Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Associate Director of Research at the UW Carbone Cancer Center, Head of the UW Lymphoma Program, Chairman of the ECOG Lymphoma Committee, MCLC Executive Committee and LRF SAB member

At 12-years old, Dr. Brad Kahl lost his father to leukemia. In the years following, he developed an interest in the medical field, especially in cancer. As a medical student at Tufts University, Dr. Kahl became fascinated with hematology and found his medical pursuits gravitating toward problems associated with blood diseases and the lymphatic system. 

While conducting a summer research project in the lab of lymphoma specialist David Schenkein, MD, at the New England Medical Center, Dr. Kahl found his first role model. From there, he completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in hematology, both at the University of Wisconsin. After that, he was offered a faculty position at UW and given the opportunity to build a lymphoma program at the institution from the ground up. Over the last nine years, Dr. Kahl has developed and expanded the program and been able to focus his research and clinical trials on new therapeutics for lymphoma patients.

Dr. Kahl finds inspiration from working with his patients. “I take care of a lot of lymphoma patients in clinic and the hospital. Many do very well which is very gratifying,” he said. “But still too many patients do poorly because we can’t find treatments that work well enough for them. This is frustrating but motivating. The desire to improve patient care keeps me engaged.”

Much of Dr. Kahl’s research has focused on finding better ways to treat mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). He recently finished a trial through the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG). The study looked at combining bortezomib, a new agent that kills cancer cells differently from other drugs, with traditional chemotherapy therapeutics. Dr. Kahl said the results of this combination, called VcR-CVAD, have so far been positive, with 75 percent of participants in remission. The true test, he said, will be to “establish how long remissions last. Time will tell how good the regimen is.”

As a member of the Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium (MCLC) Executive Committee, Dr. Kahl was responsible for coordinating the topics for round-table discussions at the MCLC Meeting in March 2009. Small groups of researchers had an hour to discuss certain assigned topics related to MCL research and the direction it should pursue. Topics included remission maintenance strategies, Minimal Residual Disease changes over time and targeting the cell cycle’s role in MCL.

“The discussions were a big success,” Dr. Kahl said. “[At each table,] we had six, eight or ten really smart people all brainstorming about a really narrow question, framing it for the rest of the room, and outlining a way to move forward. It was great addition to the meeting and I hope to see it again next year.”

Dr. Kahl is hopeful that the MCLC will continue to flourish as “it is a great model that should be applied to other sub-diseases. One of the really wonderful things is how it’s brought a group of individuals together who might not have otherwise been brought together to collaborate.” However, he said to maintain its current level of success, the Mantle Cell Lymphoma Initiative, and its research projects and resources, needs to have the proper support. “The biggest challenge coming up for the Initiative,” he said “is to be able to continue to fund its programs at an adequate level to support the ideas coming from the Consortium.” The test posed by the recent economic climate has posed this as a major challenge.

To read about Dr. Kahl’s recent appointment to chair of the lymphoma committee of ECOG, click here.

October 2, 2009