MCLA Scientific Advisory Board

Tycel Phillips, MD is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California. His clinical research experience has allowed him to grow his expertise in the field of lymphoma. Over the last several years, he has led numerous clinical studies in the role of site and national primary investigator. With his role as an investigator, he has become well versed in the mechanism of action, side effects and best applications for non-cytotoxic drugs in the treatment of lymphoma.

While versed in all subtypes of lymphoma, he has a particular interest and clinical focus in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). He has participated in the design and implementation of numerous investigator initiated clinical trials focused on patients with both untreated and relapsed/refractory MCL. This is in addition to coordinating several national industry sponsored studies with an emphasis on this patient population. He has worked with and helped with the development of several novel agents, including monoclonal antibodies, bispecific T cell engagers, CAR-T, drug antibody conjugates, pathway inhibitors and BH3 mimetics. He has also been able to evaluate the effectiveness or lack of these drugs at various stages of treatment. He is currently a member of the LRF MCL executive committee, and SWOG lymphoma committee. His work has allowed him to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of response and resistance in mantle cell lymphoma which he has then translated into his research program.

Elias Campo, MD, PhD, is Distinguished Researcher of the Institute of Biomedical Research August Pi-Sunyer (IDIBAPS) of Barcelona and Emeritus Professor of Pathology and Senior Consultant of Pathology at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, University of Barcelona. His research focuses on the characterization of the pathology of lymphoid neoplasms and the understanding of the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of these tumors. In the last years his work has concentrated in elucidating the genomic/epigenomic alterations in mantle cell lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and other aggressive lymphomas and their impact in understanding the biology of these diseases to improve the diagnosis, predict their evolution and identify targets for effective treatments of these tumors.

He is an international member of the USA National Academy of Medicine since 2018, received the Jose Carreras Award of the European Haematology Association in 2021, the Fred W. Stewart Award of the Pathology Department of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in 2021, and the Mantle Cell Lymphoma Leadership Award of Lymphoma Research Foundation in 2023, among others. He was awarded with the Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Toulouse France in 2024.

Martin Dreyling is Professor of Medicine and head of the lymphoma programme in the Department of Medicine III, LMU Hospital, Munich. He studied at the Universities of Düsseldorf, Giessen, Tübingen and Würzburg, and completed his clinical training at the Universities of Bonn, Münster, Göttingen and Munich. In addition, he was visiting scientist at the University of Chicago.

His scientific focus is on the molecular basis of malignant transformation, and he is especially interested in innovative therapeutic approaches, including molecular targeted approaches like inhibitors of the B-cell receptor pathway and immunological approaches.

Prof. Dreyling is coordinator of the European MCL Network and past president of the German Lymphoma Alliance as well as EHA congress president 2025. He has co-authored numerous scientific papers, book chapters and abstracts in international peer-reviewed journals.

Dr Eyre is a consultant haematologist specialising in lymphoid malignancies in Oxford, UK. He completed an MD Doctorate Thesis in 2017. He is an investigator on several national lymphoid trials and has published over 180 peer-review articles on lymphoma and CLL. He is the low grade lymphoma clinical trial research group chair in the UK and has a particular personal interest in the management of MCL.

He is a core member of several lymphoma studies groups. He is a member of the BSH guideline writing groups for various lymphoma subtypes including the lead author of the UK MCL guidelines. He is an Associate Editor at the British Journal of Haematology. He is the lead author for the new ESMO Lymphoma guidelines.

Dr. Fenske has worked in the area of hematologic malignancies for over 20 years. He graduated summa cum laude from Marquette University, and then completed medical school and residency in internal medicine at University of Wisconsin-Madison, along with a master's degree in cell and molecular biology. He then completed a hematology/oncology fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis/Barnes Hospital, with a clinical focus in leukemia and lymphoma and laboratory work focusing on leukemia. He then joined the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) in 2005 as an Associate Professor, eventually achieving the rank of full Professor in 2018. During his tenure at MCW his clinical and research efforts were focused on Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and related disorders such as CLL as well as other hematologic malignancies — including all lines of therapy from newly diagnosed to multiply relapsed, with a special focus on transplant and cellular therapies including novel chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies. Dr. Fenske has published extensively and has served on the NCI Lymphoma Steering Committee since 2016, and was a co-chair of the Lymphoma Working Committee for the CIBMTR from 2015-2020. In addition, he has served as national study chair for the U.S. intergroup frontline mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) trial (E4151), which utilized MRD for a risk-adapted approach in MCL, as well as co-chair for the Alliance 051301/BMT-CTN 1201 trial in relapsed and refractory DLBCL.

In Feb 2025, he started in a position with the Sarah Cannon Transplant and Cell Therapy group at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, where he is focusing on advanced therapies for hematologic malignancies. His current research interests include the use of highly sensitive minimal residual disease assessment to risk-adapt therapy, as well as novel CAR-T and immunotherapy approaches to treating hematologic malignancies.

