Research Training Academies
These robust training academies provide structured education designed to foster successful academic and research careers.
Research Program Resources
We support academic research tracks for our Hematology/Medical Oncology fellows with robust tools and training, leading to accomplished careers for our fellowship graduates.
Moffitt's in-house Clinical Grant Writing Academy
The Clinical Grant Writing Academy (CGWA) is an in-house educational initiative at Moffitt Cancer Center designed to:
- Improve research skills and foster enthusiasm for clinical and scientific inquiry.
- Provide informal, discussion-based learning led by renowned experts in grant writing and research design.
- Support Fellows in developing competitive applications for awards such as the ASCO Young Investigator Award (YIA)
A list of session topics presented are outlined below.
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April to June Sessions
First Session Introduction of Clinical Grant Writing - Focusing on ASCO-YIA Second Session Research Questions/Specific Aims Third Session Research Strategy: Significance & Innovation Fourth Session Research Strategy: Approach Fifth Session Biostatistics/Bioinformatics Sixth Session Mentorship Plan Seventh Session Personal Statement/NIH Biosketch
Moffitt’s in-house “Investigator Initiated Trial” (IIT) Academy
The IIT Academy at Moffitt Cancer Center is an in-house structured educational series designed for Fellows who are interested in becoming clinical investigators to help develop the knowledge base and skill sets necessary for writing and leading IITs.
A list of session topics presented are outlined below.
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Coming up with your IIT Concept
- Choosing an IIT concept that is relevant and feasible
- Evaluating preclinical evidence for an investigational drug
- Choosing the right patient population and disease setting
- Resources and funding for IITs within and outside the institution?
- Sources for investigational agents- Pharma, CTEP, and beyond
- General advice for young investigators
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Phase I Clinical Trial Design
- Primary and secondary objectives and endpoints for phase 1 IIT
- Principles and importance of PD and PK data of investigational agents
- Determining starting dose in first-in-human study
- Concept of DLT, MTD, RP2D and optimal biologic dose
- Basic principles of dose escalation
- Considerations for potential adverse events
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Phase II Clinical Trial Design
- Primary & secondary objectives/ endpoints for phase 2 IIT
- PFS as an endpoint for P2 trial
- Pros and cons of different P2 designs- single arm, randomized, and phase I/II
- Randomized P2- “pick the winner” vs. “direct comparison”
- Handling shared toxicities of agents in a combination regimen
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Biostatistics for Phase I and II Clinical Trials
- Rule-based (A+B) vs. model-based (CRM) vs. model assisted (BOIN) design for dose finding- pros and cons
- Online resource for CRM design
- Accounting for delayed DLT
- Defining endpoints and common corresponding statistics
- Simon’s two-stage design- minimax vs other
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Correlatives/Biomarkers in Early Phase Clinical Trials
- Importance of integrating correlative studies in IIT
- Prognostic vs. predictive biomarkers
- Predictive biomarker- qualitative vs. quantitative
- Pharmacodynamic biomarker
- Common samples and methods for biomarker testing in clinical trials
- Newer trial designs based on biomarkers- “Basket” vs. “Umbrella” trial
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Patient Reported Outcomes in Clinical Trials
- Importance of PRO in clinical trials
- Considerations for using PRO as an outcome measure
- Useful PRO tools for trials (e.g, PROMIS)
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Industry Negotiation and Budget for IIT
- Process of LOI submission to company
- Steps, timeline, and factors considered of LOI evaluation by pharma
