Dr. Lentzsch is Professor of Medicine and the Director of the Multiple Myeloma and Amyloidosis Service at the Columbia University Medical Center, New York. Under her leadership, the program developed into a national and international referral center that offers a multidisciplinary approach to treating patients with blood cancers, multiple myeloma, and L Amyloidosis.
Dr. Lentzsch is also leading the translational research program at Columbia University that focuses on identifying novel targets for treating Multiple Myeloma, Multiple Myeloma bone disease, and AL amyloidosis. Her group identified MMP13 as a critical inducer of osteolysis and immunosuppression by binding to the checkpoint inhibitor PD-1H. The group also identified Germinal Center Kinase as a mechanism of drug resistance in RAS-mutated Multiple Myeloma. Her innovative research in amyloidosis resulted in a series of translational clinical trials, such as establishing a new treatment with Bendamustine for relapsed AL amyloidosis in a multicenter trial. In an FDA-funded, first-in-human phase 1 clinical trial, she studied whether the monoclonal antibody Cael-101 (anselamimab), targeting amyloid fibrils, can break down amyloid and subsequently improve patient organ function. Her studies led to the founding of Caelum Biosciences, and Cael-101 is currently being tested in two randomized phase 3 trials.
Dr. Lentzsch is the Co-Chair of the NCI Myeloma Steering Committee, a member of the ASH Scientific Committee for Plasma Cell Neoplasia and the ASCO Scientific Program Committee Hematologic Malignancies-Plasma Cell Dyscrasia, the Educational and Steering Committee for the Society of Hematology and Oncology (SOHO), and the SWOG Myeloma Working Group. She co-chairs the Career Development Committee of the International Myeloma Society (IMS). She is Associate Editor for JCO and on the Editorial Board for Blood Cancer Discoveries. Dr. Lentzsch recently joined the Scientific Advisory Board of the MMRF and Nexcella, Inc.
Dr. Lentzsch’s translational research received grant support from the NCI, FDA, Pennsylvania Department of Health, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, International Myeloma Society, Cancer Research Institute, Emerson Collect Fund, and International Myeloma Society. Dr. Lentzsch has published over 150 original articles, editorials, and chapters, many as the lead or senior author, in high-impact journals such as JCI, JCO, Blood, Cancer Research, and Leukemia.
