The IWMF is proud to welcome two new members to its Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) chaired by Dr. Steven Ansell of the Mayo Clinic and Dr. Stephen Treon of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The new members, Dr. Jorge Castillo from Dana-Farber, Boston, USA, and Dr. Efstathios Kastritis of Athens, Greece, were invited to participate because of their expertise in specific research areas identified by the IWMF-LLS Strategic Research Roadmap for WM.
The Strategic Research Roadmap initiative began in October 2015 with a Request for Proposals (RFP) from prominent cancer researchers. Click here for more information. It continues today on a yearly basis. These proposals are evaluated by members of the Scientific Advisory Committee, whose recommendations are passed on to the IWMF Research Committee and to the IWMF Board of Trustees for final selection and approval. The focus areas include cell signaling, genomics and epigenomics, immunotherapy, and the bone marrow and tumor microenvironment. Funding of new proposals from our latest RFP is expected to begin in late summer 2020.
Dr. Castillo was born in Peru, received his medical degree in Mexico City, and completed his Internal Medicine and Hematology & Oncology training at the University of Massachusetts and Brown University, respectively. Dr. Castillo is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and serves as the Clinical Director of the Bing Center for Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and he sees approximately 1,000 patients with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia per year in his Clinic. Dr. Castillo is also the principal investigator in a series of innovative clinical trials evaluating highly effective non-chemotherapeutic approaches for patients with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia. Dr. Castillo is a member of the NCCN Committee for Myeloma, Amyloidosis and Waldenström Macroglobulinemia. He has authored more than 230 peer-reviewed articles and has published his research in the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology and Blood.
Efstathios Kastritis, MD, is Associate Professor of Clinical Therapeutics/Medical Oncology at the Department of Clinical Therapeutics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Medicine. He graduated National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Medicine and completed residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Department of Clinical Therapeutics. He received his Doctorate from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and was a post-doctoral Fellow at the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center, Division of Hematologic Neoplasia, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His research interests include plasma cell dyscrasias, especially Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia, multiple myeloma, and amyloidosis. He has authored or co-authored more than 260 papers published in peer reviewed journals with main focus on clinical and translational research including the treatment of plasma cell dyscrasias, identification of prognostic factors and management of disease complications. He is participating in many phase 2 and 3 clinical trials as a Principal Investigator or Sub-Investigator in multiple myeloma, amyloidosis and Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia.