My professional goal is to improve outcomes for children with cancer and blood disorders. I am Professor of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and Co-Director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Lymphoma and Histiocytosis Programs.  My research group focuses on research efforts to develop and test improved therapeutic strategies for children with histiocytic disorders, lymphoproliferative disorders and lymphomas. Our research in Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) has contributed to redefinition of the disease as a myeloproliferative neoplasia.

I am also co-founder of the North American Consortium for Histiocytosis Research (NACHO) that now includes over 60 institutions. With support from the LLS Translational Research Program, we are moving discoveries beyond the bench to clinical trials. NACHO-COBI is the first prospective trial testing MAPK pathway inhibition in children with LCH and related disorders that is now open in the NACHO network.  We hope that results from this trial and correlative biology studies will improve survival and quality of life for patients with LCH