Faculty Biographies
October 31, 2025 November 1, 2025, Webinar
Elias Jabbour, MD
MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
Dr Elias Jabbour is professor of medicine, Department of Leukemia, at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), Houston, Texas. He graduated from the Saint Joseph University School of Medicine, Beirut, and joined the Hotel Dieu de France University Hospital as a resident. He pursued a fellowship in hematology-oncology at the Gustave Roussy Institute, France. In 2003, he joined MDACC as a fellow in the Department of Hematology/Leukemia and Stem Cell Transplantation. He later joined the faculty in the Leukemia Department as assistant professor.
Dr Jabbour is actively involved in research in both acute and chronic forms of leukemia. He was involved in clinical trials that led to the approval of several drugs in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). He actively assisted in developing chemotherapeutic and biologic agents in leukemias and contributed to the development of others. Dr Jabbour has designed more than a dozen clinical trials assessing new combinations for the management of de novo ALL, elderly ALL, and relapsed/refractory disease. Of note, he developed a protocol that has shown significant improvements in survival rates for patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive ALL. In addition, he developed another innovative treatment approach for these patients by combining blinatumomab, a bispecific monoclonal antibody, with ponatinib, offering a chemotherapy-free regimen that it is hoped will further increase cure rates. Another area on which he focused his research is elderly patients with ALL. The aggressive biology of the disease and elderly patients’ poor tolerance of intensive chemotherapy leads to low survival rates for this patient population.
Dr Jabbour is currently investigating an innovative strategy combining new monoclonal antibodies such as inotuzumab ozogamicin, a conjugated anti-CD22 antibody, and blinatumomab with minimal chemotherapy. If successful, such strategies will likely increase the cure rates of adult patients with ALL to the high level achieved in pediatric patients.
Dr Jabbour has taken an active role in the medical community, participating in numerous scientific meetings. He has authored or co-authored numerous publications (>550 peer-reviewed publications) and abstracts, and serves as a reviewer for many scientific journals. He has received several prestigious awards, among them merit awards from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (2005, 2006, 2007) and the American Society of Hematology (2005, 2006, 2007). He also received several other honors, including the Kimberly Patterson and Shannon Timmons fellowships and the highly coveted Celgene Future Leader in Hematology (2007) and Young Investigator in Hematology (2016) awards.
Ashish Bajel, MBBS, FRACP, FRCPA
Peter MacCallum Cancer Center and The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
Dr Ashish Bajel co-leads the acute leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes service at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Royal Melbourne Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. He is an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Melbourne, a senior member of the bone marrow transplant service, and serves on the board of directors for the Australia and New Zealand Transplant and Cellular Therapies group. Dr Bajel received his MBBS and MD from the University of Mumbai, India, and his doctorate of medicine in clinical hematology from Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University. He is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.
Dr Bajel’s research is focused on the development of novel drugs and immunotherapies for acute leukemia. He serves as an investigator on multiple national and international clinical trials, including early-phase and first-in-human studies. Dr Bajel is a member of Australasian Leukemia Lymphoma Group (ALLG) and contributes to the national taskforce responsible for the Optimal Care Pathway and national treatment guidelines for acute leukemia. He is actively engaged in the design and implementation of national clinical trials for both acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphocytic leukemia through the ALLG. Dr Bajel is committed to advancing evidence-based practice and improving outcomes for patients with acute leukemia.
Shaun Fleming, MBBS(Hons), FRACP, FRCPA
Melbourne Haematology, Richmond, VIC, Australia
Dr Shaun Fleming is a consultant hematologist at Melbourne Haematology, Richmond, VIC, Australia. He practices as both a clinical hematologist and hematopathologist. He is also a clinical and laboratory hematologist at the Alfred Hospital. He is a graduate of Monash University and completed his training at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, and Melbourne Pathology.
Dr Fleming has a particular interest in leukemia and related myeloid disorders such as myelodysplasia. He provides expert management of other malignant hematologic disorders such as lymphoma and thrombosis, and interprets diagnostic tests. Dr Fleming is an investigator on several clinical trials in leukemia and myelodysplasia and conducts translational research in acute myeloid leukemia.
Jae Park, MD
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
Dr Jae Park is associate attending physician in the Division of Hematologic Oncology, chief of the Cellular Therapy Service, and a director of the Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City, NY. He received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and completed an internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and a hematology-oncology fellowship at MSKCC.
Dr Park’s research focus is on translating and establishing novel targeted and immunotherapies for patients with hematologic malignancies. He is widely recognized as a world expert in the field of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and is the leading principal investigator of several clinical trials in patients with ALL and chronic lymphocytic leukemia/non-Hodgkin lymphoma using CAR T, natural killer cell therapies, bispecific T-cell engagers, immature dendritic cells, targeted agents, and immunomodulators.
Dr Park has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles appearing in New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Nature Medicine, Science Translational Medicine, Blood, Cancer Discovery, and Journal of Clinical Oncology. His research has been recognized and funded by the American Society of Hematology, American Association for Cancer Research, American Society of Clinical Oncology, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Geoffrey Beene Foundation, and National Comprehensive Cancer Network.
