David M. Kurtz, MD, PhD

Despite improved outcomes for patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma over the last two decades, a significant number of patients - about 40% in the most common type of lymphoma - will ultimately die from their disease. One of the major reasons for this is a lack of response to chemotherapy. Predicting how an individual patient will respond to treatment remains a major challenge. Current methods rely on risk factors measured prior to therapy; however, cancer is a dynamic process with dramatic changes throughout therapy. Dr. Kurtz aims to develop methods that use emerging blood-based biomarkers to measure changes in cancer patients over time. This technology allows the creation of tools for precise prediction of outcomes to therapy from a simple blood test. Ultimately, this technology could help doctors make personalized treatment decisions and tailor therapy to individual patients.