Alaa Ali, MD

Cancer Focus:
Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), Graft-vs-Host Disease (GVHD), Leukemia, Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS)

Dr. Alaa Ali is an Assistant Member in the Department of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Immunotherapy at Moffitt Cancer Center. He earned his medical degree from Damascus University, after which he was a research fellow in Dr. Brian Rowan’s laboratory in the Department of Structural and Cellular Biology at Tulane University. He then completed his internship and Internal Medicine residency at Saint Joseph Hospital, University of Illinois at Chicago. Subsequently, Dr. Ali pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. John DiPersio’s laboratory in the Division of Oncology at Washington University in St. Louis, and later completed fellowships in Medical Oncology and in Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Prior to joining Moffitt, Dr. Ali held appointments as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Associate Member of the Cancer Host Interactions Research Program at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, as well as Outpatient Director of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Immunotherapy at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, where he led program growth in transplantation and CAR T-cell therapy. His clinical focus includes allogeneic transplantation and cellular therapies for patients with high-risk myeloid and T-cell malignancies.

Dr. Ali’s research focuses on improving the efficacy and safety of cellular therapies and transplantation, with particular emphasis on immune-mediated toxicities, graft-versus-host disease, post–CAR T-cell lymphoproliferative disorders, and treatment-related malignancies. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in leading journals, including Blood, Molecular Therapy, Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, American Journal of Hematology, British Journal of Haematology, Blood Advances, Frontiers in Immunology, Bone Marrow Transplantation, and Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. He also serves as an editor and guest editor for multiple journals in the field.

• Patel C, Terlecky AJ, Baker M, Lozy T, Yen KK, Kaur N, Machere L, Ali A, Cho C, Donato ML, Munshi PN, Kreiswirth BN, Rowley SD. Fluoroquinolone Prophylaxis Uncovers High Prevalence Rates of Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Enterobacterales Colonization in Multiple Myeloma Autologous Transplant Patients: A Prospective Cohort Study. Cancers (Basel). 2026 May.18(10). Pubmedid: 42192926. Pmcid: PMC13204931.
• Ahmed N, Ali A, Kim S, Oloyede T, Bye M, Gowda L, Kamble RT, Mirza AS, Nadiminti KV, Pophali PA, Rodriguez-Bonilla C, Sieg A, Strouse C, Abid MB, Afrough A, Aljurf M, Beitinjaneh AM, Chhabra S, Choe M, Hilal T, Iqbal M, Jain T, Kharfan-Dabaja MA, Modi D, Orti G, Pawarode A, Rao U, Riedell PA, Saad A, Seo S, Balari AS, Wagner JL, Wudhikarn K, Turtle CJ, Phillips CL, Pasquini MC, Ahmed S, Ganguly S, Moskop A. Comparison of Fludarabine Versus Bendamustine as a Lymphodepleting Chemotherapy Prior to CAR-T for Large Cell Lymphoma. Transplant Cell Ther. 2026 Jun. Pubmedid: 42341926.
• Ali A, Ozdemirli M, Hamilton MP, Jain MD. Spectrum, pathobiology, mechanistic insights and diagnostic challenges of post-CAR T cell therapy lymphoproliferative disorders. Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2026 Jul.23(7):520-538. Pubmedid: 41986503.
• Ali A, Rota L, Marshall K, Yao Y, Ji R, DeFilipp Z. Belumosudil achieves clinical response in chronic graft-versus-host disease with varying organ-specific response kinetics: an analysis from the phase II ROCKstar trial. Haematologica. 2026 Jul. Pubmedid: 42489077.
• Pidala JA, Kim J, Laborde J, Knott S, Mogili K, Zinn J, Monroe AR, Faramand R, Ramlal R, Khimani F, Hansen DK, Torres Luna NE, Jain MD, Perez LE, Mishra A, Ghalehsari N, Castaneda-Puglianini OA, Alsina M, Perna F, Nieder M, Mirza AS, Liu HD, Nishihori T, Ali A, Chellapandian D, Locke FL, Bejanyan N, Anasetti C, Lazaryan A. Chronic graft vs. host disease following post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) based prophylaxis vs. non-PTCy prophylaxis. Blood Adv. 2026 Jul. Pubmedid: 42480215.
• Ali A. Pretransplant MRD and chemotherapy in AML: A transplant physician's perspective. Brit J Haematol. 2025 Oct.207(4):1694-1697. Pubmedid: 41070669.