- Components of initial agreement between investigator/institute and company
- Company inputs in protocol development
- Advice for young investigators
- Information needed to get a prelim budget for IIT
- Process of submission and turnaround time
- Considerations and pitfalls for budget
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Informed Consent and Regulatory Workflow
- Things to consider in writing informed consent for IIT
- Talking about adverse events in informed consent document
- Considerations for reading level, cost to participant, schema-input from patient advocates
- Regulatory workflow once protocol is written: SRC -> IND -> IRB
- Need FDA-IND application? Things to keep in mind
Recent Awards & Grants
We're proud of the accmplishments of our research fellows. Here are some of their acheivements:
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2024 Awards & Grants
Recipient
Award Amount & Granting Organization
Title
Julia Zhang
Faculty Mentors: Sokol, Pinilla, Lancet$240,000
BMS FoundationWinn Diversity in Clinical Trials - CDA Yu James
Society for Translational Oncology Fellows Forum (STOFF) Sudeepthi Bandikatla
Faculty Mentor: Bijal Shah$50,000
ASCO YIAThe effect of CDKN2A/B deletions on bone marrow immune microenvironment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia Mohammad Ammad-Ud-Din
Faculty Mentor: Pinilla$50,000
ASCO YIATargeting S100-A9 to inhibit Nurse like Cells to Malignant B crosstalk in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Syed hamza Bin Waqar
Faculty Mentor: Yumeng Zhang$6,000
USF GME Research GrantImmune cell profiling in patients with advanced cutaneous T -cell lymphoma (CTCL) undergoing extracorporeal photopheresis: An exploration of racial disparities and clinical implications Fnu Amisha
Faculty Mentors: Rawan Faramand, Bijal Shah, Frederick Locke$4,390
USF GME Research GrantPredictive markers for immune mediated toxicities in adult patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated with CD 19 chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy Mohammad Bakri Hammami
Faculty Mentors: Michael Jain and Frederick Locke$10,000
Moffitt Junior Scientist Research Partnership Award (JSRP)Evaluating the Impact of Tumor Microenvironment on CAR-T cell therapy response in patients with Richter’s Transformation Utsav Joshi
Faculty Mentor: Issam El Naqa$10,000
Moffitt Junior Scientist Research Partnership Award (JSRP)Use of Machine Learning for Diagnosis of MDS and Pre-MDS Conditions using Peripheral Blood Smears Karun Neupane
Faculty Mentor: Issam El Naqa and Rami Komrokji$10,000
Moffitt Junior Scientist Research Partnership Award (JSRP)Using Artificial Intelligence to Convert Oncology Clinic Notes into Patient Friendly Content to Improve Patient Satisfaction with Understanding of Disease and Treatment Plans -
2023 Awards & Grants (click to open)
Recipient
Award Amount & Granting Organization
Title
Ning Dong
$240,000
BMS Foundation, Massey Can Ctr, VCU, Gilead SciencesWBMSF R.A.Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Career development Award Yumeng Zhang
Faculty Mentor: Sokol$50,000
ASCO YIA2023 ASCO/Conquer Cancer Young Investigator Award (YIA) Tony Wood
Faculty Mentor: Locke$5,000
ASTCT-2022 Robert Korngold Award for the Best Clinical Science in Cellular TherapyOutcomes of CD19 targeted CAR T-cell therapy for patients with reduced renal function including dialysis Yumeng Zhang
Faculty Mentor: Sokol$30,000
USF-Moffitt Microbiome Joint Research AwardTemporal Changes in Skin Microbiota after Narrowband UVB Treatment in Adults with Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma Somedeb Ball
Faculty Mentor: Komrokji$5,000
USF GME Research GrantProspective Evaluation of Racial and Gender Disparities in Clinical Outcomes, Qualityof Life, and Financial Toxicity in Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndrome Aditi Saha
Faculty Mentors: Sokol, Zhang L$5,000
USF GME Research GrantThe Prognostic Role of EZH2 Expression in Rare Histiocytic Disorders Humaria Sarfraz
Faculty Mentors: Czerniecki$5,000
USF GME Research GrantEvaluating Gut Microbiome As A Biomarker Of Pathological Complete Response In Patients With Early Triple Negative Breast Cancer - A Pilot Study Aditi Saha
