Meet our NEW Faculty

Hany Elmariah
Associate Professor of Medicine (Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy)

Bio

Dr. Hany Elmariah is an Associate Professor in the Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy at Stanford University. Dr. Elmariah earned his MD and his MS in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida. He completed an Internal Medicine Residency at Duke University. Dr. Elmariah then completed a Hematology and Oncology Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, where he also served as Chief Fellow. He then was a faculty member at the Moffitt Cancer Center before joining the faculty at Stanford University. Dr. Elmariah's clinical focus is allogeneic transplant for myeloid malignancies including acute myeloid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, and myeloproliferative neoplasms. His research is focused on haploidentical and mismatched unrelated donor blood and marrow transplantation and novel cellular therapies for myeloid malignancies.
Hitomi Hosoya, MD, PhD
Instructor, Medicine - Blood & Marrow Transplantation

Bio

Dr. Hosoya is fellowship-trained in blood and marrow transplantation, cellular therapy and hematology with the Stanford Medicine Cancer Center and an instructor at Stanford University in the Department of Medicine, Division of Blood & Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. Her areas of expertise include transplantation, immunotherapies, and cellular therapies for patients with multiple myeloma and other plasma cell disorders. She diagnoses and treats a range of blood disorders from anemia and hemophilia to cancerous conditions like leukemia and multiple myeloma. For each patient, she prepares a personalized, comprehensive, and compassionate care plan. Dr. Hosoya’s research is focused on improving cancer diagnostics and therapeutic decision-making in multiple myeloma. She is specifically interested in the genomics of multiple myeloma and its evolution over the course of the disease. Dr. Hosoya is studying the role of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in patients with multiple myeloma and developing tools to detect and quantify tumors and their response to chemotherapy and immunotherapy, with a goal of informing personalized therapies. Dr. Hosoya demonstrated ctDNA is useful in detecting and monitoring tumor, and its prognostic value for patients undergoing CAR T-cell therapy in multiple myeloma. Her ongoing research is focused on applying cell-free DNA sequencing towards sensitive detection of copy number alterations, gene expression inferences, and understanding mechanisms of disease response and resistance in diverse therapies in multiple myeloma. Dr. Hosoya is a member of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society of Hematology, and the Japan Team Oncology Program.
Vanessa Kennedy
Assistant Professor of Medicine (Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy)

Bio

Dr. Kennedy is a board-certified hematologist and medical oncologist who specializes in the treatment of myeloid malignancies, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and myelofibrosis (MF). She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation & Cellular Therapy, at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Kennedy's research focuses on the use of clinical informatics and bioinformatics in understanding cancer biology and improving patient outcomes. She is also actively involved in interventional clinical trials. Her work has been supported by grant funding from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology, and the Chan-Zuckerberg Foundation.
Lekha Mikkilineni
Assistant Professor of Medicine (Blood and Marrow Transplantation & Cellular Therapy)

Bio

Dr. Lekha Mikkilineni is a board-certified medical oncologist. She is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Blood & Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy. Dr. Mikkilineni has extensive experience treating blood and bone marrow cancers. She currently provides care through the Bone Marrow Transplant & Cellular Therapy Program at Stanford Health Care. Her clinical focus is multiple myeloma, plasma-cell leukemia, Extramedullary myeloma, high-risk myeloma, CAR T cell therapy, bispecific therapy, amyloidosis, POEMS syndrome, and Waldenstrom’s macroglobunemia. Dr. Mikkilineni’s research centers on exploring novel CAR T-cell therapies to treat multiple myeloma and to define mechanisms of resistance to immunotherapy. She is particularly focused on understanding how to improve therapies for multiple myeloma patients who have extramedullary disease or high-risk features. Prior to coming to Stanford, she ran phase 1 CAR T-cell trials for multiple myeloma targeting BCMA and SLAMF7 at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Mikkilineni received the Conquer Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology for her research focusing on SLAMF7 as a potential target for multiple myeloma. She has received honors and awards for her work at the NCI. She has completed fellowships in hematology/oncology and immunotherapy at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute/National Cancer Institute. She finished her residency in internal medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. She holds a Master of Science in medical sciences from Boston University and a medical degree from Tulane University. Dr. Mikkilineni has authored book chapters and published research in numerous high-impact academic journals. She has presented her findings through oral and poster presentations at national and international conferences.