myelodysplastic syndrome and older adults with acute myeloid leukemia, and he has been the national primary study investigator on several phase 1/2 trials.
He is the author or co-author of over 240 articles and over 275 abstracts and is also the co-author of 6 books; the editor-in-chief of the ASH Clinical News magazine; and is an essayist for The New York Times and Huffington Post.
David P. Steensma, M.D., Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Dr. Steensma is a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and in the Adult Leukemia Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Originally from Midland Park, New Jersey, Dr. Steensma received his medical degree from the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine following undergraduate work in physics and astronomy at Calvin College in Michigan. He completed internal medicine residency and a combined hematology-oncology fellowship in the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota.
Following completion of his formal training, Dr. Steensma spent several years as a visiting research scholar in the Molecular Haematology Unit of the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, England, investigating the molecular genetics of myelodysplastic syndromes.
He then joined the consulting staff of Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where he spent five years as a clinician-investigator and served as the Associate Fellowship Program Director for Hematology.
