Hagop M. Kantarjian, MD, is a professor and the Samsung Distinguished Leukemia Chair in Cancer Medicine in the Department of Leukemia, Division of Cancer Medicine, at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Dr Kantarjian’s research focuses on translational-clinical developmental therapeutics in leukemia. Over the past 4 decades, he has made several contributions that have improved patient prognosis and survival across the leukemia entities and myelodysplastic syndrome/myeloproliferative neoplasms. These include the development of several of the BCR-ABL1 tyrosine kinase inhibitors in chronic myeloid leukemia; multiple chemotherapy regimens and targeted therapies in acute myeloid leukemia; and the hyper-CVAD regimen and its derivatives in Ph-positive and pre–B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, including ponatinib.

Michael J. Mauro, MD, is leader of the Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Program and professor of medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY. After receiving his BS in biology from Dartmouth College and his MD from the Geisel School of Medicine, both in Hanover, NH, he completed residency and fellowship training at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York.

Before joining Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dr Mauro was on the faculty of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland for 13 years, where he directed the Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) Clinical Trial Program and was involved in the early development and sentinel clinical studies of ABL kinase inhibitors for CML. 

Dr Mauro’s clinical expertise is in treating patients with CML and other myeloproliferative disorders, including myelofibrosis, polycythemia, and thrombocytosis, as well as less common conditions such as eosinophilic and mast cell disorders. His research interests are focused on the development of novel agents for CML, increasing the options for treatment-free remission/functional cure in CML, and the identification and management of tyrosine kinase inhibitor–related adverse events (specifically cardiovascular events). He holds positions on the boards of the International Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Foundation, The MAX Foundation, and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Neil P. Shah, MD, PhD, joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in 2006. He is presently the Edward S. Ageno Distinguished Professor in Hematology/Oncology and a professor of medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine. He also serves as director of the UCSF Molecular Medicine Residency Program. He received his BS from the University of California, Berkeley and his MD and PhD degrees from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He remained at UCLA for his internship and residency training in internal medicine, as well as his fellowship training in hematology and oncology.

Dr Shah performed postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Charles L. Sawyers, MD, where his translational studies led directly to the clinical investigation and the US Food and Drug Administration approval of dasatinib, a transformative therapy for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. His laboratory efforts remain firmly rooted in molecular studies of human leukemias and attempts to translate expanding knowledge of the genetics of these diseases toward the development of more active and better-tolerated targeted therapeutics.