Ajay K. Gopal MD

Reflecting on his role as a lymphoma physician researcher, Ajay K. Gopal, MD, said the process of "going from seeing a patient in the clinic to understanding the biology of the disease and ultimately addressing the clinical need" keeps him engaged and excited about his work. The two-time Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF) Mantle Cell Lymphoma Initiative Award recipient has had a busy 2011, leading and collaborating on several groundbreaking publications related to his work in targeted radiation immunotherapy.

In July, Dr. Gopal was the first author on a study published in the prestigious journal Blood examining a new treatment regimen for patients with persistent high-risk B-cell lymphoma with the drugs 90Y-ibritumomab tiuxetan and fludarabine alongside non-myeloablative allogeneic transplantation (NMAT). After treating 40 patients in the trial and following their disease progression for five years, the team determined that not only is adding 90Y-ibritumomab tiuxetan to NMAT safe, but it also showed beneficial effects on disease progression and control.