Leadership

The PCROWD Study is run by a team of people who are both researchers and clinicians who treat patients. They are working at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, but this study is open to people across the United States. Patients will not need to travel to personally meet with the team.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Chief, Division of Hematologic Malignancies

Co-Chief, Stem Cell Transplantation

Harvard Medical School

Professor of Medicine

Robert J. Soiffer, MD

Dr Robert Soiffer Dana-Farber and Harvard Medical School

"Cancer patients are looking for answers, hope, and a breakthrough that will see them through until tomorrow. I want to be part of that...."

 Video Intro

 Research Overview Page

Dr Irene Ghobrial Dana-Farber and Harvard Medical School

Irene M. Ghobrial, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Director, Clinical Investigator Research Program

Senior Physician

Harvard Medical School

Professor of Medicine

"We intend to lead a paradigm shift that will ultimately change the way blood cancers are diagnosed and treated. By focusing on early precursor conditions, we will have the ability to develop better targeted therapeutic agents to prevent progression or even eliminate the disease before it leads to symptoms'"

 Video Intro

 Research Overview Page

Benjamin L. Ebert, MD, PhD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Chair, Medical Oncology

Harvard Medical School

Nicola David-Pinedo Professor of Medicine

"Just in the last few years, we've [learned] pretty much all the drivers that cause cancer...Clearly, some individuals are predisposed to developing cancer – not the majority, but more than we thought initially. Probably ten to fifteen percent have some predisposition, and there are rarer individuals who have a massive predisposition so great that there's almost a guarantee that they will get a particular type of cancer."

Dr Benjamin Ebert Dana-Farber and Harvard Medical School

 Research Overview Page

David Steensma, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Institute Physician, Hematologic Oncology

Harvard Medical School

Associate Professor of Medicine

Dr David Steensma Dana-Farber and Harvard Medical School

 Video Intro

 Research Overview Page

"Through PCROWD, we are attempting to understand how diseases like MDS and other ‘precursor’ conditions arise and evolve, with the hope that we can interrupt that evolution and preserve health. The ultimate goal is to prevent bone marrow stem cell DNA mutations from evolving into MDS, and MDS from evolving into AML – and to prevent comparable evolution in other disease. We’ve learned that these mutations are exceptionally common as people age; by the time they turn 70 years old, at least 15-20% of people have an MDS precursor condition called “clonal hematopoiesis”, which is also a major risk factor for heart attacks and stroke."

Allison Higgins