Faculty Mentor: Sokol$4,775
USF GME Research GrantElucidation of coexistence of activating BRAF V600E mutation and EZH2 overexpression as potential targets for combination therapy in rare histiocytic disorders Robin Park
Faculty Mentor: Chung$10,000
Moffitt Junior Scientist Research Partnership Award (JSRP)Association between Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) with Tumor-infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL) and Response to Cetuximab Plus Nivolumab in Recurrent/Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Cancer (R/M HNSCC Fnu Amisha
Faculty Mentors: Khimani, Vinci$10,000
Moffitt Junior Scientist Research Partnership Award (JSRP)Evaluating the effect of a Mindfulness-based Intervention on metabolic and immunological biomarkers of stress among caregivers of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients Mohammad Ammad-Ud-Din
Faculty Mentor: Pinilla$10,000
Moffitt Junior Scientist Research Partnership Award (JSRP)The impact of S100-A9 inhibition on crosstalk among Nurse like Cells and Malignant B cells in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia -
2022 Awards & Grants (click to open)
Recipient
Award Amount & Granting Organization
Title
Shahla Bari
$240,000
BMS Foundation, NMF, AACRBristol Keyere Squibb Foundation Diversity in Clinical Trials Career Development Program Somedeb Ball
Faculty Mentors: Sallman, Padron, Yun$50,000
ASCO Conquer Cancer YIAPhase 1b/II study to evaluate safety and efficacy of AMG 900 and giltretinib in FLT3 mutated relapsed or refractora acute myeloid leukemia. Shahla Bari
$50,000
ASCO YIAGut metabolome-can it be developed as a biomarker of response to immunotherapy in metastatic renal cancer Brian Schlick
Faculty Mentor: Gray, S. Kim, T. Boyle$50,000
ASCO Conquer Cancer YIAThe Effect of Nintedanib, Nivolumab, and Ipilimumab on the Peripheral Blood Immune-Phenotype and Tumor Microenvironment of Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Shahla Bari
Faculty Mentors: Czerniecki (Moffitt)/ Smith (AdventHealth)$100,000
Moffitt-AdventHealth Collaborative GrantEvaluating gut microbiome and microbial derived metabolites as a biomarker of pathological complete response in patients with early triple negative breast cancer Tony Kurian
Faculty Mentors: Sallman, Khimani$4,792
USF GME Research GrantDelineation of inflammasome activation in the development of acute graft-versus-host disease and relapse in MDS patients following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation Shahla Bari
Faculty Mentors: uzaffar, Yadav (USF)$4,998
USF GME Research GrantGut microbiome/ metabolome -a signature that could predict and improve cancer treatment outcomes Zaker Schwabkey
Faculty Mentor: Padron$10,000
Moffitt Junior Scientist Research Partnership Award (JSRP)Investigating the microbiome triggers of malignant GMP expansion in Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia
Publications
PubMed Author Citations for the 2024-2025 academic year:
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10
First Author Citations
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24
Middle Author Citations
First Author Abstracts:
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17
at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
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46
at the American Society of Hematology (ASH)
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List of Publications (click to open)
Shahzad M, Iqbal Q,Amin MK,Kasaiean A,Oskouie IM,Warraich SZ,Yu J,Anwar I,Jaglal M,Mushtaq MU. Outcomes of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Patients Aged 70 Years and Older: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Transplant Cell Ther 2025 Mar; 31 3 172.e1--172.e13 10.1016/j.jtct.2024.12.022 PMID: 39755255.
Yu J, He AR,Ouf M,Mehta R,Anaya DA,Denbo J,Bridges C,Tin A,Aushev VN,Palsuledesai CC,Sharma S,Jurdi A,Liu MC, Kim RD. Detecting Early Recurrence With Circulating Tumor DNA in Stage I-III Biliary Tract Cancer After Curative Resection. JCO Precis Oncol 2025 Jan; 9 e2400443-- 10.1200/PO-24-00443 PMID: 39772829. PMCID: PMC11723488.
