DRIVE Meeting

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.

American Society of Hematology (ASH)

• Immediate Past ASH President

Atrium Health Cancer Institute

• Professor of Medicine

• Senior Advisor to the President

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the HMS Center for Bioethics

• Faculty Member

Harvard Medical School

• Assistant Professor of Medicine

Andrew Hantel, MD, MPH is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and faculty member in the Divisions of Leukemia and Population Sciences at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the HMS Center for Bioethics. He received his MD from Loyola University Chicago; trained in internal medicine, adult hematology/oncology, and medical ethics at the University of Chicago; and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in cancer population sciences at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. Dr. Hantel's lab leverages health services and care delivery methods to address ethical dilemmas in cancer discovery and delivery. His current work focuses on equity in the contexts of research participation, artificial intelligence, and climate change.

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.

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

• Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine (Hematology-Oncology)

• Physician Leader, Leukemia Clinical Research Unit

Catherine Lai, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor and the Physician Leader of the Leukemia Clinical Research Unit at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Lai specializes in detecting, monitoring, and treating acute leukemia and myeloid malignancies in adults. Dr. Lai’s research focuses on integrating health outcomes into clinical trials with novel therapeutics, with a focus on measuring physiologic age and interventions to improve early mortality and overall survival, minimize treatment toxicity and maximize tolerability to therapy.

Most recently, Dr. Lai served as the Director of Leukemia at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, DC. She completed her Hematology/Oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Lai received her master’s in Public Health in Epidemiology from George Washington University.