We are pleased to welcome Dr. Deborah Stephens to the faculty in the Division of Hematology and Hematologic Malignancies. Dr. Stephens joins us from Ohio State University. She received her DO from Kansas City University of Medicine, after which she completed her residency at the Cleveland Clinic and Ohio State University. She received the Michael Grever Award for Outstanding Clinical Resident in Hematology and Oncology at Ohio State. Upon completion of her residency, she was appointed as Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Arthur James Cancer Center at Ohio State University. She is board certified in Internal Medicine.
Dr. Stephens' research has focused on patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. She was an investigator on clinical trials with ibrutinib and alvocidib inhibitors of Bruton's tyrosine kinase and cyclin-dependent kinase, respectively in patients with CLL. She was also a co-investigator on clinical trials using CD20 and IMMU-114 antibodies with CLL and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients. She was motivated to improve the treatment outcome of CLL patients through targeted antibody therapy. She also was focused on CLL patients with a del(17p13.1) deletion of the TP53 tumor suppressor, which is usually associated with poor therapeutic response. In her present position she will focus on chronic lymphocytic leukemia and lymphoma at the University of Utah and Huntsman Cancer Institute. Welcome Dr. Stephens.