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In 2022, the Division of Hematology and Oncology recruited five clinical faculty members and two lab-based investigators. It plans to recruit 18 additional clinical faculty members in the next 2-3 years and 12 more lab-based investigators by 2028, says Pier Paolo Scaglioni, MD, associate director for translational research at the Cancer Center and director of the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the UC College of Medicine.
“I joined the UC College of Medicine and Cancer Center in 2018 because I was given the task and resources of building and developing the academic mission of the Division of Hematology and Oncology,” Scaglioni says. “That mandate has even become stronger after the appointment of Dr. Ahmad as co-director of the Cancer Center and Dr. Byrd as chair of the Department of Internal Medicine. We have made significant progress toward our goal to be a leading academic division and cancer center, but the job is not done. I believe that the division should double in size with the recruitment of additional clinical investigators and lab-based scientists to be competitive nationally.”
One notable recruit in 2022 was the addition of Edward Faber Jr., DO, MS. Faber, a clinical/ translational researcher and director of the Transplant and Cellular Therapy Center at the Cancer Center, specializes in the use of cellular therapies in blood diseases.
Faber’s appointment reflects the Cancer Center’s emphasis on treating blood cancers with precision, says John C. Byrd, MD, the Gordon and Helen Hughes Taylor Endowed Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine in UC’s College of Medicine. The focus is to advance the development and clinical use of cellular therapies beyond hematopoietic stem cell transplantation to newer cellular therapies that involve immune system cells. These types of cells are collected from the patient’s own blood, modified in the laboratory to produce a more vigorous attack on the patient’s cancer cells, and then reinjected into the patient. Cellular therapy using chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CAR T), Faber’s area of interest, is already being used to treat certain types of leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and solid tumors.
As the division continues its recruitment drive, it is placing special emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion, Byrd says. In 2022, leadership formed a Diversity and Belonging Council that made significant changes in hiring, promotion and pay practices.
The University of Cincinnati Cancer Center is one of four U.S. sites conducting a clinical trial of a new drug for patients with B-cell lymphomas or chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) that have grown resistant to standard treatments.
The Phase I trial is studying the safety and efficacy of a new drug called LP-168, a fourth-generation small molecule inhibitor. The first and second generations of this type of small molecule inhibitors were effective, but the cancer could develop resistance through a mutation that broke the gene, making it harder for the drug to reach its target, says John C. Byrd, MD, a senior advisor at the Cancer Center and the trial’s principal investigator. These inhibitors “changed the natural history of these diseases” by creating the mutation, which only exists in patients who have been treated with the drug, he says.
LP-168 addresses the problem of resistance with a new design that could get around the mutation. “It takes the third-generation molecule and the first-/second-generation molecule, and it glues them together,” Byrd says. “If the cancer cell develops a resistance to one part, you have the other part there that kills it.”
The George L. Strike Bone Marrow Transplant Center at the University of Cincinnati was accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) in 2022. The Bone Marrow Transplant Center joins two of its sister institutions in being accredited: Cincinnati Children’s Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute, Bone Marrow Transplantation and Immune Deficiency Program; and the Hoxworth Blood Center at the University of Cincinnati. Founded in 1996, FACT establishes standards for high-quality medical and laboratory practices in cellular therapies. FACT accreditation is a voluntary program that requires a rigorous and comprehensive inspection by international experts in cellular therapy practices.