Management of Lymphomas: A Case-Based Approach

This book will provide an overview of how to manage patients with lymphoma in the format of a series of engaging case studies. Lymphomas are cancers that originate in the lymphatic system. There are two main types of lymphoma: Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. These lymphomas comprise various subtypes with prognosis and treatment depending on the stage and type of the cancer. Lymphoma is a major global health problem; non-Hodgkin lymphoma in particular is the tenth most common type of cancer worldwide. In response to this there have been a number of significant advances in the available treatment options for lymphoma with new breakthrough drugs being approved or registered for approval. In light of this, this case study book will be an extremely timely guide for all hematologists, oncologists, and healthcare professionals wishing to keep up-to-date with these recent developments. The format of this book is also particularly appealing as it offer readers a practical approach to the clinical management of patients with these conditions as suggested by leading physicians from the City of Hope National Medical Center in California, USA in an era of vast therapeutic development.

Jasmine Zain MD, is an associate clinical professor in the Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation. Additionally, she is the Tim Nesvig Lymphoma Research Fellow, as well as Director of the T cell Lymphoma Program at the Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center at City of Hope. Dr Zain obtained her medical degree from Fatima Jinnah Medical College for Women in Lahore, Pakistan. She went on to complete an internship and residency at North Shore Hospital of Forest Hills in Forest Hills, NY, followed by a hematology/oncology fellowship at New York University Medical Center. She then took a position at The Brooklyn Hospital as an attending physician, followed by an appointment as assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Connecticut. Dr Zain first joined City of Hope where she specialized in the treatment of patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, allogeneic stem cell transplantation, and early phase clinical trials in hematologic malignancies. She left City of Hope to assume a leadership position as Director of the bone marrow transplant program at New York University Langone Medical Center, before joining the faculty at Columbia University in 2012. Triple-board certified in hematology, oncology and internal medicine, Dr Zain is an active member of several professional associations, and has published more than 78 peer-reviewed publications, abstracts, and book chapters. She served as an Associate Editor for two journals in her field – Clinical Lymphoma and Myeloma, and Clinical Cancer Research – and has been invited to speak both nationally and internationally. Dr Zain is a superb clinician, a productive and creative clinical researcher, and an outstanding and experienced teacher.

Larry W Kwak MD, PhD, joined City of Hope as inaugural Cancer Center Associate Director, Translational Research & Developmental Therapeutics in April 2015. Dr Kwak graduated from the 6-year combined BS-MD Honors Program in Medical Education from Northwestern University Medical School in 1982 and earned his PhD in tumor cell biology there in 1984. He then completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in medical oncology at Stanford University Medical Center in California. Thereafter, he served as Head of the Vaccine Biology Section, Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch, at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for 12 years. His NCI laboratory is credited with the pioneering bench-to-clinic development of a therapeutic cancer vaccine for B-cell malignancies, which was recently reported as positive in a landmark national Phase III clinical trial. This was one of three recently positive Phase III clinical trials of cancer vaccine immunotherapy. From 2004–14 Dr Kwak served as Chairman of the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma and Co-Director of the Center for Cancer Immunology Research at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, where he also held the Justin Distinguished Chair in Leukemia Research. As Chair, his department successfully captured extensive research support, including large team science grants, such as two SPORE grants in Lymphoma and Multiple Myeloma, respectively, from the NCI and a SCOR program project grant awarded by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He also led the expansion of the department’s laboratory research space and launched biospecimens banks to support translational research. A committed physician, scientist, and mentor, his vision is to assemble and lead research teams to integrate basic discoveries from academic laboratories with translational clinical development to first-in-human clinical trials of novel ‘homegrown’ therapeutics, such as next generation cancer immunotherapies. He plays a key role in the future direction of City of Hope’s translational and precision medicine and ‘teamwork science’ initiatives. He is an expert in the clinical management of patients with low grade lymphomas. In 2010 Dr Kwak was named to the TIME 100, one of the world’s 100 most influential people by TIME magazine, for his 20 year commitment to the science of cancer immunotherapy. In 2016, he was awarded the Ho-Am Prize in Medicine for his pioneering research in cancer immunotherapy.