Shahzad M, Iqbal Q,Amin MK,Irfan S,Warraich SZ,Anwar I,Dave P,Basharat A,Hebishy A,Faisal MS,Jaglal M,Mushtaq MU. Outcomes of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in primary plasma cell leukemia: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Leuk Res 2025 Jan; 148 107640-- 10.1016/j.leukres.2024.107640 PMID: 39724831.
Hammami MB,Qasim A,Shah A,Zhang H,Haver MK,Sokol L. Cutaneous manifestations of large granular lymphocytic leukemia: A case report and systematic review. Leuk Res 2025 Jul; 154 107720-- 10.1016/j.leukres.2025.107720 PMID: 40466343.
Thapa SB, Souza GR,Paravathaneni M,Cohen S,Mohammed T,Laber DA. Direct Oral Anticoagulants in Budd-Chiari Syndrome. Eur J Haematol 2025 Mar; 114 3 566--572 10.1111/ejh.14363 PMID: 39688028.
Shahzad M,Amin MK,Khalid MF,Kasaeian A,Oskouie IM,Yu J,Warraich SZ,Basharat A,Butt A,Zaidi M,Anwar I,Jaglal MV,Mushtaq MU. Outcomes with Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Therapy Related Myeloid Neoplasms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk 2025 May; 25 5 e319--e335 10.1016/j.clml.2024.12.018 PMID: 39890517.
Joshi U,Budhathoki P,Gaire S,Yadav SK,Niu C,Agrawal V,Low SK,Soliman. Clinical Outcomes and Prognostic Factors in Epithelial-Myoepithelial Carcinoma (EMC) of the Breast. Clin Breast Cancer 2025 Jul; 25 5 e511--e516.e8 10.1016/j.clbc.2025.01.012 PMID: 39934001.
Jain AG,Volpe VO,Wang C,Ball S,Tobon K,Chan O,Padron E,Kuykendall A ,Lancet JE,Komrokji R,Sallman DA,Sweet KL. Outcomes by best response with hypomethylating agent plus venetoclax in adults with previously untreated acute myeloid leukemia. Ann Hematol 2025 Jan; 104 1 307--315 10.1007/s00277-024-05976-6 PMID: 39243312.
Kharfan-Dabaja MA,Mohty R,Easwar N,Johnston P,Iqbal M,Epperla N,Yared J,Ahmed N,Hamadani M,Beitinjaneh A,Narkhede M,Jagadeesh D,Ramakrishnan Geethakumari P,Dholaria B,Gergis U,Munoz J,Sandoval-Sus J,Locke FL,Fein J,Khurana A,Ayala E,Annunzio K,Rapoport AP,Lutfi F,Akhtar OS,Lekakis L,Mehta A,Oluwole OO,Logue J, Jain MD,Shore T,Durani U,Alhaj Moustafa M,McGuirk J,Lin Y,Yamshon S,Chavez JC. Chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy in octogenarians with B cell lymphoma: a real-world US multicenter collaborative study. Bone Marrow Transplant 2025 May; 60 5 632--639 10.1038/s41409-025-02541-1 PMID: 40025178.
Banerjee R,Richards A,Midha S,Afrough A,Anwer F,Atanackovic D,Atrash S,Bachanova V,Beitinjaneh AM,Ouchveridze E,Castaneda Puglianini O,Chhabra S,Cicero KI,Davis JA,Dhakal B,Dima D,Ferreri CJ,Forsberg PA,Freeman CL,Herr MM,Jain T,Janakiram M,Khouri J,Kocoglu MH,Kumar AD,Liu Y,Locke FL,McGuirk JP,Mikkilineni L,Nadeem O,Parrondo RD,Pasvolsky O,Peres LC,Purvey S,Raza S,Reshef R,Richard S,Rossi AC,Sborov DW,Shune L,Wagner CB,Zanwar SS,Sidana S,Patel KK,Hansen DK,Kumar SK,Lin Y,Martin TG,Voorhees PM,Anderson LD,Cowan AJ,Kaur G. Universal driving restrictions beyond 4 weeks appear unnecessary following CAR-T therapy in multiple myeloma. Blood Adv 2025 May; 9 9 2336--2340 10.1182/bloodadvances.2025016131 PMID: 40088469. PMCID: PMC12127628.
