Participating Institutions & Investigators

Dr. Abonour is Professor of Medicine and Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and a physician/researcher at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center in Indianapolis. He also is the director of the Multiple Myeloma Program and related plasma cell disorders. After receiving his medical degrees from the University of Damascus Syria, he trained in internal medicine, immunology, hematology and bone marrow transplantation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Abonour’s research efforts focus on finding novel agents and combination therapies to better manage patients with multiple myeloma. He is active in many national and international cooperative groups, and he serves on several key committees that help shape the practice of hematology. Dr. Abonour’s work has been published in Nature Medicine and the New England Journal of Medicine among others.

The principal investigator William Bensinger, MD has considerable experience in the treatment and management of patients with multiple myeloma. Dr. Bensinger has worked in the field of medical oncology/hematology for more than 30 years. He has designed and implemented numerous clinical trials in the fields of stem cell transplantation, cell biology, and medical oncology and for the last 10 years has focused mainly in the treatment of multiple myeloma. He has published more than 200 articles in a wide variety of journals. Currently Dr. Bensinger is the PI on a number of active clinical trials for patients with multiple myeloma.

Dr. Bensinger sees patients with multiple myeloma on a regular basis through a weekly myeloma clinic. Dr. Bensinger directly manages a number of myeloma patients and provides consultative services for outside physicians on an annual basis. Almost all the directly managed patients are enrolled in clinical trials with some patients enrolled on more than one trial sequentially. In addition he provides stem cell transplant consultations for multiple myeloma patients every year. Dr. Bensinger works as the senior attending physician for the autologous stem cell transplant service for 4 months per year. In this capacity Dr. Bensinger supervise a group of primary care physicians and physician assistants who directly care for patients with lymphoma, leukemia and multiple myeloma undergoing autologous stem cell transplant.

Dr. Camacho has over 25 years’ experience as a Medical Oncologist and Hematologist. In 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, he was recognized by his peers as being among the area’s Top Doctors from survey results published by Palm Springs Life magazine. He was recruited to the Comprehensive Cancer Center in 1995 from Loma Linda (CA) University, where he earned his medical degree and was on the teaching staff. Dr. Camacho also was a fellow in Hematology and Immunology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology and Hematology. He specializes in general hematology and malignant hematology with emphasis on leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma. In addition to his duties as Medical Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dr. Camacho serves as Medical Director of the Hospice Program at Desert Regional Medical Center.

Adam D. Cohen, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, where his research focuses on multiple myeloma and amyloidosis. Dr. Cohen obtained his medical degree and internal medicine residency training from the University of Pennsylvania. He then completed a fellowship in hematology/oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY, where he was also a Research Associate in the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology.

Dr. Cohen is a member of various medical and scientific societies including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, and the American Society of Hematology. Dr. Cohen is a reviewer for Annals of Oncology, Cytotherapy, the Journal of Translational Medicine, Blood, Amyloid, and Clinical Cancer Research. He is an author on over 50 scientific publications, book chapters, and reviews.

Dr. Gasparetto’s career has focused on translating new approaches to target the myeloma stem cell to the bedside. Her primary research interests are in developing immunotherapy approaches to treating multiple myeloma particularly in conjunction with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Current projects include post autologous transplant anti-tumor vaccine therapy, and allogeneic immunotherapy for myeloma. Targeted approaches include combination therapy with multiple targeted agents for high risk disease. She is a member of the NCCN guidelines committee, ALLIANCE Multiple Myeloma Committee, IMWG, and is CIBMTR Myeloma Committee Co-Chair.

Dr. Lentzsch is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University and at New York Presbyterian Hospital/ Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan. She is the Director of the Multiple Myeloma and Amyloidosis Service at New York Presbyterian Hospital/ Columbia University Medical Center. After receiving her degrees from the Humboldt University/ Charité Berlin, Germany, she completed her residency and fellowship at Humboldt University. She did a research fellowship, studying the mechanism of action of thalidomide and its derivatives in multiple myeloma, in the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center under the mentorship of Dr Kenneth Anderson at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA.

Dr Lentzsch was recruited in August 2004 to the University of Pittsburgh and University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), PA, USA, and served as Clinical Director of the Multiple Myeloma Program at UPCI. Since March 2012, Dr. Lentzsch is the Director of the Multiple Myeloma and Amyloidosis Service at Columbia University Medical Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons. She cares primarily for patients with plasma cell dyscrasia including MGUS, Multiple Myeloma, Amyloidosis, POEMS and Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia.

Dr Lentzsch has a high interest in clinical research. She is the principal investigator of many phase 1, 2 and 3 clinical trials, including investigator-initiated studies for newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, for maintenance following transplant for multiple myeloma and amyloidosis. Dr Lentzsch also served as national principal investigator in Germany evaluating the role of lenalidomide in the treatment of relapsed Multiple Myeloma. As Co-Chair of the Pathways Committee, she played a major role in the development of the Multiple Myeloma Pathways at University Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Dr Lentzsch’ translational laboratory research work provided critical insights to understanding of the mechanism of action of thalidomide and IMiDs in multiple myeloma and bone disease. Her research is funded by various grants and awards from e.g. the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the German Cancer Foundation, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. As a frequent lecturer, Dr. Lentzsch regularly presents at annual meetings of the American Society of Hematology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology, of which he is also a member. Dr Lentzsch has published over 50 original articles, editorials, chapters, many as the lead or senior author, in such prestigious journals as Journal of Clinical Investigations, Blood, Cancer Research, and Leukemia.

Dr. Kaufman is Assistant Professor, Hematology and Medical Oncology, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University and Associate Director, Hematology and Medical Oncology Fellowship Program. He is an active clinical and translational researcher in the fields of multiple myeloma, lymphoma, and bone marrow transplant. Dr. Kaufman has presented his clinical research on multiple myeloma at invited institutional lectures, as well as national and international Hematology and Oncology conferences.

Dr. Kaufman earned his Medical Degree from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. He subsequently completed his Residency in Internal Medicine and his Fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at Emory University.

Jatin J Shah is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Lymphoma & Myeloma. He joined the section in September 2007 and is a full time clinician with 90% of his clinical time devoted to myeloma patients developing a clinical expertise in multiple myeloma. He is the PI on a number of planned/ongoing phase 1 trials in relapsed/refractory myeloma and additional trials under active development with a focus in new drug development. He has developed a large clinical research portfolio and expertise in early phase I and II trials.

Dr. Stadtmauer is Director of the Hematologic Malignancies and Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. He has been associated with the university for 23 years. He was the Co-Chairman of the Bone Marrow Transplant Committee of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) for ten years and is a member of the Myeloma and Leukemia Core Committees. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the NIH sponsored Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trial Network and a founding member of the Aptium Myeloma Consortium.

Dr. Stadtmauer is widely published on the subjects of multiple myeloma, acute and chronic leukemia, and autologous bone marrow transplantation. He has been appointed to the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation. His works have appeared in such premier peer-reviewed journals as the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, British Journal of Haematology, Blood, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Nature Medicine and Annals of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Stadtmauer graduated with a degree with distinction in biochemistry from Cornell University and then completed his MD at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He served his internship and residency in internal medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY. He earned his Fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania where he founded the Bone Marrow Transplant Program in 1987 and the Myeloma Program in 1999.