Maureen O’Brien, MD, MS, recently joined the faculty of University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine as a visiting professor in the Department of Pediatrics Section of Hematology/Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation. With support from Gates Institute and in collaboration with colleagues leading the adult leukemia programs, O’Brien will develop and help lead a campuswide high-risk leukemia program. This program will facilitate the implementation of early-phase clinical trials for pediatric and adult leukemia, including cellular therapies developed with the Gates Institute.
O’Brien brings a depth of experience as a principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on multiple therapeutic trials for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia. Her research focus will be on developing novel therapeutics and combination strategies for patients with childhood leukemias, including those with relapsed/refractory disease and those with currently sub-optimal treatment options.
O’Brien, who will practice in the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program at Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHCO), comes to Anschutz from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where she served as medical director of the Leukemia/Lymphoma Program. She received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed her residency in pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital. She completed a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, where she studied mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance before transitioning to a career focused on clinical research. At Stanford, she earned a master’s degree in epidemiology and studied late effects of cancer therapy including second malignancies and cardiac toxicity. She is currently the Vice Chair for Precision Medicine and Novel Agents for the National Cancer Institute-supported Children’s Oncology Group (COG) ALL Committee and is the Study Chair of the COG AALL1732 randomized phase 3 trial evaluating the addition of inotuzumab ozogamicin to chemotherapy for pediatric patients with high-risk B-ALL. We recently met with O’Brien to learn more about her.