ASCI / Young Physician-Scientist Awards, 2023
The Young Physician-Scientist Awards (YPSA) recognize physician-scientists who are early in their first faculty appointment and have made notable achievements in their research.
About the awardee
Yana Pikman, MD is a pediatric oncologist focused on implementation of genomics into the care of pediatric patients with leukemia, and using clinical findings to guide laboratory-based genomic target validation, development of combination drug treatments, and thus informing targeted early phase clinical trials for pediatric patients with acute leukemia. Dr. Pikman received an AB in Biology from Barnard College, an MD from Harvard Medical School (HMS), and completed pediatrics residency training at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH)/Boston Medical Center. She completed pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship training at BCH/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and her post-doctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Kimberly Stegmaier. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at HMS and the DFCI.
Dr. Pikman's collaborative research program bridges the gap between basic and clinical research. She is the overall PI for the 15-institution LEAP Consortium Matched Targeted Therapy clinical trial, determining the feasibility of identifying actionable alterations with a matched therapy for pediatric patients with relapsed/refractory or high risk leukemias, and this has now expanded to another study focused on implementing clinical genomics for patients at Northeast regional centers. This work has revealed novel genomic findings and treatment hypotheses which she is studying in pre-clinical models, with a focus on developing ways to target alterations that are associated with more difficult to treat leukemia. Dr. Pikman's team have identified mutations in the Ras signaling pathway as being among the most prevalent in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and associated with poor outcomes. They are studying novel methods to inhibit this pathway. They are also working with leukemia samples from patients to inform mechanisms of chemotherapy sensitivity and resistance. Dr. Pikman's research has been recognized through publications as well as invited talks. Her work has received funding from a number of organizations, including a K08 career development award from the NIH.