Edward P. Evans Center for Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Edward P. Evans Center for Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

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Mission

The Edward P. Evans Center for Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center aims to develop a molecular and immunologic mechanism-based therapeutics program focused specifically on MDS. The program includes preclinical and clinical efforts, and capitalizes on existing resources at MSK and our collaborative Tri-Institutional programs at Rockefeller University and Weill Cornell Medical College. Our mission is to advance therapeutics that target recurrent genetic alterations in MDS patients, generate new epigenetic-targeted approaches for MDS, and develop novel immunologic approaches to treat people with MDS.

Scope

The treatment of patients with high-risk MDS is a major unmet medical need. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the only curative approach for MDS and is feasible in only a minority of patients due to the advanced age of most MDS patients. There have been no recent FDA-approved therapies for high-risk MDS patients and hypomethylating agents are the only FDA-approved options for the majority of high-risk MDS patients.

We propose a multi-pronged approach to develop novel therapeutics for MDS patients utilizing several avenues of personalized treatment strategies that target specific genetic subtypes of MDS. Given the molecular heterogeneity of MDS, we will also pursue mutation-agnostic immunotherapeutic and epigenetic targeted approaches.

To accomplish this, the Edward P. Evans Center for MDS at MSK will include three major programmatic efforts in focused on MDS therapeutics development:

  • Targeting RNA splicing factor-mutant MDS
  • Epigenetic-targeted therapies for MDS
  • TP53 mutations in MDS
  • Targeting novel cell surface antigens and developing new cellular therapeutics for MDS

Leadership

Pictured: Dr. Ross Levine
Ross L. Levine

Senior Vice President, Memorial Hospital, Translational Research

Raajit K. Rampal, MD, PhD
Raajit K. Rampal

Director, Center for Hematologic Malignancies; Director, Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Program

Members

Memorial Sloan Kettering medical oncologist Anthony Daniyan
Anthony Daniyan

Assistant Attending Physician

Ralph Garippa, PhD
Ralph Garippa

Director, GES Core

Benjamin Greenbaum
Benjamin Greenbaum
Pictured: Michael Kharas
Michael G. Kharas
Scott Lowe
Scott W. Lowe

Chair, Cancer Biology & Genetics Program, SKI; Chair, Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Memorial Sloan Kettering medical oncologist Scott Millman
Scott Millman

Assistant Attending Physician

Eli Papemmanuil
Elli Papaemmanouil

Associate Attending

Memorial Sloan Kettering Hematologic Oncologist Eytan Stein
Eytan M. Stein

Chief, Leukemia Service; Director, Program for Drug Development in Leukemia, Division of Hematologic Malignancies