Mentor: Dr. Jennifer Kalish

Background

Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome (BWS) is the most common cancer predisposition and growth disorder that leads to cancer in children. Children with BWS can develop hepatoblastoma (liver cancer) and/or Wilms tumor (kidney cancer). The clinical definition of BWS has recently been revised to include children with subtle features. The cancer risk for children with BWS based on this new definition is unclear.

Growing evidence highlights that at least 15% of childhood cancer patients harbor a germline cancer predisposition, increasing the risk for developing cancer by over 10,000 fold. As such, there are increasing efforts to assess newly diagnosed youth with cancer or suspected predisposition (via family history or profiles of symptoms/clinical features) for germline predisposition. However, the research on psychosocial and behavioral outcomes of pediatric germline testing have not kept pace with advances in the testing.

Background

A subset of children with high-risk leukemia require stem cell transplant in order to cure their disease. Due to the profound immunosuppression associated with this procedure, children undergoing transplant receive a substantial number of antibiotics. However, the implications of such extensive antibiotic exposures are not well understood.

Co-Investigators: Dr. Yimei Li, Dr. Tamara Miller & Dr. Marla Daves

Background

Pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the second most common pediatric leukemia and requires intensive treatment for a cure. These treatments have been less effective for racial and ethnic minority patients. Unfortunately, the reasons for this disparity in treatment outcomes are not known.