• Cottrell TR, Lotze MT, Ali A, Bifulco CB, Capitini CM, Chow LQM, Cillo AR, Collyar D, Cope L, Deutsch JS, Dubrovsky G, Gnjatic S, Goh D, Halabi S, Kohanbash G, Maecker HT, Maleki Vareki S, Mullin S, Seliger B, Taube J, Vos W, Yeong J, Anderson KG, Bruno TC, Chiuzan C, Diaz-Padilla I, Garrett-Mayer E, Glitza Oliva IC, Grandi P, Hill EG, Hobbs BP, Najjar YG, Pettit Nassi P, Simons VH, Subudhi SK, Sullivan RJ, Takimoto CH. Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) consensus statement on essential biomarkers for immunotherapy clinical protocols. J Immunother Cancer. 2025 Mar.13(3). Pubmedid: 40054999. Pmcid: PMC11891540.
• Vantair N, Leising M, Najor M, Juma Y, Kwon DH, Kallakury B, Gilbert A, Verbesey JE, Rodrigo ME, Sheikh FH, Ali A, Renteria A, Cooper M, Rosen-Bronson S, Timofeeva OA. Predicting the success of antibody removal with therapeutic plasma exchange: The role of serum dilutions. Am J Transplant. 2025 Jul.25(7):1491-1501. Pubmedid: 40158661.
• Rowley SD, Albitar M, Baker MF, Ali A, Kaur S, Suh HC, Goy A, Donato ML. cfDNA Chimerism and Somatic Mutation Testing in Early Prediction of Relapse After Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation for Myeloid Malignancies. Cancers (Basel). 2025 Feb.17(4). Pubmedid: 40002220. Pmcid: PMC11853444.
• Ali A, DiPersio JF. ReCARving the future: bridging CAR T-cell therapy gaps with synthetic biology, engineering, and economic insights. Front Immunol. 2024 Sep.15:1432799. Pubmedid: 39301026. Pmcid: PMC11410633.
• Ali A, Zhang Y, DiPersio J. The invisible hand: How epigenetics shapes CAR T cell destiny. Mol Ther. 2024 Jun.32(6):1614-1616. Pubmedid: 38761798. Pmcid: PMC11184405.
• Cook MR, Dorris CS, Makambi KH, Luo Y, Munshi PN, Donato M, Rowley S, Saad A, Goy A, Dunleavy K, Ali A. Toxicity and efficacy of CAR T-cell therapy in primary and secondary CNS lymphoma: a meta-analysis of 128 patients. Blood Adv. 2023 Jan.7(1):32-39. Pubmedid: 36260735. Pmcid: PMC9813524.
• Ali A, Goy A, Dunleavy K. CAR T-cell therapy in highly aggressive B-cell lymphoma: emerging biological and clinical insights. Blood. 2022 Sep.140(13):1461-1469. Pubmedid: 35560330.
• Ali AM, Cooper J, Walker A, Jones D, Saad A. Adult-onset acute myeloid leukaemia in a patient with germline mutation of CBL. Brit J Haematol. 2021 Feb.192(3):665-667. Pubmedid: 33216958.
• Rashidi A, Ali AM, Vij KR, Shanley R, Romee R, Cooley SA, Westervelt P, DiPersio JF, Miller JS, Weisdorf DJ, Ustun C. Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation in morphologic leukemia-free aplastic state. Am J Hematol. 2017 Sep.92(9):E549-E552. Pubmedid: 28568483. Pmcid: PMC5736150.
• Ali AM, Jacoby M, Romee R. Virescent tongue. Ann Hematol. 2017 May.96(5):883-884. Pubmedid: 28243694.
• Ali AM, Rashidi A, DiPersio JF. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia presenting with hypereosinophilia: Case report and review of the literature. Blood Cells Mol Dis. 2017 Jun.65:97-100. Pubmedid: 27634176.
• Ali AM, DiPersio JF, Schroeder MA. A proposed biology- and biomarker-based algorithm for management of acute GvHD. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2017 Feb.52(2):337-340. Pubmedid: 27869807.
• Ali AM, Weisel D, Gao F, Uy GL, Cashen AF, Jacoby MA, Wartman LD, Ghobadi A, Pusic I, Romee R, Fehniger TA, Stockerl-Goldstein KE, Vij R, Oh ST, Abboud CN, Schroeder MA, Westervelt P, DiPersio JF, Welch JS. Patterns of infectious complications in acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes patients treated with 10-day decitabine regimen. Cancer Med. 2017 Dec.6(12):2814-2821. Pubmedid: 29058375. Pmcid: PMC5727246.
• Ali AM, Dehdashti F, DiPersio JF, Cashen AF. Radioimmunotherapy-based conditioning for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: Another step forward. Blood Rev. 2016 Sep.30(5):389-399. Pubmedid: 27174151.
