CLINICAL TEAM
Jeffrey Wolf, MD
Clinical Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology
Director, Myeloma Program and Grand MMTI
Research Profile | Physician Profile
Dr. Jeffrey L. Wolf is a hematologist and expert in cancer of the bone marrow and blood as well as an expert in bone marrow transplantation to treat these cancers. His primary focus in both patient care and research is myeloma, including studies in the area of high-risk disease and the use of minimal residual disease (MRD) in clinical decision making.
Dr. Wolf earned his medical degree at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago and completed a residency in medicine at the University of California, San Diego. He completed a fellowship in hematology and oncology at UCSF, followed by a bone marrow transplantation rotation at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. In 1979, Dr. Wolf helped establish the bone marrow transplant program at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, California. In 1984, he helped establish the first bone marrow transplant unit in Northern California, as well as the first transplant program based at a community hospital in the United States, at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley. He returned to UCSF in 2007 and along with Dr. Thomas Martin, established and helped develop the largest Myeloma Program on the West Coast.
Dr. Wolf currently directs UCSF's Multiple Myeloma Program and the Stephen and Nancy Grand Multiple Myeloma Translational Initiative at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Thomas Martin, III, MD
Clinical Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology
Director, Clinical Research, Hematologic Malignancies Program
Co-Leader, Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy
Associate Director, Myeloma Program
Co-Director, Grand MMTI
Research Profile | Physician Profile
Dr. Thomas Martin is a leading expert in hematological malignancies and has been the principal investigator (PI) on over 25 MM clinical trials. His clinical research also includes translational studies designed to address the genetics of MM, the role of the microenvironment as well as discovery of biomarkers for patient selection and response to anti-MM therapeutics.
Sandy Wong, MD
Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology/Oncology
Research Profile | Physician Profile
Dr. Sandy Wong is a hematologist who cares for people with multiple myeloma, amyloidosis, MGUS (monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance), and/or MGRS (monoclonal gammopathy of renal significance). She is a member of the Multiple Myeloma Translational Initiative and the Director of the Comprehensive Amyloidosis Program at UCSF. Dr. Wong has a research focus on using immune-based therapy for the treatment of myeloma and amyloidosis patients. She is the site principal investigator for multiple clinical trials using CAR-Ts, T-cell engagers and antibody-drug conjugates to treat myeloma.
Dr. Wong graduated from Brown University with a degree in human biology and she earned her medical degree at the University of Massachusetts. She then completed her Internal Medicine residency followed by a hematology/oncology fellowship at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.
Alfred Chung, MD
Assistant Professor, Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology
Dr. Alfred Chung is a hematologist-oncologist who cares for patients with blood cancers, including leukemias, lymphomas and myelomas. Dr. Chung's research centers on the study and development of new therapies for plasma cell disorders, including multiple myeloma and amyloidosis (buildup of an abnormal protein called amyloid in the organs). One specific area of study is light chain amyloidosis, in which the dysfunction of certain antibody-producing cells results in abnormal protein fibers in the organs. Dr. Chung is looking specifically at targeted therapies to treat this type of amyloidosis as well as novel therapeutic strategies in the treatment of multiple myeloma.
Dr. Chung earned his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at the University of Michigan and obtained his medical degree from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He completed a residency in internal medicine, followed by a fellowship in hematology and oncology at Stanford School of Medicine.
Dr. Chung is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society of Hematology and Association of Northern California Oncologists.
Shagun Arora, MD
Associate Clinical Professor, Division of Hematology/Oncology
Dr. Shagun Arora is a hematologist-oncologist who specializes in caring for patients with malignant and nonmalignant blood disorders. She treats patients with diverse hematologic conditions in both categories. Her focus is monoclonal gammopathies, or conditions in which the blood contains abnormal proteins, including MGUS (monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance) and multiple myeloma, along with anemias. In addition to patient care, she is passionate about medical education, working closely with training physicians who are pursuing fellowships in hematology and oncology. Dr. Arora is the medical director of the Infusion Center at UCSF's Parnassus campus.
Dr. Arora completed her residency at Michigan State University, followed by a fellowship at MedStar Washington Hospital Center/MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, where she served as chief fellow.
Dr. Arora is a member of several professional associations, including the American Society of Hematology, American Society of Clinical Oncology, Society of Hematologic Oncology and International Myeloma Society.
FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH TEAM
Arun Wiita, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Laboratory Medicine
Director, Grand MMTI Translational Lab
Assistant Director, UCSF Cytogenetics Laboratory
Research Profile | Lab Website
Dr. Arun Wiita's research is focused on using mass spectrometry-based proteomics to discover new biology and therapeutic targets in hematologic malignancies (blood cancers). He leads an inter-disciplinary group that aims to integrate proteomics-based screening with “multi-omics” bioinformatics, clinical data, epigenetic methods, genome engineering, antibody engineering, cellular engineering, chemical biology, and mechanistic biology.
Recent work has focused on using proteomic methods to discover new immunotherapy targets in multiple myeloma and then integrate these discoveries with protein and cellular engineering to develop new immunotherapeutics. Additional efforts include cellular engineering and small molecule combination strategies to enhance the efficacy of existing myeloma therapies. Dr. Wiita received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Princeton University and completed the MD/PhD at Columbia University with graduate studies in single molecule biophysics.
Dr. Wiita then completed his residency in Clinical Pathology at UCSF followed by post-doctoral work in the UCSF Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Dr. Wiita is the recipient of numerous awards including the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation-Dale F. Frey Breakthrough Award, a Clinical Scientist Development Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and a New Innovator Award from the Office of the NIH Director. In his clinical role as a pathologist, Dr. Wiita serves as Assistant Director of the UCSF Clinical Cytogenetics Laboratory.
Justin Eyquem, PhD
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Medicine
Research Profile | Lab Website
Dr. Justin Eyquem’s research interests are at the intersection of synthetic biology, immunology and cancer research. His lab ambition is to understand the limits of CAR T and NK cells with innovative tumor models, functional genomic, multidimensional single cell analysis and overcoming these challenges using novel synthetic receptors and gene editing. His lab is also involved in multiple collaborations to improve the clinical manufacturing of gene edited T cells.
Eyquem received his PhD from the University of Paris-Diderot in collaboration with the biotech company Cellectis. As part of his graduate training, he participated in the development of gene editing tools such as Meganuclease and TALEN in primary human cells and notably identified genomic location for safe integration of therapeutic genes. In 2014, Dr. Eyquem joined Michel Sadelain’s lab at the MSKCC and used CRISPR/Cas9 to engineer CAR T cells. This work showed how targeting CAR transgene into specific loci enhance T cell efficacy, advance CAR immuno-biology and facilitate T cell manufacturing.
In 2019 Dr. Eyquem joined UCSF after receiving the Parker Fellow Award and started his lab in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and transitioned to faculty in 2021
Alex Marson, MD, PhD
Director, Gladstone-UCSF Institute of Genomic Immunology Professor, Medicine
Research Profile | Lab Website
Dr. Alex Marson is a physician-scientist interested in how DNA controls the behavior of cells in the human immune system. His background is focused in immune genomics and the Marson lab is focused on adapting CRISPR genome editing techniques to human immune cells in order to understand the genetic programs controlling immune cell function and to manipulate T cells to generate cell-based therapies to fight cancer, autoimmune diseases, and infectious diseases.
Marson completed his undergraduate studies at Harvard University and earned an MPhil in biological sciences from Cambridge. He earned his PhD at Whitehead Institute at MIT, where he worked with mentors Rick Young and Rudolf Jaenisch on transcriptional control of regulatory T cells and embryonic stem cells.
After completing his MD at Harvard Medical School and an internship and residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Marson joined UCSF in 2012 to complete clinical work as an infectious diseases fellow. He started his lab as a Sandler Faculty Fellow, before joining the faculty at UCSF and becoming scientific director of human health at the Innovative Genomics Institute. He is also a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator and member of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.
Kole Roybal, PhD
Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology Investigator – Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Investigator – Chan Zuckerberg Biohub
Research Profile | Lab Website
Dr. Roybal is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, San Francisco. His lab harnesses the tools of synthetic and chemical biology to engineer the next generation of immune cell therapies for cancer. The lab takes a comprehensive approach to cellular engineering by developing new synthetic receptors, signal transduction cascades, and cellular response programs to enhance the safety and effectiveness of adoptive cell therapies.
