Andrew Evens, DO, MBA, MSc: Transforming Lymphoma Research and Care

Andrew Evens, DO, MBA, MSc, is not only a leading lymphoma clinician but also a trailblazer in lymphoma research, helping to bridge the gap in adolescent and young adult (AYA) oncology among other lymphoma initiatives and unmet needs. Dr. Evens is the incoming chair of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) for the Lymphoma Research Foundation, and his innovative research at the Rutgers Cancer Institute is uncovering crucial insights into the treatment of young adult lymphoma patients. With a focus on understanding why survival rates for AYAs have lagged behind those of other age groups, Dr. Evens is positioned at the forefront of transforming the landscape of lymphoma care.
From Relocations to Research: The Early Years That Shaped Dr. Evens’ Career
The son of two pharmacists in Buffalo, New York, Dr. Evens relocated with his family frequently during his childhood due to his father’s career in the burgeoning pharmaceutical industry.
“I went to three different high schools in four years,” Dr. Evens said. “As hard as it was in the moment, I think it forced me to learn how to be agile in different and unfamiliar situations, which has served me well throughout my medical career.”

Dr. Evens was a natural athlete, and basketball quickly became his anchor and entry point into building lasting friendships with classmates in new schools. His athleticism, combined with his academic prowess, earned him a scholarship to St. Joseph’s College in Indiana, where he was named a Bill Bradley Academic All-American. However, it was his early exposure to the biotech world through his father’s work that ignited his interest in medical research. Dr. Evens spent a couple of summers diving into scientific research at the company where his father worked, drawing him to the power of scientific discovery. While he initially began a PhD program, his desire to work directly with patients led him to medical school at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Dr. Evens is now one of the leading voices in lymphoma research and treatment, and his unique combination of scientific curiosity, compassionate patient care, and personal perseverance is shaping the future of lymphoma
care for a population in need.
Leadership and Innovation in Research and Patient Care
In the early 2000s, Dr. Evens completed his fellowship in hematology/oncology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center in Chicago, Illinois, where he also remained as a faculty member for 11 years. While completing his fellowship, precision medicine in oncology was just emerging, which made it a particularly exciting time to be studying lymphoma.
“Although still in its early stages, it was clear there were burgeoning opportunities to harness precision medicine and, in particular, targeted therapeutics,” he said. “The blood cancers led the way initially, and we began looking at the most innovative targeted therapeutics to use, which hadn’t been done before.”
The blood cancers led the way initially, and we began looking at the most innovative targeted therapeutics to use, which hadn’t been done before.
Under the mentorship of Leo Gordon, MD, past chair and longtime member of the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), Dr. Evens developed his passion for lymphoma research.

“Dr. Gordon’s brilliance and his compassion as a bedside clinician were part of what initially drew me to the study of lymphoma,” he said.
Dr. Evens went on to serve as the director of the Cancer Center at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, chief of their division of hematology/oncology, and professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine.
Today, Dr. Evens is the Deputy Director for Clinical Services of the Rutgers Cancer Institute; and Chief Physician Officer of the Jack & Sheryl Morris Cancer Center, New Jersey’s only freestanding hospital; System Director of Medical Oncology and Oncology Lead for the Combined Medical Group of RWJBarnabas Health; and Associate Vice Chancellor for Clinical Innovation and Data Analytics within Rutgers Health at Rutgers University. With so many hats, Dr. Evens splits his time between patient care, clinical research, and healthcare administration. He is particularly excited about the opening of the new cancer hospital, which is one of fewer than 15 freestanding cancer hospitals in the United States with all pediatric and adult cancer care under one roof, and the only one in New Jersey.
“We spared no expense in the creation of this cancer center,” Dr. Evens said with pride. “It’s an incredible facility and a true national destination center.” The facility features inpatient and outpatient multidisciplinary care; state-of-the-art operating suites; the most advanced radiation treatment available, with four linear accelerators; a modern gymnasium with physical therapy; a patient boutique and healing garden; and ten high-impact translational research laboratories.
Still, for all his excitement about the new center, Dr. Evens remains committed to a principle of accessible care, as the Rutgers Cancer Institute and RWJBH catchment includes the entire state of New Jersey: “Cancer doesn’t travel well for many patients. Our goal is to keep cancer care close to home.” He helps lead oncology services for the RWJBH system, where they have more than 275 employed oncologists and 100 oncology advanced practice practitioners across 15 acute care hospitals and more than 30 ambulatory cancer practices across the state. RWJBH is also actively building two additional freestanding ambulatory cancer facilities in Livingston and Tinton Falls, New Jersey.
Solving the Mystery of Young Adult Lymphoma