• Ali AM, DiPersio JF, Schroeder MA. The Role of Biomarkers in the Diagnosis and Risk Stratification of Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease: A Systematic Review. Biol Blood Marrow Tr. 2016 Sep.22(9):1552-1564. Pubmedid: 27158050. Pmcid: PMC5599102.
• Ali AM, Mirrakhimov AE, Abboud CN, Cashen AF. Leukostasis in adult acute hyperleukocytic leukemia: a clinician's digest. Hematol Oncol. 2016 Jun.34(2):69-78. Pubmedid: 27018197.
• Ali AM, Jacoby M, Welch JS. Hand-foot syndrome following decitabine. Ann Hematol. 2016 Feb.95(3):535-536. Pubmedid: 26542147. Pmcid: PMC5175272.
• Mirrakhimov AE, Voore P, Khan M, Ali AM. Tumor lysis syndrome: A clinical review. World J Crit Care Med. 2015 May.4(2):130-138. Pubmedid: 25938028. Pmcid: PMC4411564.
• Mirrakhimov AE, Ali AM, Khan M, Barbaryan A. Tumor Lysis Syndrome in Solid Tumors: An up to Date Review of the Literature. Rare Tumors. 2014 May.6(2):5389. Pubmedid: 25002953. Pmcid: PMC4083673.
• Mirrakhimov AE, Ali AM, Barbaryan A, Prueksaritanond S, Hussain N. Primary Nephrotic Syndrome in Adults as a Risk Factor for Pulmonary Embolism: An Up-to-Date Review of the Literature. Int J Nephrol. 2014 Jun.2014:916760. Pubmedid: 24829800. Pmcid: PMC4009182.
• Ali AM, Barbaryan A, Zdunek T, Khan M, Voore P, Mirrakhimov AE. Spontaneous tumor lysis syndrome in a patient with cholangiocarcinoma. J Gastrointest Oncol. 2014 Apr.5(2):E46-E49. Pubmedid: 24772347. Pmcid: PMC3999622.
• Mirrakhimov AE, Ali AM, Barbaryan A, Anusim N, Saba R, Kwatra SG, Hussain N, Zdunek T, Gilman AD. Pancytopenia in a 70-year-old african-american male: an unusual presentation of a rare disease. Case Rep Hematol. 2014 Apr.2014:354810. Pubmedid: 24782931. Pmcid: PMC3978406.
• Prueksaritanond S, Barbaryan A, Mirrakhimov AE, Liana P, Ali AM, Gilman AD. A puzzle of hemolytic anemia, iron and vitamin B12 deficiencies in a 52-year-old male. Case Rep Hematol. 2013 Oct.2013:708489. Pubmedid: 24083040. Pmcid: PMC3780631.
• Barbaryan A, Ali AM, Hussain N, Mirrakhimov AE. A rare cause of superior vena cava syndrome. BMJ Case Rep. 2013 Mar.2013. Pubmedid: 23531934. Pmcid: PMC3618806.
• Ali AM, Mirrakhimov AE. Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance associated with blue finger syndrome. BMJ Case Rep. 2013 Jan.2013. Pubmedid: 23291824. Pmcid: PMC3603850.
• Ali AM, Barbaryan A, Prueksaritanond S, Mirrakhimov AE. An uncommon cause of haemoptysis in a 69-year-old women. BMJ Case Rep. 2013 Aug.2013. Pubmedid: 23921695. Pmcid: PMC3761429.
• Barbaryan A, Ali AM, Kwatra SG, Saba R, Prueksaritanond S, Hussain N, Mirrakhimov AE, Vladimirskiy N, Zdunek T, Gilman AD. Primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the ascending colon. Rare Tumors. 2013 Apr.5(2):85-88. Pubmedid: 23888223. Pmcid: PMC3719118.
• Anbalagan M, Ali A, Jones RK, Marsden CG, Sheng M, Carrier L, Bu Y, Hangauer D, Rowan BG. Peptidomimetic Src/pretubulin inhibitor KX-01 alone and in combination with paclitaxel suppresses growth, metastasis in human ER/PR/HER2-negative tumor xenografts. Mol Cancer Ther. 2012 Sep.11(9):1936-1947. Pubmedid: 22784709. Pmcid: PMC3462004.
• Mirrakhimov AE, Velasquez Kho E, Ali A. Painless Livedoid Vasculopathy in a Patient with G20210A Prothrombin Gene Mutation. Case Rep Med. 2012 Sep.2012:910231. Pubmedid: 22988463. Pmcid: PMC3440924.
• Anbalagan M, Moroz K, Ali A, Carrier L, Glodowski S, Rowan BG. Subcellular localization of total and activated Src kinase in African American and Caucasian breast cancer. PLoS One. 2012 Aug.7(3):e33017. Pubmedid: 22457730. Pmcid: PMC3310861.