Faculty Biographies

Dr Patrick Brown is associate professor of oncology and pediatrics and director of the Pediatric Leukemia Program at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD.

Dr Brown earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY, and a master’s degree in philosophy and politics from Oxford University in England. After earning his medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, Dr Brown was an intern and resident in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins, and subsequently completed a joint clinical fellowship with Johns Hopkins and the National Cancer Institute in pediatric hematology/oncology.

Dr Brown is the vice chair for relapse and an executive steering committee member of the ALL Committee in the Children’s Oncology Group, and chairs the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s Clinical Guidelines Panels for adult and pediatric ALL. His research focuses on developing molecularly targeted therapies for high-risk childhood leukemias.

Fatih Demirkan, MD, is professor of hematology and faculty member of the Division of Hematology at Dokuz Eylul University Medical School, Izmir, Turkey. He also serves as director of the Blood Bank and Apheresis Unit at Dokuz Eylul University Hospital. He earned his medical degree from Ankara University School of Medicine, Turkey. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Hacettepe University School of Medicine, Ankara, and a fellowship in hematology at Dokuz Eylul University School of Medicine. During his fellowship he also held an appointment as a visiting fellow at Washington University School of Medicine, Barnes-Jewish Hospital Blood Bank, St. Louis, MO, USA.

Dr Demirkan’s research interest areas are transfusion medicine and acute and chronic leukemias. He has participated in large international trials on acute lymphocytic leukemia (TOWER) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (HELIOS, ILLUMINATE). He is currently Dokuz Eylul University’s clinical research coordinator, in the Health Innovation Coordination Office, and clinical coordinator of a recently licensed phase I clinical research unit. He is a member of the Turkish Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Acute Leukemia study groups, and active in many clinical studies as principal investigator.

Elias Jabbour, MD, is professor of medicine, Department of Leukemia, at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), Houston, TX. He graduated from the Saint Joseph University School of Medicine, Beirut, and joined the Hotel Dieu de France University Hospital as a resident. He pursued a fellowship in hematology-oncology at the Gustave Roussy Institute, France. In 2003, he joined MDACC as a fellow in the Department of Hematology/Leukemia and Stem Cell Transplantation. He later joined the faculty in the Leukemia Department as assistant professor.

Dr Jabbour is actively involved in research both in acute and chronic forms of leukemia. He is currently investigating an innovative strategy combining new monoclonal antibodies such as inotuzumab ozogamicin, a conjugated anti-CD22 antibody, and blinatumomab with minimal chemotherapy. If successful, such strategies will likely increase the cure rates of adult patients with ALL to the high level achieved in pediatric patients.

Dr Jabbour has taken an active role in the medical community, participating in numerous scientific meetings. He has authored or co-authored numerous publications (>550 peer-reviewed publications) and abstracts, and serves as a reviewer for many scientific journals.

Hale Ören, MD, is a professor of pediatrics and a pediatric hematologist in the Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey. She is the head of the Department of Pediatric Hematology.

The main areas of Dr Ören’s research are childhood leukemias, hemostasis, and thrombosis. She chaired the Turkish Pediatric Hematology Association and co-chaired the Turkish Society of Hematology, and still works in national leukemia and hemostasis/thrombosis subgroups. She is currently representing Turkey in the International AML-BFM Extended Group.

Dr Ören has authored or co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed papers in varied SCI/SCI-extended journals. She has written several book chapters and has given lectures on the diagnosis, clinical and laboratory findings, and management of childhood leukemias. She is a member of the editorial board for the Turkish Journal of Hematology.

Rob Pieters, MD, PhD, is chief medical officer at the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology and professor of pediatric oncology at the University of Utrecht, both in Utrecht, the Netherlands. He obtained his medical degree at the Free University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, followed by his PhD with a thesis on drug resistance in leukemia. After finishing his training in pediatrics, he received a clinical fellowship in pediatric oncology from the Dutch Cancer Society. From 1999–2014, he was head of pediatric oncology/hematology at the Erasmus MC-Sophia Children’s Hospital in Rotterdam. From 2000–2017 he was professor of pediatric oncology at Erasmus University Rotterdam, and is now professor of pediatric oncology at the University of Utrecht. Prof Pieters is one of the founders of the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology. This national center is a unique innovation in health care, as it has merged experts and expertise from all former childhood cancer centers in the Netherlands, thereby establishing the largest center in Europe for treatment and research of childhood cancer.

Prof Pieters chairs and is a member of different boards of international childhood cancer study groups and data safety monitoring boards for childhood cancer. He is the recipient of several awards, including the 1992 SIOP Schweisguth Prize for his research and the 2014 ODAS Award for his achievements in pediatric cancer. In 2018, he received a Royal knighthood decoration as Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau for his work and dedication to children with cancer, especially for founding the Princess Máxima Center. Prof Pieters is well published in the medical literature, with over 600 book chapters and papers on childhood cancer in peer-reviewed journals.

José Maria Ribera is chief of the Clinical Hematology Department and the Stem Cell Transplantation Unit at the Catalan Institute of Oncology University Hospital ‘Germans Trias i Pujol’ in Badalona, Barcelona, Spain. He is also a professor of medicine and hematology at the Autònoma University of Barcelona. After gaining his medical degree, Prof Ribera specialized in hematology at the Hospital Clínic Barcelona, before completing his PhD in the Clinical Hematology Department.

Prof Ribera’s main areas of scientific interest include acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and lymphomas arising in HIV-infected patients. President of the foundation of the cooperative Spanish Hematology Treatment Program (PETHEMA) and chairman of the PETHEMA Adult ALL Program, Prof Ribera is a member of the steering committee of the European LeukemiaNet and of the European Working Group for Adult ALL (EWALL). A reviewer for many hematology and oncology journals, he has authored or co-authored more than 485 articles in international peer-reviewed journals (H index 60), as well as 100 book chapters on hematology and oncology.

Dr Andre Schuh is a staff physician at the University Health Network/Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, ON. He served as head of the leukemia program at Princess Margaret from 2010–2014, and as medical director, malignant hematology from 2012–2018. He obtained his medical degree at the University of Toronto, and thereafter received subspecialty certification in internal medicine and in hematology, followed by a 4-year molecular biology fellowship.

Dr Schuh’s current interests include acute leukemia management and clinical trials (especially in the older patient), myelodysplastic syndromes, and the development of province- and country-wide leukemia management strategies.