Rick J. Jones, MD

Dr. Robert Brodsky is a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His area of clinical expertise is classical hematology and haploidentical bone marrow transplant for sickle cell disease and aplastic anemia.Dr. Brodsky serves as the director of the Division of Hematology and the T32 Training Program. He is the Johns Hopkins Family Professor of Medicine and Oncology. He received his M.D. from Hahnemann University. He completed his residency at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He performed a fellowship in hematology at the National Institutes of Health and a fellowship in oncology at Johns Hopkins. He joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1997. From 2017 to 2022 he served as Associate Editor to The Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI) and Secretary to American Society of Hematology (ASH). He serves as President of The American Society of Hematology (ASH) in 2023.

Mark J. Levis, M.D., Ph.D., professor of oncology, medicine and pharmacology in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, co-directs the Hematologic Malignancies and Bone Marrow Transplantation Program and directs the Adult Leukemia Service at the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center. In addition to his role within the Kimmel Cancer Center, he serves on the faculty for the Johns Hopkins Graduate Training Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, a Ph.D. program that prepares scientists to conduct laboratory research at the cellular and molecular level that is designed to have a direct impact on the understanding of human diseases.Dr. Levis has expertise in acute and chronic myeloid leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and myelodysplastic syndromes.Dr. Levis received his medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, where he also earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry. He completed a residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins, followed by fellowships in medical oncology.Dr. Levis is a member of the American Society of Hematology, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the European Hematology Association. He is an ad hoc member of the Oncology Drug Advisory Committee, as well as an ad hoc manuscript referee for peer-reviewed journals such as New England Journal of Medicine; Leukemia; Clinical Cancer Research; and The American Journal of Hematology.Dr. Levis has earned numerous awards, such as the Daniel Nathans Research Award from Johns Hopkins University, the Osler Housestaff Teaching Award, the Director's Teaching Award in Clinical Science, and the Advanced Clinical Research Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology.Dr. Levis’ laboratory research focuses on the development of molecularly-targeted therapies for leukemia. He is actively involved in the pre-clinical and clinical development of small molecule inhibitors of protein kinases, including FLT3. The research involves studying the biochemical effects of these inhibitors on samples taken from leukemia patients, with the broad goal of identifying and validating novel molecular therapeutic targets in these hematopoietic malignancies. While Dr. Levis plays a key role in the pre-clinical development of these therapies, he is particularly interested in translating this research to the bedside of his patients by using correlative studies to incorporate these novel therapies into existing treatments. In addition to his work in both the clinic and the laboratory, Dr. Levis has also conducted talks, mentorship and teaching lectures, and published extensively in the top journals in his field, including Leukemia; Blood; and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Carol Ann Huff, M.D., is an Associate Professor of Oncology and Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Medical Director for the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. After completing a Bachelor of Science in Zoology at Duke University in Durham, NC, Dr. Huff received her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. She completed her internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins and was an Assistant Chief of Service in the Department of Medicine before completing her fellowship training in the Department of Oncology at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Huff is a nationally-recognized expert in the treatment of multiple myeloma and amyloidosis and in the development of new biologically-based treatment strategies. She has sought to better understand the mechanisms for recurrence and the inability to cure these diseases. Through this research, the identification of a myeloma cancer stem cell has emerged, and efforts to target these cells through combination therapy in clinical trials are ongoing. In collaboration with Dr. William Matsui, Dr. Huff has identified a flow cytometric-based blood analysis for multiple myeloma patients that can be used to quantify the number of myeloma cancer stem cells and track how these cells respond to treatment. Their efforts have revealed that changes in the number of myeloma cancer stem cells can predict recurrence in myeloma patients before clinical evidence of recurrence is detectable. Using this blood analysis, as well as growth of these cells from bone marrow samples taken from patients with myeloma, they have begun studying therapeutic strategies to target these cells based on cell surface markers and enzymatic pathways that are important to the survival of myeloma stem cells. Dr. Huff is the recipient of multiple awards for clinical and teaching excellence including the Kimmel Cancer Center's Director’s Teaching Award in Oncology in both 2006 and 2012. During her medical school training, Dr. Huff was the recipient of a Howard Hughes Medical Institute-National Institutes of Health (NIH) fellowship. She has received grant support from the NIH, Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, and Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. and LLS, and is the principal investigator of numerous investigator-initiated and industry- sponsored clinical trials. She is the author of numerous publications and book chapters not only on multiple myeloma and related disorders, but also on bone marrow transplantation and a range of topics related to internal medicine and oncology. Her current research efforts involve active collaboration with the preclinical laboratories in the development and testing phases of new therapeutic approaches, as well as a lead effort in the national African American Myeloma Consortium seeking to better understand genetic determinants of the disease.