Dr. Catherine Coombs is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California Irvine. She attended the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, then completed her internal medicine residency at Duke University Medical Center. She subsequently completed a fellowship in hematology and oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Prior to relocating to California in 2022, she served as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina where she developed a program in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). CLL remains her primary clinical focus and she has served as an investigator on a number of clinical trials focused on novel agents and novel combinations for patients with this disease. Additionally, she has participated in collaborative efforts using real world evidence to help understand the role of novel agents in the care of CLL patients. In addition to CLL, Dr. Coombs has an interest in other leukemia "precursor states" such as MBL, clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) and clonal cytopenias of undetermined significance (CCUS).