DRIVE

Hematology Oncology of Indiana, a Division of American Oncology Network

• Partner

Indy Hematology Education Inc.

• President and CEO

Marian University: Wood College of Osteopathic Medicine

• Clinical Professor of Medicine

American Oncology Research

• Medical Director of Diversity

Ruemu E. Birhiray, MD is an attending physician in medical oncology, hematology, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at Hematology-Oncology of Indiana, and at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. After completing his internal medicine residency at Columbus Hospital in Chicago where he also served as Chief Medical Resident in 1994, he was a postgraduate fellow in bone marrow transplant at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and in medical oncology at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland where his research included gene therapy and adoptive cellular immunotherapy strategies in bone marrow transplantation. Dr. Birhiray’s professional experience has also included serving as an attending physician, and Director of bone marrow transplantation and a member of Marshfield Clinic, Wisconsin and a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin from 1998 to 2001. Additionally Dr. Birhiray was appointed an Associate Professor of bone marrow transplantation at Rush University, Chicago, Illinois in 2001, prior to joining Hematology Oncology of Indiana. Subsequently, Dr. Birhiray, served as and director of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Institutional Principal Investigator for the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project of the National Cancer Institute at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Indianapolis. Currently, he is also, Clinical Professor, Marian University School of Osteopathic Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, and an Editorial Board Member of The Journal of Blood Transfusion and Hematopathology. Projects for which Dr. Birhiray is principal investigator include reduced intensity allogeneic transplantation in hematologic malignancies, and a trial of Interferon A, CHOP, and rituximab therapy in advanced-stage follicular lymphoma, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer. Additional collaborations have included major phase III clinical trials. Additionally Dr. Birhiray founded the Clinical research program at Hematology Oncology of Indiana. His awards include, “Intern of the year” from Columbus Hospital, Hope award from the Indiana Wellness community and named “best physician” by the Indianapolis monthly magazine and “top doctor” by Castle Connelly. In 2002, Dr. Birhiray founded and has served as Chair of the annual “Indy Hematology Review”, a nationally respected program providing education for hematologists and oncologists nationally and regionally, and he is also President and CEO of Indy Hematology Education, Inc. A member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology, and the American Medical Association, Dr Birhiray has published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Leukemia, Gene Therapy and Therapeutic Apheresis, Journal of Blood Transfusion and Hematopathology, Human Immunology, Familial Cancer, Annals of Pharmacotherapy, American Journal of Health System Pharmacists, Pharmacotherapy, in addition to multiple abstracts. Dr. Birhiray is married to Donna Marie (nee Baynard) since 1995, and they are blessed with 3 children, a daughter, Maya, born in 1999, and a son, Dirin, born in 2003, and an older daughter Meaghan who was born in 1990.

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

• Professor of Medicine

German Lymphoma Alliance

• President

Prof. Martin Dreyling earned his MD in 1987 after studying medicine at Düsseldorf, Giessen, Tübingen, and Würzburg. He completed internships and residencies across Germany, received his doctorate in 1990, and conducted hematology/oncology research at the University of Chicago before habilitating in 2001 on the tumor suppressor region 9p21. Since 2007, he has served as Full Professor and Head of Medical Clinic III at LMU Munich, focusing on molecular mechanisms of lymphomagenesis, cell cycle dysregulation in mantle cell lymphoma, and innovative therapies for indolent lymphomas. A past-president of the German Lymphoma Alliance and EHA Executive Board member, Dr. Dreyling has authored over 300 peer-reviewed articles and received awards including the 2017 Hermansky Award and the 2021 John Ultmann Award.

University of Nebraska Medical Center: Division of Hematology/Oncology

• Interim Chief

• Professor of Medicine

• Associate Vice Chair of Research, Department of Internal Medicine

• Medical Director of the Clinical Research Center (CRC)

• Medical Director of Cellular Therapies

Dr. Lunning is a Professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He serves the Department of Internal Medicine as the Associate Vice Chair of Research. He recently was appointed as an Assistant Vice Chancellor of Clinical Research and elected to serve on the Nebraska Medicine Medical Executive Committee as an at-large member.

He received his medical degree from Des Moines University in 2006. Dr. Lunning completed his internal medicine residency at UNMC where he served as Chief Medical Resident. He completed his Hematology/Oncology fellowship and served as the Hematology Chief Fellow at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Dr. Lunning returned to UNMC in 2013 and has been active in clinical research, research mentoring, education, and patient care and was the recipient of the Distinguish Scientist Award in 2019.

Dr. Lunning has served on several National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s guidelines committees including the Immunotherapy Toxicity & T-cell lymphoma panels. He has served as an invited member of ASCO’s Cancer Education Committee on the Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. He is the co-organizer of the Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference.

University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center

• Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics

Todd Burus, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Kentucky and member of the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center. His work focuses on utilizing technology and advanced statistical methods to improve cancer surveillance and the identification of cancer health disparities. Todd is the creator and lead developer of Cancer InFocus—a data gathering and visualization platform for simplifying the implementation of cancer surveillance dashboards that has been adopted by over 50 institutions. Todd is also one of the founders of the Catchment Area Research and Data Science (CARDS) interest group and a founding member of the Catchment Area Data Excellence (CADEx) meeting steering committee.

Mayo Clinic (Rochester MN)

• Assistant Professor of Medicine

Dr. Joselle Cook is a hematologist and oncologist, specializing in Myeloma, Amyloid and Plasma cell disorders at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. She is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic Rochester in the Division of Hematology. Her research focuses on determining the prevalence and biologic drivers of precursor plasma cell disorders, particularly in understudied and high-risk populations. She initiated the MAGIC study which is the first ever screening study of monoclonal gammopathies in people across the African Diaspora. She also is a researcher in novel immunotherapeutics, specifically oncolytic virotherapy for hematologic malignancies.