Researcher Spotlight: Alexandra Rojek, MD

the university of chicago

Kristie Blum, MD Scholar

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has improved outcomes for patients with B-cell lymphomas, but many patients still experience relapse after treatment. Dr. Rojek’s research has revealed that inhibition of the PI3K signaling pathway plays a role in the persistence of CAR T-cells, and her current work is aimed at understanding whether the addition of a PI3K inhibitor during the CAR T-cell manufacturing process can enhance their efficacy for lymphoma treatment. “Seeing both the incredible success of CAR T-cell therapy for patients but also the disappointment of when it does not work gives me the motivation to develop strategies to tip the balance in favor of those incredible success stories, and make that accessible to more patients,” she says.

Dr. Rojek is currently a hematology and oncology fellow at the University of Chicago. She hopes to expand her current research to establish herself as an independent researcher pushing the boundaries of lymphoma therapy to help more patients achieve long-lasting remissions. “I am excited to see how the evolving role of combinations of immunotherapies, cellular therapies, and emerging therapeutics moves our field forward into incrementally avoiding chemotherapy for more patients, and with more efficacy,” she says. “The incredible drive across researchers in the field to better understand how they work and build on their successes gives me hope that we will move the needle further forward with these options in the coming years.”

“I feel so honored to be a part of the incredible Foundation community through the Lymphoma Scientific Research Mentoring Program and am so grateful for the opportunities it has already afforded me,” Dr. Rojek adds. “I have looked up to so many of my own mentors who have been and continue to be a part of the Foundation, and I feel lucky to follow in their footsteps at the start of my career in lymphoma!”