A significant focus of Dr. Evens’ ongoing research is AYA lymphoma and the unmet needs of this patient population. Every year, nearly 70,000 AYAs in the U.S. are diagnosed with cancer. Despite advances in therapy development, the survival of AYA cancer patients is still more challenging than in children and older adults. Lymphomas are responsible for nearly 1 in 5 cancer diagnoses among AYA patients, defined by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as patients aged 15 to 39 years. Research suggests that while survival rates have improved across most age groups over the past 20 years, progress with young adult survival rates has been slower.
“The survival increases have lagged for AYA lymphoma. They are much less robust in younger patients than AYAs, and even compared with patients in their 40s and 50s who have seen greater benefits. And we don’t yet know why,” Dr. Evens explains. “Is it different biology? Is it social and access factors? There’s still so much more to learn.”
Dr. Evens is the founding co-principal investigator, along with pediatric oncologist Dr. Susan Parsons, for the NIH-funded global initiative called HoLISTIC (Hodgkin Lymphoma International Study for Individual Care). This project has convened more than 80 of the world’s clinical, epidemiologic, and decision science experts to harmonize and analyze data from more than 30,000 Hodgkin lymphoma patients from a multitude of seminal clinical trials and long-term cancer registries conducted worldwide over the past 20 years.
In today’s world, we often have a presumption of which treatment is best based on a general amalgamation of heterogeneous data.
The goal of the initiative is to develop decision models that can provide personalized treatment recommendations to patients and providers based on unique and individualized patient characteristics and disease factors.
“In today’s world, we often have a presumption of which treatment is best based on a general amalgamation of heterogeneous data,” he said. “But we look forward to developing sophisticated and dynamic computer models based on granular data across varied treatment options that predict the likely acute outcomes and survival rates as well as estimate the risk of post-acute and late effects based on thousands of previously treated patients across different treatment options.”
This work is particularly important for Hodgkin lymphoma patients, about 70% of whom are young adults. While there have been successful treatments for the last 40 years, treatments can cause serious long-term side effects, including heart disease, lung disease, and secondary cancers. Better predictive models could help patients and physicians choose treatments that not only target their cancer but also concurrently minimize these long-term risks.
In addition to his consortium’s AYA research, Dr. Evens has been instrumental in spearheading the Lymphoma Research Foundation’s AYA initiatives.

Recognizing the unmet need of AYAs with lymphoma, the Lymphoma Research Foundation, with the ongoing support of founding sponsor The Paul Foundation, began an initiative to engage and support the AYA research community, patients, and their families. In 2015, the Foundation hosted its first AYA Symposium, bringing together clinicians and scientists from both pediatric and adult oncology disciplines to assess the state of AYA
lymphoma research, identify key gaps, and explore the unique challenges and treatment burdens faced by this population. Traditionally, pediatric and adult oncologists have worked in separate silos – treating patients under 18 and those over 18, respectively. This gap in collaboration prompted the creation of the inaugural AYA Lymphoma Consortium Scientific Workshop in May 2019. The momentum continued with the second AYA Consortium Scientific Workshop in June 2022 in Jersey City, New Jersey, where the focus was on advancing research and clinical developments aligned with the priorities set in 2019. Building on this progress, the AYA Lymphoma Consortium was officially established in fall 2023, with Dr. Andrew Evens and fellow Foundation SAB member Kara Kelly, MD, serving as co-chairs of the consortium’s executive committee.
To address these questions, the Foundation formed the inaugural AYA Lymphoma Consortium in 2019, bringing together the leading experts from pediatric and adult oncology to focus on advancing the study of AYA lymphomas and improving treatments and care for this patient population, from the point of diagnosis through long-term survival.
“Before the Foundation took the leadership role in forming this AYA effort and ultimately, this consortium, the medical community had very divergent views and also different clinical trials for how we treat the same diseases,” Dr. Evens said. “Working together to align these efforts is critical. The Foundation has done an amazing job of engendering that collaboration, not just across cancer centers but between adult and pediatric lymphoma experts, to develop harmonized recommendations for treatment and survivorship care.”
Under Dr. Evens’ and Dr. Kelly’s leadership, the Foundation hosted its third AYA Scientific Workshop and Consortium meeting in March 2025, with nearly 100 members in attendance.
“I’m honored to help lead this vital consortium and am excited to see what we can continue to accomplish together as a collaborative and cross-disciplinary group to improve acute and long-term outcomes for AYAs impacted by these cancers.”

