Meet the faculty

Her area of expertise and research encompasses acquired and germline predisposition to bone marrow failure, MDS/AML, GATA2 deficiency, RUNX1 Familial Platelet disorder, VEXAS, RALD, hematolymphoid malignancies, and in immunological disorders with bone marrow pathology. 

Dr. Calvo earned her B.A. from Reed College in Portland, OR and M.D. Ph.D. from the University of California San Diego in 2003.  Her Ph.D. research focused on the role of homeobox genes, including HoxA9, E2A-PBX1 and Nup98-HoxA9, in the development of acute leukemia.

Dr. Calvo joined the National Cancer Institute at NIH in 2003 as a resident in Anatomic Pathology and later as a fellow in Hematopathology.  In 2008 Dr. Calvo joined the Department of Laboratory Medicine in the NIH Clinical Center.  She is board certified in Hematopathology and Anatomic Pathology.  Dr. Calvo has published over 100 research and clinical manuscripts, authored multiple book chapters, is a consultant on numerous clinical trials at NIH. 

She is heading the coordinating study center of the European Working Group of MDS in Childhood (EWOG-MDS) at the University Medical Center of Freiburg. In addition, she is designated chair of the German EWOG-MDS group. The research group of Miriam Erlacher has a strong focus in genetic leukemia predisposition and cell death signaling in hematological disorders.

He serves as an attending in the Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. His scientific interest is translational research in the field of juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). He is a long-time member of the European Working Group of MDS in Childhood (EWOG-MDS) and the Coordinating Study Center of this group at his institution. Christian Flotho is standing adviser for the molecular diagnostic reference laboratory for JMML in EWOG-MDS. His research group participated in the discovery of the main Ras pathway driver mutations in JMML and pioneered the description of epigenetic abnormalities in this disorder. His work contributed to clinical studies of DNA methyltransferase inhibitors in JMML.

Henrik Hasle is a founding member of the European Working group on Myelodysplastic Syndromes in Childhood (EWOG-MDS) and served as chairman of the group 1998-2002.

Henrik Hasle was the chairman of the acute myeloid leukemia (AML) group of the Nordic Society for Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (NOPHO) 2002 to 2010 and the chairman of the International-BFM-AML study group from 2016 to 2022.

Cofounder of the Adult Life after Childhood Cancer in Scandinavia (ALiCCS) research program on late effects in Nordic children with cancer.

Henrik Hasle is the author or coauthor of more than 300 peer reviewed journal articles mainly dealing with myeloid leukemia in children, genetic predisposition to cancer, and late effects after cancer therapy.

Clinical Interests: MDS, Aplastic anaemia and bone marrow failures, PNH and myeloid malignancies. Leads the King’s National Paroxysmal Nocturnal Haemoglobinuria (PNH) service. 

Translational Research: Molecular/immunological pathogenesis of MDS and aplastic anaemia, particular focus on overlap disorders.  Bloodwise foundation and British Society of Haematology (BSH) senior clinical research fellow.

Clinical Trials: Passionate about delivery of clinical trials. Current National Coordinating Investigator for a number of Phase 1/2/3 clinical trials. Current drive is to bring novel therapies for PNH, AA, TP53 mutated myeloid neoplasms and improvement of thrombocytopenia. 

Scienticific advisor for patient advocacy group (MDS UK) and member of the MDS NCRN working group. Member of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation Severe Aplastic Anaemia Working Party.

Authored/co-authored over 150 articles in peer-reviwed journals and has contributed to book chapters in major textbooks.

He has been the President of the Italian Association for Pediatric Haematology-Oncology AIEOP from 2004 to 2006, and served as chairman of the European EWOG-MDS consortium from 2005 to 2011. Professor Locatelli leads the largest program of childhood allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation in Italy. He is an expert of hematological malignant and non-malignant disorders of childhood. He is the chairperson of the current diagnostic and treatment protocol for children with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia of childhood, and chairs the working group on relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Italy. He is chairperson of the international protocol of chemotherapy-free treatment of childhood acute promyelocytic leukemia. His current main research interests are CAR T cells for both B-cell malignancies, brain neoplasia and solid tumors, T cells genetically modified with a suicide gene to accelerate immune recovery after allogeneic cell transplantation and gene therapy/genome editing for hemoglobinopathies. Prof. Locatelli is the author or co-author of more than 1.270 peer-reviewed articles published in international journals; with more than 56.00 citations, he has an H-index of 115 (Scopus source). Since February 2019 until now, Prof. Locatelli is serving as President of the National Council of Health (Consiglio Superiore di Sanità).

