Week 8 2024

Dr. Kamihara received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and her PhD in genetics from MIT. She completed her pediatric residency training at Boston Children’s Hospital/Boston Medical Center and her fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital. She is currently an attending physician in the Jimmy Fund Clinic. Her research and clinical interests focus on pediatric cancer predisposition syndromes.

Dr. Kamihara serves as an expert for the Department of Hematology-Oncology for Boston Children's Hospital Precision Medicine Service. For more information about the Precision Medicine Service please visit bostonchildrens.org/precisionmed.

SANDRA DREIKE, MS, CGC is a licensed board-certified genetic counselor who specializes in cancer genetics. Sandra joined the City of Hope Division of Clinical Cancer Genomics in 2019, where she provides genetic counseling and cancer genetic risk assessments as a Senior Genetic Counselor. She received her Master of Science degree is Genetic Counseling from University of California, Irvine and her bachelor’s degree in Biology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She previously practiced as a genetic counselor in Honolulu, HI where she specialized in cancer genetics and general pediatric and adult genetics. In addition to patient care she is a faculty member of the City of Hope Intensive Course and Clinical Cancer Genomics Community of Practice, and research. Sandra is a member of the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) and Southern California Genetic Counselors (SCGC).

JANE CHURPEK, MD, MS, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care within the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She is a board-certified hematologist and oncologist who focuses on the care of adults with low blood counts due to acquired and inherited causes, including clonal hematopoiesis, myelodysplastic syndrome, and inherited bone marrow failure syndromes. She also specializes in the diagnosis and management of patients and their families with hereditary cancer predisposition syndromes. Dr. Churpek’s research focuses on identifying inherited genetic factors that cause increased risk of cancer and bone marrow disorders, especially among understudied tumors and blood disorders. Her goal is to understand who is at increased risk and how specific exposures increase or decrease risk. She aims to utilize this information to optimize early detection, treatment, and, ultimately, prevention of cancer and bone marrow disorders. Dr. Churpek has contributed to the understanding of several novel hereditary blood cancer predisposition syndromes and the role of inherited predisposition in exposure-associated cancers such as therapy-related leukemia and mesothelioma. She is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology, and the American Society of Human Genetics, and she is the recipient of an American Society for Clinical Investigation Young Physician-Scientist Award.