Elias Joseph Jabbour MD

Dr. Jabbour joined the MD Anderson Cancer Center faculty in 2007 and is currently a Professor of Medicine in the Department of Leukemia. He is actively involved in developmental therapeutics research in leukemia. Over the past 5 years, he has assisted in developing chemotherapeutic and biologic agents in leukemias and contributed to the development of others. These include 1) the Hyper CVAD-ofatumumab regimen in ALL; 2) clofarabine in myeloid malignancies; 3) hypomethylating agents in AML and MDS; 4) Tyrosine kinase therapy in CML; and 5) triple therapy in AML. This research has also provided insight into the biology of leukemias.

He has extensively addressed the question of resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors and to analyze the outcome of these patients. We have identified different mechanisms of resistance and described the clinical significance of them. This has clinical significance in establishing new milestones and leading to personalized therapy. This has tremendous consequences at the scientific and financial levels. He was also actively associated with frontline studies of nilotinib and dasatinib which resulted in FDA approval of these agents for frontline CML therapy in 2010. In addition, we have recently addressed the question of genomic instabilities in patients with low-risk MDS who may need earlier therapeutic intervention.