Bari S,Matejcic M,Kim RD,Xie H,Sahin IH,Powers BD,Teer JK,Chan TA,Felder SI,Schmit SL. Practice Patterns and Survival Outcomes of Immunotherapy for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer. JAMA Netw Open 2025 Mar; 8 3 e251186-- 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.1186 PMID: 40111368. PMCID: PMC11926646.
Yu J,Laborde JM,Park R,Shahzad M,Kim Y,Cheon J,Imanirad I,Kim RD ,Biachi de Castria T,Nardella NL,Malafa M,Denbo JW,Fleming JB,Hoffe SE,Frakes JM, Sinnamon AJ, Pimiento JM(MM), Hodul PJ(HOB),Kim D. Association of Pathologic Response and Adjuvant Chemotherapy with Survival in Resected Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Following Neoadjuvant Therapy. Cancers (Basel) 2025 May; 17 11 10.3390/cancers17111797 PMID: 40507279. PMCID: PMC12153592.
Miao R,Yu J,Kim RD. Targeting the KRAS Oncogene for Patients with Metastatic Colorectal Cancer. Cancers (Basel) 2025 Apr; 17 9 10.3390/cancers17091512 PMID: 40361439. PMCID: PMC12071034.
Kittai AS,Huang Y,Miller S,Allan JN,Bhat SA,Bond DA,Brander DM,Byrd JC,Chavez JC,Chong E,Davids MS,Danilov AV,Ding W,Dowling MR,Dvorak-Kornaus K,Freedman H,Hampel PJ,Ho C,Hwang SR,Islam P,Malakhov N,Matasar M,Miller C,Omer Z,Parikh SA,Parry E,Rabe KG,Raess PW,Rai M,Roeker L,Rhodes J,Rogers KA,Saha A,Schade J,Scott HW,Shadman M,Shouse G,Skarbnik A,Spurgeon S,Stephens DM,Thompson MC,Thompson PA,Wang Y,Yano M,Woyach JA. Outcomes of patients with Richter transformation who received no prior chemoimmunotherapy for their CLL. Blood Cancer J 2025 Feb; 15 1 23-- 10.1038/s41408-025-01236-6 PMID: 39979241. PMCID: PMC11842760.
Pasvolsky O,Dima D,Feng L,Dong W,Richards T,Davis JA,Afrough A,Vazquez-Martinez M,Sannareddy A,Goel U,Banerjee R,Khouri J,Cervoni F,Gaballa MR,Lieberman-Cribbin A,Rana MS,Julian K,Ferreri CJ,Shune L,DeJarnette S,Bhurtel E,Susanibar Adaniya S,Portuguese A,Hosoya H,Mikkilineni L,Kaur G,Rossi A,Herr MM,Schrum D,Lin C,Raza S,Lin Y,Midha S,Omar N,Atarsh S,McGuirk J,Sborov D,Voorhees P,Anwer F,Alsina M,Freeman C,Garfall AL,Razzo BM,Sidana S,Cowan AJ,Anderson LD,Hansen DK,Richard S,Patel KK,Lee HC,Grajales-Cruz A. Outcomes of elderly patients with relapsed refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) treated with teclistamab: a multicenter study from the U.S. Multiple Myeloma Immunotherapy Consortium. Blood Cancer J 2025 May; 15 1 92-- 10.1038/s41408-025-01297-7 PMID: 40346049. PMCID: PMC12064690.
