I am a Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Hematology, Member of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, and Associate Director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Stem Cell Research and Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. I completed my post-doctoral training in Stanford Center director Irv Weissman’s laboratory, where I investigated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) stem cells and therapeutic targeting with anti-CD47 antibodies.

As an independent investigator, I direct an active NIH-funded laboratory that has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, that focuses on the molecular characterization and therapeutic targeting of aberrant stem cells in human hematologic disorders, particularly AML. Ongoing work in the lab covers a diverse range of fields and includes studies of stem cells, pre-leukemia, epigenetics, genomics, genome editing, cancer systems biology, synthetic lethality, therapeutic development, immunotherapy, CAR-T cells, cancer vaccination and RNA-based gene therapy. Diseases investigated include pre-leukemic/clonal hematopoiesis, adult and pediatric AML, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

In addition to directing my independent research laboratory, I co-directed a drug development program with Irv Weissman with the goal to develop a clinical therapeutic antibody targeting CD47 and conduct early phase clinical trials for the treatment of leukemia and solid tumors. In 2014, this program successfully entered first-in-human clinical trials at Stanford. The lead therapeutic anti-CD47 antibody has shown significant clinical activity in multiple blood cancers and has been granted Fast Track designation from the FDA for diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), MDS, and AML.

I am the recipient of several awards including: the Burroughs Wellcome Career Award for Medical Scientists, the New York Stem Cell Foundation Robertson Investigator Award, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Scholar Award. I am currently a member of the Committee on Scientific Affairs for the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and serve of the editorial boards of Blood, eLife, and Cancer Discovery.