Craig Portell, MD, a hematologic oncologist at UVA Health, is working to improve outcomes — and reduce treatment burdens — for patients with lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
In this video and Q&A, he shares the future clinical impact of his work, the complexity and diversity of lymphoma subtypes, and what drew him to UVA Health.
What are you working on right now?
I recently completed follow-up on a clinical trial that I ran through PrECOG, which works with one of the U.S. cooperative groups, ECOG, for smaller clinical studies. The study evaluated the addition of Venetoclax, an oral inhibitor of an anti-apoptotic protein called BCL2, to standard chemotherapy for older patients with mantle cell lymphoma.
What are the most intriguing potential clinical applications of your work?
The lack of utility of methotrexate, an old chemotherapy drug, to prevent central nervous system progression in patients with aggressive lymphomas.
I also ran a study that evaluated different doses of ibrutinib and Venetoclax in mantle cell lymphoma. This is the only study that has been done to evaluate different doses of these drugs in combination. It suggested that lower doses of each drug in combination can be as effective and less toxic as the FDA-approved single agent dose.
What do you wish more people knew about your area of research?
I wish people knew more about lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. As a whole, these are common cancers of the immune system, but harder to describe than cancers of the organs.
Also, there are about 80 different kinds of lymphoma, some quite aggressive, some very slow growing. Some people can live normal lives without treatment; some people need emergent chemotherapy. It’s an exciting, expansive field with new therapies coming out often. It keeps me on my toes!
How did you become interested in your area of research?
At first, during medical school, I was considering going into pathology. But during my clinical rotations, found the patient interactions too valuable to me.
Oncology, and in particular blood cancers, is heavily influenced by pathology. If I don’t have a clear understanding of the biology of the disease and what I am treating, then it is difficult to treat.
Thus, I steered toward oncology, given the deep patient interactions and the exceedingly important collaboration with pathology. When deciding which area to focus on in oncology, blood cancers piqued my interest given the aggressive and often curable nature of the disease with medicines alone. Strong mentorship got me to lymphoma and CLL as a specific focus.
What made you choose UVA Health as the place to do your research?
I had a fantastic opportunity to work with Michael E. Williams, MD, who, now 12 years later, has proven to be a stellar mentor and friend. Also, Charlottesville is absolutely beautiful. It was a no-brainer to come to UVA Health!