Roybal received his doctorate in Immunology from UT Southwestern Medical Center and was a Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Wendell A. Lim at UCSF and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is currently a member of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and an inaugural Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator. He is also the Deputy Director of the UCSF Center for Synthetic Immunology recently funded by the Cancer Moonshot Initiative. He was awarded the Sartorius and Science Magazine Prize for Regenerative Medicine and Cell Therapy and the NIH New Innovator Award in 2018.
Lawrence Fong, MD
Professor, Medicine Leader, Cancer Immunotherapy Program Co-Director, UCSF Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
Research Profile | Lab Website
Dr. Lawrence Fong is the Efim Guzik Distinguished Professor in Cancer Biology in the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is a physician-scientist in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology directing both a translational research program and an NIH-funded research lab. He is a leader in the field of cancer immunotherapy for having been involved in both pre-clinical and clinical studies of FDA-approved immunotherapies including sipuleucel-T and immune checkpoint inhibitors. Dr. Fong’s research examines the mechanisms that underlie clinical response and resistance to immunotherapies. The clinical program that he also leads performs first-in-human studies of novel treatments including CART cells and T cell engagers.
Fong earned his medical degree at Stanford University. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Washington. He completed an oncology fellowship at Stanford Medicine. Fong joined the UCSF faculty in 2001. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles and multiple book chapters. He has served on multiple NIH study sections, the NCI Steering Committees for Genitourinary Cancer (GUSC), the NCI Investigational Drugs (IDSC)-Immunotherapy Task Force, the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP) Vision Setting Committee, and NCI Immuno-oncology Translation Network (IOTN) Steering Committee.
Lisa Butterfield, PhD
Adjunct Professor, Microbiology and Immunology Vice President, Research and Development, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI)
Dr. Lisa H. Butterfield’s research is focused on the development of cancer vaccines and advanced cellular therapies. Her team science work has been to help develop novel cellular therapeutics and profile immunotherapy clinical trials with many collaborators. Her research focus is immunotherapy for hepatocellular cancer and melanoma. Her team has performed human translational research in cellular therapy and have utilized cancer vaccination (with peptides, proteins, adenoviruses DCs) to promote antitumor immunity. Their basic research is investigating cellular metabolism in DC and resultant T cell and NK cell activation.
Butterfield received her Ph.D. in Biology from UCLA, followed by postdoctoral fellowships in Cellular Immunology and Cancer Gene Therapy also at UCLA. She has published more than 170 peer-reviewed manuscripts, reviews, and book chapters. As a leader in the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), including society President (2017-2018), she has been involved in many cancer immunotherapy field-wide initiatives, including around biomarkers.
Jonathan Esensten, MD, PhD
Medical Director, Blood Bank and Transfusion Service, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital & Trauma Center Assistant Adjunct Professor, Laboratory Medicine
Research Profile | Lab Website
Dr. Jonathan Esensten leads an experimental cellular therapy process development and manufacturing group. His group focuses on improving techniques for manufacturing T-cell based therapies for patients with autoimmune disease, solid organ transplant, and cancer.
Dr. Esensten received his bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Harvard University and both, his medical and doctoral degree at UCSF. He completed a residency in clinical pathology and fellowship in transfusion medicine and blood banking at UCSF. He was a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Wendell Lim. Currently Dr. Esensten is co-director of the clinical Regulatory T Cell Manufacturing Group. He is also Medical Director of the UCSF HICTF and GMP Facility.
Robert Flavell, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Radiology Chief, Molecular Imaging and Therapeutics Clinical Section, Radiology and Biomedical Imaging
Research Profile | Lab Website
Dr. Flavell’s laboratory focuses on the development of new molecular imaging and therapeutic tools for better understanding of disease progression in patients with prostate and other cancers. One area of interest is the relationship between acidic interstitial pH and disease progression, where he has developed new tools to directly image tumor pH using hyperpolarized 13C MRI and positron emission tomography (PET). Another major focus is the development of novel theranostic agents, where new therapies are paired with imaging agents against the same target. Dr. Flavell's research spans from basic chemistry and chemical biology projects to translational and clinical studies.
Flavell received his medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical College, and his PhD from the Rockefeller University as part of the Tri-Institutional MD/PhD program. He completed his one-year internship at the Memorial Sloan ¬Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Dr. Flavell completed his radiology residency at UCSF, including an NIH T32 funded research fellowship, and subsequently completed a one-year fellowship in nuclear medicine. He joined the UCSF faculty in June 2016.