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Perlmutter Cancer Center names program leader
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Ahmad Samer Al-Homsi, MD, MBA, will lead a new bone marrow transplantation program designed to treat blood cancers at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center.
The program will focus on leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma, while also trying to utilize bone marrow transplantation as an adjunct to immunotherapy in the treatment of solid tumors.
“I am delighted to join NYU Langone and its Perlmutter Cancer Center to build a nationally recognized bone marrow transplantation program,” Al-Homsi said in a press release. “We are defeating leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma at increasing rates. At the same time, we must continue to discover ways to ameliorate problems that sometimes come with treatment. I am confident we can make important strides.”
In his new position — which takes effect June 1 — Al-Homsi will investigate ways to reduce graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Al-Homsi has focused his research on methods to prevent GVHD and omit the need for extended treatment with traditional prophylactic agents. In addition, he has conducted clinical trials investigating treatment combinations that may prevent GVHD, such as cyclophosphamide and proteasome inhibitors.
Al-Homsi also will facilitate NYU Langone’s collaboration with Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to institute haploidentical transplantation at Perlmutter Cancer Center. Haploidentical transplantation — which less perfectly matches individuals who can serve as donors for transplants — could expand the potential donor pool for patients who require a transplant at the center, the release said.
“Our understanding of hematologic malignancies has advanced greatly over the past decade, to the point that many cases are curable,” Benjamin G. Neel, MD, PhD, director of Perlmutter Cancer Center, said in the release. “Bone marrow transplantation plays a critical role in these advances — but it doesn’t come without risk. Al-Homsi’s research holds tremendous promise to curtail negative interactions between host and transplanted cells and make this form of treatment safer and more effective.”