Tremblay D,Csizmar C,DiNardo CD,Ball S,Rippel N,Hammond D,Kadia TM,Ravandi F,Chien K,Van Hyfte G,Mazumdar M,Saliba A,Mangaonkar A,Lasho T,Al-Kali A,Kremyanskaya M,Feld J,Silverman LR,Komrokji R(MM),Mascarenhas J,Padron E,Garcia-Manero G, Sallman DA,Patnaik MM,Montalban-Bravo G. Venetoclax in combination with hypomethylating agents in chronic myelomonocytic leukemia: a propensity score matched multicenter cohort study. Leukemia 2025 Jan; 39 1 257--260 10.1038/s41375-024-02466-6 PMID: 39533069.
Yu J,Mehta R. Biomarker-Driven Approach to the Treatment of Metastatic Gastric or Gastroesophageal Adenocarcinoma. J Natl Compr Canc Ne 2025 May; 23 5 10.6004/jnccn.2025.7036 PMID: 40341124.
Mustasam A,Parza K,Ionescu F,Gullapalli K,Paravathaneni M,Kim Y,Sandstrom RE,Al Assaad M,Grass GD,Johnstone P,Eschrich S,Safa H,Chadha J,Roman Souza G,David J,Semaan A,Zacharias NM,Pettaway C,Giuliano AR,Spiess PE, Chahoud J. The Prognostic Role of HPV or p16INK4a Status in Penile Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Meta-Analysis. J Natl Compr Canc Ne 2025 Jan; 23 2 10.6004/jnccn.2024.7078 PMID: 39752880.
Jhaveri K,Thapa R,Ercan D,Saha A,Noble J,Singh P,Fahrmann J,Saini N,Wu R,Dennison JB,Hanash S,Jenq RR,Modi K,Figura N,Chavez J,Shah B,Nishihori T,Lazaryan A,Khimani F,Bachmeier C,Gage K,Mishra A,Perna F,Davila ML,Spiegel J,Rejeski K,Subklewe M,Locke FL(IO),Freeman C,Parker N, Jain MD. Sarcopenia and Skeletal Muscle Loss after CAR T-cell Therapy in Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma. Clin Cancer Res 2025 Jul; 31 13 2756--2766 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-24-3782 PMID: 40238583. PMCID: PMC12213223.
Sidana S,Patel KK,Peres LC,Bansal R,Kocoglu MH,Shune L,Atrash S,Smith K,Midha S,Ferreri CJ,Dhakal B,Dima D,Costello P,Wagner C,Reshef R,Hosoya H,Mikkilineni L,Atanackovic D,Chhabra S,Parrondo RD,Nadeem O,Mann H,Kalariya N,Hovanky V,DeAvila G,Freeman CL,Locke FL,Alsina M,Wong S,Herr MM,Htut M,McGuirk JP,Sborov DW,Khouri J,Martin T,Janakiram M,Lin Y,Hansen DK. Safety and efficacy of standard-of-care ciltacabtagene autoleucel for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. Blood 2025 Jan; 145 1 85--97 10.1182/blood.2024025945 PMID: 39365257.
Hansen DK, Peres LC,Dima D,Richards A,Shune L,Afrough A,Midha S,Dhakal B,Kocoglu MH,Atrash S,Ferreri C,Castaneda O,Davis JA,Bhurtel E,McGuirk J,Wagner C,Bansal R,Costello P,Smith K,Lieberman-Cribbin A,De Avila G,Purvey S,Hosoya H,Mikkilineni L,Oswald LB,Kaur G,Pasvolsky O,Gaballa M,Herr MM,Forsberg P,Janakiram M,Htut M,Asoori Maringanti S,Kalariya N,Hashmi H,Reshef R,Sborov DW,Nadeem O,Anwer F,Khouri J,Raza S,Atanackovic D,Alsina M,Freeman CL, Locke FL,Voorhees P,Anderson LD,Richard S,Martin T,Lin Y,Patel KK,Sidana S. Comparison of Standard-of-Care Idecabtagene Vicleucel and Ciltacabtagene Autoleucel in Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma. J Clin Oncol 2025 May; 43 13 1597--1609 10.1200/JCO-24-01730 PMID: 39965175. PMCID: PMC12037312.
Books Written by Faculty and Fellows
