The Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Channel on VJHemOnc is an independent medical education platform, supported with funding from AstraZeneca (Diamond), AbbVie (Platinum), BeOne Medicines (Silver) and Lilly (Silver). Supporters have no influence on the production of content. The levels of sponsorship listed are reflective of the amount of funding given.
The Community Focus Channel on VJHemOnc is an independent medical education platform, supported with funding from Johnson & Johnson (Gold). Supporters have no influence on the production of content. The levels of sponsorship listed are reflective of the amount of funding given.
SOHO 2025 | Advice for young investigators entering the CLL space and key areas of interest
Meghan Thompson, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, shares advice for young investigators entering the chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) space, commenting on the progress that has been made. Dr Thompson emphasizes the importance of identifying patient populations and disease spaces that are of interest and passion, and highlights the potential for young researchers to explore areas such as immune system restoration. This interview took place at the 13th Annual Meeting of the Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO 2025) in Houston, TX.
These works are owned by Magdalen Medical Publishing (MMP) and are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All rights are reserved.
Transcript
So CLL is a really exciting disease because there’s been a ton of progress and we have a lot of great tools in the toolbox right now but there’s still unmet needs for heavily pre-treated patients, Richter’s transformation, and this question of sequencing therapies as well. I would tell young investigators to find a patient population and disease space that you’re really passionate about exploring...
So CLL is a really exciting disease because there’s been a ton of progress and we have a lot of great tools in the toolbox right now but there’s still unmet needs for heavily pre-treated patients, Richter’s transformation, and this question of sequencing therapies as well. I would tell young investigators to find a patient population and disease space that you’re really passionate about exploring. I think with CLL, in particular, there’s a lot of heterogeneity in the patient population. So there are some patients who don’t require any therapy, but still require oncology care and particularly supportive care because there are immune consequences of having CLL, even when your CLL is not treated. So I think that’s a future area that’s ripe for young investigators to investigate. How do we restore the immune system? How do different treatments impact the immune system to really decrease infections for CLL patients? And then ongoing clinical trials, as well as looking at kind of real-world data, retrospective series is a good place to start with research, and there are many, many questions that we’re not going to have the answer to with clinical trials that can really be explored first by retrospective data sets, so I think there’s a lot ripe for young investigators in that space.
This transcript is AI-generated. While we strive for accuracy, please verify this copy with the video.
Read more...
