Robert Z. Orlowski, MD, PhD, is director of the Myeloma Section in the Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He holds the Florence Maude Thomas Cancer Research Professorship in the Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma and is also professor in the Department of Experimental Therapeutics. He serves as the leader of the Hematologic Malignancies Program of the Cancer Center Support Grant and the MD Anderson Cancer Center High-Risk Multiple Myeloma Moon Shot. He is also the chair of the SWOG Barlogie/Salmon Myeloma Committee. 

Dr Orlowski completed his undergraduate education at Columbia University with a major in chemistry, and then obtained a PhD in molecular biophysics and biochemistry and an MD at the Yale University Graduate School and the Yale University School of Medicine, respectively. After completing an internship and residency at the Washington University in St. Louis Barnes-Jewish Hospital, he completed fellowships in adult hematology and medical oncology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, respectively. Prior to arriving at M D Anderson, he was the Lenvel Lee Rothrock associate professor in hematology/oncology and pharmacology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Currently, Dr Orlowski leads both laboratory and clinical research programs studying hematologic malignancies with a focus on multiple myeloma. In the laboratory arena, the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway has been a special area of his interest that led to the validation of proteasome inhibitors, both alone and in combination with other agents, as rationally designed therapeutics. More recent studies have focused on targeting E3 ubiquitin ligases and heat shock proteins to achieve chemosensitization and overcome chemoresistance, and on identifying oncogenes that play prominent roles in the biology of multiple myeloma and lymphomas. In the clinical arena, Dr Orlowski has been one of the leaders in translating novel laboratory findings into the clinic, and he was the first to document the clinical effectiveness of bortezomib against multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma. He also played a prominent role in the development of the bortezomib/doxorubicin combination and carfilzomib for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, spearheading their development from the preclinical stage through to phase 1 and 3 studies.  

Dr Orlowski’s research has been supported by peer-reviewed funding from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, and the National Cancer Institute, among others. His work has been recognized through numerous awards, including a Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Celgene Young Investigator Award for Achievements in Clinical Hematology Research. He has authored more than 200 abstracts and publications, and serves as a reviewer on a number of study sections and for several journals, including Blood, Cancer Cell, Cancer Research, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nature Medicine, and The New England Journal of Medicine.

S. Vincent Rajkumar, MD, is the Edward W. and Betty Knight Scripps Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. His academic career was profiled by The Lancet  in the November 26, 2011, issue. 

He is co-chair of the International Myeloma Working Group and chair of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Myeloma Committee. He is the editor in chief of Blood Cancer Journal  and serves as the associate editor for Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Leukemia , and European Journal of Hematology . He also serves on the International Myeloma Foundation Board of Directors and is a member of the National Institutes of Health Myeloma Steering Committee. 

Dr Rajkumar has received several awards, including the 2018 Distinguished Mayo Clinic Investigator Award, the 2019 Giants of Cancer Care Award from OncLive, the 2016 Robert A. Kyle Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Myeloma Foundation, and the 2021 Waldenström Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Myeloma Society. He has also received the Relentless for a Cure Award from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in 2010, the John Ultmann Lecture and Award in 2011, and the Janet Davison Rowley Patient Impact Research Award from Cures Within Reach in 2015.  

Dr Rajkumar has more than 750 publications, including more than 450 peer-reviewed original research papers and more than 250 reviews and book chapters.

Paul G. Richardson, MD, joined the Jerome Lipper Myeloma Center in 1999 after receiving certification in internal medicine, hematology, and medical oncology, as well as working in cancer pharmacology from 1994 onwards at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). He was appointed clinical director in 2001, and he led the development of several first-generation novel drugs, including bortezomib, lenalidomide, and pomalidomide. Subsequent studies have focused on next-generation novel drugs, including panobinostat, and second-generation proteasome inhibitors, including ixazomib and marizomib. More recently, his clinical innovations have been in the development of the breakthrough monoclonal antibodies elotuzumab and daratumumab for the treatment of both untreated and relapsed myeloma, as well as isatuximabin the relapsed and refractory setting, and, since then, antibody drug conjugates including belantamab mafodotin and other immunotherapeutic strategies. Further, he is leading the development of melflufen, a targeted and novel cytotoxic, and selinexor, a first-in-class small molecule that inhibits the nuclear export protein XPO1. 

At present, his major efforts have been focused on the Intergroupe Francophone Myelome (IFM)/DFCI clinical trial in newly diagnosed patients eligible for stem cell transplant treated with lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (so-called RVD). This regimen has generated an unprecedented response rate, leading to its adoption in this international study, as well as in the United States and elsewhere, which incorporates genomic and proteomic evaluation to establish a future platform for tailored therapy. 

Dr Richardson has published extensively, having authored or coauthored more than 410 original articles and 320 reviews, chapters, and editorials in peer-reviewed journals. In addition to holding positions on the editorial boards of leading journals, he is prior chairman of the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium (MMRC), Clinical Trials Core, a position that he held for 5 years as part of a rotating tenure and for which he continues as a member of the Steering and Project Review Committee. He was also a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Hematologic Malignancies Subcommittee for the required 1-year term, followed by a 1-year term on the ASCO Internet Cancer Information Committee during 2017. He was appointed chair of the Alliance Myeloma Committee in 2011 and continues in this important role today. 

Honors include the George Canellos Award for Excellence in Clinical Research and Patient Care and The Tisch Outstanding Achievement Award for Clinical Research, as well an honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians (UK), given in recognition for international contributions in multiple myeloma and stem cell transplantation. He was a co-recipient of the prestigious Warren Alpert Foundation Prize in recognition of the successful therapeutic targeting of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway in 2012. He was also a co-recipient of the Accelerator Award for contributions to clinical research and patient enrollment in MMRC studies, as well as the Research Center of the Year Award in 2009, followed by a second award for Center of the Year in 2017. He was ranked by Thomson Reuters Science Watch amongst the top 19 investigators at DFCI for the most highly cited research in 2016. He was the recipient and co-recipient, respectively, of the American Society of Hematology Ernest Beutler Prize for clinical science and translational research in the development of proteasome inhibition as an effective treatment strategy for multiple myeloma in 2015, the COMy Award for multiple myeloma research (Paris, France) in 2016, the prestigious International Myeloma Foundation Robert A. Kyle Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017, and the Claire W. and Richard P. Morse Research Award for outstanding clinical research, awarded by the DFCI in 2019.