Professor Hermine is currently Director of the Department of Adult Haematology at Necker–Enfants Malades Hospital and Professor of Haematology at Paris University. He has over 20 years of experience as Professor of Haematology and his research interests include erythropoiesis regulation, erythroid disorders, immune regulation, mastocytosis and mast cell related disorders, leukaemogenesis and viral lymphomagenesis. Professor Hermine is the Founder and Coordinator of both the National Reference Centre for Mastocytosis (CEREMAST) and the Laboratory of Excellence on Red Cells (GR-ex) as well as past-director of the Scientific Committee of the National Institute of Blood Transfusions (INTS). He also cofounded and is Director of the Scientific Committee of AB Science and Inatherys.

Professor Hermine is also involved with several societies including the Lymphoma Study Association (LYSA), European Mantle Cell Lymphoma (EMCL) Network, European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), European Competence Network on Mastocytosis (ECNM) and International Retrovirology Study Group. He is a member of the editorial board of Blood and of the ASH committee on red cells. He has published more than 1,000 publications in various journals (Nature, Science, J Exp Med, Blood, JCO, NEJM, Lancet, JAMA, etc.). He has been elected as member of the French National Academy of Science.

After completing his medical degree at Lund University in 1990, Dr. Jerkeman obtained his physician certification in 1993 and qualified as a specialist in clinical oncology in 1999. He defended his doctoral thesis on aggressive lymphoma at Lund University in 2000, and was appointed Associate Professor (Docent) of Oncology in 2008. He served as a visiting professor at Cornell University in 2022. Since 2019, he has held the chair of Professor of Clinical Oncology at Lund University, and has practiced as a senior consultant at Skåne University Hospital in Lund since 2005. After serving as Head of the Division of Oncology from 2020 to 2024, he was appointed Director of the Lund University Cancer Centre in 2024.

Dr. Jerkeman leads an active clinical and translational research program in malignant lymphoma, with a particular focus on mantle cell lymphoma, and has led numerous investigator-initiated Nordic and international clinical trials evaluating novel therapeutic strategies. He chairs the EHA Guidelines on Mantle Cell Lymphoma and serves as Vice Chairman of the European MCL Network. He has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and supervised 24 doctoral students.

Anita Kumar, MD, is an associate attending at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in the Department of Medicine, Lymphoma Service. She completed her bachelor of arts degree in biochemical sciences at Harvard College, graduating cum laude. She proceeded to Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, where she received her doctor of medicine degree. Dr Kumar then served as an intern and resident in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and completed a fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at MSKCC. She joined the faculty of MSKCC in 2014, where she leads the mantle cell lymphoma research program.

Dr Kumar's clinical interests involve the care of patients with Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. She is a clinical investigator with a research focus in mantle cell lymphoma and in the clinical applications of minimal residual disease (MRD) assessment in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas. As the leader of the MCL research program at MSK, she strives to develop risk-adapted treatments in MCL that are informed by baseline prognostic testing and apply novel molecular response tools (such as MRD testing). She serves as a principal investigator for multiple clinical trials incorporating novel immunotherapies and biologically targeted agents. Practicing in a community-based clinic in New Jersey, she is passionate about developing treatments that can be administered easily in the ambulatory setting and is committed to expanding access to novel therapeutics for lymphoma patients.

Dr. Yucai Wang is an Associate Professor of Medicine and a Consultant in the Division of Hematology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He received his M.D. from Medical School of Nanjing University in China and his Ph.D. from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He completed residency training in internal medicine at Rutgers, followed by fellowship training in hematology and oncology at Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Wang specializes in B-cell lymphomas and cellular therapies, with a particular focus on mantle cell lymphoma. He serves as Chair of the MCL Working Group at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center and leads the MCL research program at Mayo. He also co-chairs the Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Working Group in the Lymphoma Epidemiology of Outcomes (LEO) Consortium.

Dr. Wang's research focuses on clinical trials of targeted therapies, immunotherapies, and CAR T-cell therapies for MCL and other B-cell malignancies, as well as translational genetic and immunologic studies, aimed at improving outcomes for patients with MCL and other lymphomas. He is the recipient of the ASCO Conquer Cancer Career Development Award and the Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF) Clinical Investigator Career Development Award. His research has been supported by the National Cancer Institute, LRF, Conquer Cancer, industry partners, and Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Williams received his MD from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and a Master of Science from the Harvard School of Public Health. After Medicine residency, chief residency, and Hematology/Oncology fellowship at the University of Virginia, he joined the Department of Medicine faculty and the UVA Cancer Center.

His clinical and research interests include novel therapeutic approaches for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and non-Hodgkin lymphomas, with a focus on mantle cell lymphoma. He is an Emeritus member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Lymphoma Research Foundation, and received the inaugural LRF Mantle Cell Lymphoma Leadership Award in 2021. Dr. Williams is a member of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Lymphoma Core Committee and the European MCL Network.

Dr. Williams is a past Chief of the Hematology/Oncology Division (1996-2001 and 2013-20) and was Physician Lead for the UVA Health Oncology Service Line (2018-24). He is a past member and Chair of the Hematology Subspecialty Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine and served on the ABIM Council and the Hematology Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment Committee. He participates regularly in national and international programs devoted to education and research in lymphoma and CLL, and was recognized in 2023 with the UVA School of Medicine Master Clinician Award.