I am currently staff in Hematology and Medical Oncology at Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center and Assistant Professor at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. I am a clinician in the myeloma program, blood and marrow transplant program and section of apheresis medicine. In my current role, I care for patients with plasma cell disorders (PCD’s: myeloma, AL amyloidosis, POEMS syndrome, and various rare PCD’s) and hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) and Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell therapy patients in the outpatient setting and attend to the lymphoma/myeloma and bone marrow transplant inpatient services. I also oversee various procedures at the cancer center’s apheresis unit ranging from leukapheresis for mononuclear cell collections for HCT and CAR T cell therapy to inpatient and outpatient plasma exchange and photopheresis procedures for a variety of medical conditions across multiple medical specialties.

I am passionate about clinical research, clinical trials and medical education. I dedicate most of my research time to designing clinical trials and collaborating with scientists to study drug resistance and novel therapeutics. I also collaborate with pharmaceutical companies on real world observational studies and trials in PCDs.

I have published the results of a phase 1b study of azacytidine/lenalidomide/dexamethasone in relapsed/refractory myeloma and submitted the results of a phase 2 study of an investigational IgG1 monoclonal antibody (CAEL-101) that targets the misfolded light chains of AL amyloid fibrils in combination with CyBorD in AL amyloidosis at the 2020 ASH meeting. I am also the local principal investigator on multiple industry-initiated clinical trials in myeloma and AL amyloidosis.

I am working with scientists at the Cleveland Clinic to decipher the mechanisms of bortezomib resistance in myeloma and using that knowledge to develop novel therapeutics. I am also collaborating with CellPrint Biotech on using enhanced flow cytometry for the analysis of molecular expression in monocytes in myeloma and AL amyloidosis in order to improve the early diagnosis of AL amyloidosis and potentially detecting early relapse.

I have launched an investigator-initiated study titled “Phase II trial of siltuximab for cytokine release syndrome prophylaxis prior to treatment with teclistamab in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM)”, which will investigate the role of the interleukin-6 inhibitor siltuximab in the prevention of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) in myeloma patients receiving the bispecific antibody teclistamab. Cytokine release syndrome is a common complication of bispecific antibodies which requires inpatient monitoring when initiating the medication. The main clinical implication of this study is the potential elimination of hospital stay, mitigation of toxicity, improved patient satisfaction and cost effectiveness.

I have also been involved with teaching residents and fellows as well as mentoring. I have received excellence in teaching awards from Tufts University School of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Internal Medicine Residency Program and teacher of the year award in hematology from the hematology/oncology fellowship program at Cleveland Clinic.