After obtaining a PhD that explored multidrug resistance in acute lymphoblastic leukemia and neuroblastoma, her research activities focused on translational projects in childhood leukemia with a main interest in myeloid malignancies, including MDS and JMML, and resistant disease. She is vice-president of the Belgian Society for Pediatric Hematology-Oncology (BSPHO), chair of the I-BFM AML group, member of several international working groups on pediatric leukemia and MDS, Belgian national coordinator for EWOG-MDS, member of the ITCC-hematology committee and of several protocol steering committees. She has a long-standing experience as national coordinating physician/PI of numerous clinical trials, both academic studies and early phase clinical trials including CAR-T trials.

Her main scientific interest is translational research in the field of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) in young individuals, bone marrow failure disorders and juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML). She is a founding member of the European Working Group of MDS in Childhood (EWOG-MDS) and chairs the Coordinating Study Center of this group at her institution. With her research group, she contributed to the identification and description of genetic syndromes with predisposition to myeloid neoplasia. Her team has led the discovery on epigenetic subclasses and efficacy of DNA methyltransferase inhibitors in JMML. Working with large international cohorts, her team characterized clinical phenotypes, genetic associations and treatment outcome in pediatric patients with GATA2 deficiency and SAMD9/SAMD9L germline disease. Dr. Niemeyer has served at a number of international leadership positions; she is a recipient of the Jean Bernard Lifetime Achievement Award by the European Hematology Association.

Dr Phillip Scheinberg graduated in Medicine from the University of Santo Amaro, São Paulo, Brazil in 1995. He then undertook residencies in Internal Medicine at the University of São Paulo (1996–1997) and at Mount Sinai Medical Center, Florida, USA (1997–2000). From 2000 to 2001, he worked as Medical Chief Resident at Mount Sinai Medical Center. 

Dr Scheinberg undertook his hematology-oncology fellowship and training at the Hematology Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health from 2001 to 2006. He then remained on staff at the Hematology Branch of the NHLBI from 2006 to 2011, where he developed several clinical protocols in bone marrow failure syndromes as well as conducted laboratory research in bone marrow failure syndromes, bone marrow transplantation, cellular immunity against viral, tumoral and allogeneic antigens. He is currently Head of the Division of Hematology, Hospital A Beneficência Portuguesa, São Paulo, Brazil. 

Dr. Shimamura’s research focuses on laboratory and clinical studies of bone marrow failure and leukemia predisposition. Her group has identified new genetic causes of these conditions. Her research team’s studies of Shwachman Diamond Syndrome identified distinct acquired genetic mutation patterns that can either promote evolution to MDS or relieve the underlying germline genetic stressor through somatic reversion. These studies inform surveillance strategies to identify patients at high risk of leukemia which guide interventions preventing leukemia development. Dr. Shimamura founded and directs the North American Shwachman Diamond Syndrome Registry (sdsregistry.org). She co-founded with Dr. David Williams the North American Pediatric Aplastic Anemia Consortium (NAPAAC), and she currently leads the NAPAAC Coordinating Center. Dr. Shimamura also co-leads the Severe Chronic Neutropenia International Registry (SCNIR) in the United States. Learn more about her work at: shimamuralab.org.

Dr. Stieglitz was study chair for ADVL1512, a phase II clinical trial sponsored by the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) that tested the safety and efficacy of trametinib, an oral MEK inhibitor in children with relapsed JMML. This trial met its primary objective with a 50% objective response rate. Dr. Stieglitz is also study chair of a clinical trial, TACL2020-004, that will risk stratify newly diagnosed JMML patients based on DNA methylation and will combine azacitidine with trametinib. Lower-risk patients will potentially avoid stem cell transplantation for the first time in any trial for patients with JMML.

She is chair of the European Working Group for Severe Aplastic Anemia (EWOG-SAA) and a long standing member of the HSCT committee of EWOG-MDS. She has made major contributions to the development of treatment protocols for rare hematological disorders including inherited bone marrow failure syndromes. t of Hematology, St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Memphis. 

My lab works on exploring the genomic landscape and biology of BMF and MDS predisposition syndromes, with focus on GATA2 and SAMD9/SAMD9L disorders. Education: MD and PhD, Charite Medical School, Berlin and Cleveland Clinic, USA (2008/2009); Residency in Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine (2014), and Fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, University of Freiburg, Germany (2017). Since 2018: Assistant Faculty Member (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Hematology, St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Memphis.