I am a physician-scientist and assistant professor at Stanford University, where my research laboratory focuses on the relationship between cancer, the immune system and blood-forming, or hematopoietic, stem cells (HSCs). I am also a radiation oncologist and treat patients with blood-related malignancies, including lymphoma and multiple myeloma, with localized or total-body radiotherapy.

My research has focused on understanding how stem cells function in normal tissues and in cancer. I completed my undergraduate training at Stanford, where I conducted research in the laboratory of Ludwig Center Director Emeritus Irv Weissman on normal and cancer stem cells. I received my MD from Weill Cornell Medical College and my PhD from Rockefeller University, where I studied the molecular mechanisms that enable cancer cells to form tumors. I returned to Stanford to complete my residency and fellowship in radiation oncology, where I pursued a research-track residency as part of the Holman Research Pathway and the Kaplan Research Fellowship.

For my postdoctoral training, I worked with Irv Weissman to understand why the immune system weakens as we age, predisposing us to cancer, infections and chronic inflammation. We focused on changes to HSCs, since they produce every immune cell throughout life and can therefore shape the entire immune system. When we are young, most of our HSCs are balanced, producing an equal number of protective and inflammatory immune cells. As we age, HSCs that mainly produce inflammatory cells, ‘myeloid-biased’ HSCs (my-HSCs), expand at the expense of the ‘balanced’ HSCs (bal-HSCs), weakening protective immunity and promoting harmful inflammation. We discovered that the aged immune system could be ‘rejuvenated’ to a more youthful state by selectively targeting and depleting these my-HSCs, enabling the remaining bal-HSCs to regenerate a balanced immune system. We showed that depleting my-HSCs in old mice with selective antibodies restored immune balance, reduced inflammation, and enhanced their ability to fight lethal infections.

My laboratory investigates the extent to which cancer and cancer treatments lead to immune system dysfunction by impacting blood-forming HSCs, and if targeting or modulating HSCs can prevent or reverse these changes. We are also interested in whether the immune systems of cancer patients reflect an acceleration of the same mechanisms that drive natural immune aging. My overall goal is to combine my background as a cancer and stem cell biologist with my clinical perspective as a physician to translate my research findings into new strategies and therapies that will benefit patients.