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.
Damon Runyon Researchers
Meet Our ScientistsDavid M. Kurtz, MD, PhD
Project title: "Response prediction and personalized therapy from mathematical modeling of circulating tumor DNA in non-Hodgkin lymphoma"
Institution: Stanford University
Award Program: Physician-Scientist
Sponsor(s) / Mentor(s): Arash A. Alizadeh, MD, PhD
Cancer Type: Blood
Research Area: Biomedical Engineering