I am interested in working with children with a variety of hematologic disorders.  This includes myeloproliferative neoplasms and bone marrow failure syndromes, blood clotting disorders, and sickle cell anemia.

Current Research Projects

Study on pediatric patients with Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPN) are diseases of the bone marrow that include Polycythemia Vera, Essential Thrombocytosis, and Myelofibrosis. They are conditions where the bone marrow produces abnormal numbers of blood cells. There are clear genetic causes for the majority of adult patients with these disorders and defined treatment algorithms, but this is not always the case in pediatric patients (where the diseases are much rarer.) I will be collecting blood and buccal samples from pediatric patients with MPN and screening them for a broad array of known genetic abnormalities , as well as evaluating genes that may play a role in myeloid disorders but have not yet been associated with MPN. I will also be developing a pediatric MPN database to gain a better clinical understanding of these disorders in children.  This will hopefully lead to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of these diseases in children and ultimately how to appropriately treat them.

Study of thrombosis in pediatric patients.

There are a number of different reasons why children can get blood clots, and the more we understand about the causes, the better we will do at preventing them. I am working with other members of the pediatrics department to look at which patients in our hospital are getting blood clots, and then trying to develop appropriate prophylaxis guidelines for these children.  Weill Cornell is participating in KIDS-DOTT, a national trial looking at duration of treatment in children.