Ivana Gojo, MD

Professional Titles

• Co-Director, Leukemia Drug Development Program

Primary Academic Title

Professor of Oncology

Background

Centers and Institutes

Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center

Clinical Trial Keywords

AML; ALL; MDS; MPN; Acute and Chronic Leukemias; Myeloid Disorders and Bone Marrow Malignancies

Research Interests

Immunotherapy of Acute Leukemias, Novel Therapeutics for Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Acute Lymphoid Leukemia

Research Summary

Dr. Gojo’s research focuses on the development and bi-directional translation of novel preclinical studies and insights into innovative biology-based phase I/II clinical trials for patients with AML, ALL, and MDS, accompanied by correlative mechanistic/biologic studies utilizing primary patient samples.  She has contributed to the pre-clinical/clinical development of multiple novel therapies such as those targeting cell cycle (cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors, cell cycle checkpoint inhibitors), signaling pathways (farnesyl transferase inhibitor, FLT3 inhibitors), differentiation (histone deacetylase inhibitors), as well as DNA repair pathway modifying agents (PARP inhibitors, T53 inhibitors)  in acute leukemias. Recently, her research efforts have focused on understanding the immune system in patients with AML and ALL and exploiting those findings to augment anti-leukemia immunity, as well as to address post-transplant relapses. Besides conducting several investigator initiated immunotherapeutic trials in acute leukemias, she leads multiple clinical-correlative studies aimed at unraveling the biological effects of different immunotherapies in collaboration with laboratory-based colleagues. 

PubMed

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1PAjKcCiNcHkM/bibliography/public/

Selected Publications

• Gojo I, Beumer JH, Pratz KW, McDevitt MA, Baer MR, Blackford AL, Smith BD, Gore SD, Carraway H, Showel MM, Levis MJ, Dezern A, Gladstone DE, Ji JJ, Wang L, Kinders R, Pouquet M, Ali-Walbi I, Rudek MA, Poh W, Herman JG, Karnitz L, Kaufmann SH, Chen A, Karp J. A phase 1 study of the PARP inhibitor veliparib in combination with temozolomide in acute myeloid leukemia.  Clin Cancer Res. 2017;23(3):697-706. PMID: 27503200

• Knaus HA, Berglund S, Hackl H, Blackford AL, Zeidner JF, Montiel-Esparza R, Mukhopadhyay R, Vanura K, Blazar BR, Karp JE, Luznik L, Gojo I. Signatures of CD8+ T cell dysfunction in AML patients and their reversibility with response to chemotherapy. JCI Insight. 2018;3(21):e120974. PMID: 30385732

• McCurdy SR, Iglehart BS, Batista DA, Gocke CD, Ning Y, Knaus HA, Jackson AM, Leffell MS, Luznik L, Gojo I. Loss of the mismatched human leukocyte antigen haplotype in two acute myelogenous leukemia relapses after haploidentical bone marrow transplantation with posttransplantation cyclophosphamide. Leukemia. 2016;30(10):2102-2106. PMID: 27211264

• Vago L, Gojo I. Immune escape and immunotherapy of acute myeloid leukemia. J Clin Invest. 2020;130(4): 1552-1564. doi: 10.1172/JCI129204. PMID:32235097

• Zeidner JF, Knaus HA, Zeidan AM, Blackford AL, Montiel-Esparza R, Hackl H, Prince GT, Gondek LP, Ghiaur G, Showel MM, DeZern AE, Pratz KW, Douglas Smith B, Levis MJ, Gore S, Coombs CC, Foster MC, Streicher H, Karp JE, Luznik L, Gojo I. Immunomodulation with pomalidomide at early lymphocyte recovery after induction chemotherapy in newly diagnosed AML and high-risk MDS. Leukemia. 2020 Jan 3. doi: 10.1038/s41375-019-0693-4. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 31900407

Honors

• Johns Hopkins Service Start Winner, 1/1/18
• Faculty Teacher of the Year Award, Department of Medicine, University of Maryland, 1/1/11
• Best Doctors in America, 1/1/09
• Best Doctors in America, 1/1/08

Memberships

• American Society of Hematology
• American Society of Clinical Oncology
• American Association for Cancer Research

Professional Activities

• Cancer Research Review Committee, SKCCC at Johns Hopkins, Chair, 1/1/15 - 1/1/16
• Cancer Research Review Committee, SKCCC at Johns Hopkins, Co-Chair, 1/1/14 - 1/1/15
• Investigational Drug Steering Committee, National Cancer Institute, Member, 1/1/14
• Leukemia Drug Development Program at Johns Hopkins, Co-Director, 1/1/12