A Relationship With the Foundation 20 Years in the Making
Dr. Evens’ relationship with the Lymphoma Research Foundation spans more than 20 years, beginning during his fellowship at Northwestern. His mentor, Dr. Gordon, was already involved with the Foundation, and Dr. Evens quickly became engaged with the organization’s work and mission to eradicate lymphoma.
Dr. Evens helped establish the Foundation’s first Lymphoma Rounds program in Chicago – a professional education event that provides a forum for local practicing physicians from academic and community medical centers to meet on a regular basis and address issues specific to the diagnosis and treatment of their lymphoma patients – and later brought the concept to New England when he moved to Boston. He has co-chaired the Foundation’s North American Educational Forum twice, helped to lead the Foundation’s Lymphoma Scientific Research Mentoring Program (LSRMP), and served as grand marshal of the Foundation’s New York Lymphoma Walk in 2019.
“I’ve always been a convener, bringing diverse groups of people together to achieve a common goal,” Dr. Evens said. “And that’s how I view the Foundation – the ultimate convener, where they organically and strategically bring stakeholders together that often become synergistic to serve a common purpose, which is more discoveries, better treatments, and improved outcomes for children and adults with lymphoma.”

In July, Dr. Evens will assume the role of chair of the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board, an honor he describes as both exciting and inspiring.
“The esteemed members of the Scientific Advisory Board are among the top lymphoma experts in their specialties in North America and Canada,” he said. “It’s an honor to endorse the mission of the Foundation, which is to eradicate lymphoma and serve those impacted by this blood cancer.”
As government funding for medical research becomes uncertain, Dr. Evens emphasizes the critical importance of organizations like the Lymphoma Research Foundation. “We would not be able to do the level of cutting-edge lymphoma research without funding vis-à-vis the Lymphoma Research Foundation,” he said. “The Foundation provides funding for critical breakthroughs at multiple levels, whether in clinical care, epidemiology, or translational research.”
The Road Ahead
For patients and families affected by lymphoma, the AYA Lymphoma Consortium offers opportunities to contribute to advancing research and care.
“There’s still a lot of opportunities to get involved, whether it’s donating money or time or sharing a perspective, new ideas, and your personal lymphoma journey to help other patients down the road,” Dr. Evens said.
As he assumes leadership of the Scientific Advisory Board and continues his work with HoLISTIC and the AYA consortium, Dr. Evens remains committed to collaboration. From the basketball court to the matrix cancer center and health system, his ability to bring diverse perspectives together continues to drive progress in the fight against lymphoma.
There’s still a lot of opportunities to get involved, whether it’s donating money or time or sharing a perspective, new ideas, and your personal lymphoma journey to help other patients down the road.
Looking to the future, Dr. Evens also hopes to expand the Foundation’s reach to include more community oncologists, who provide more than 80% of cancer care in the United States, and to continue addressing the important issues in lymphoma research and treatment.
“The Lymphoma Research Foundation is the world’s leading authority on lymphoma science, clinical care, education, and health equity,” said Dr. Evens. “I’m excited to lead the Scientific Advisory Board and find new ways to leverage our collective intelligence and to serve as the ultimate convener when it comes to lymphoma research and patient care.”

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Pulse is a publication of the Lymphoma Research Foundation, providing the latest updates on the Foundation and its focus on lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) research, awareness, and education