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Alyssa Lee Kennedy, MD, PhD
Alyssa Lee Kennedy, MD, PhD

Alyssa Lee Kennedy, MD, PhD

Assistant Member, St. Jude Faculty

Departments

Education

  • BS (Molecular Biology) – Haverford College
  • MD, PhD (Medicine and Molecular Cell Biology) Drexel University College of Medicine
  • Residency (Pediatrics) – Boston Combined Residency Program
  • Fellowship (Pediatric Hematology/Oncology) – Dana Farber Cancer Institute/Boston Children’s Hospital

Honors & Awards

  • 2010  Lustbader Award, Fox Chase Cancer Center                              
  • 2012  Dr. Lee Winston Award, Drexel University College of Medicine     
  • 2012  Dr. Amedio Bondi Award, Drexel University College of Medicine     
  • 2019  St. Baldrick’s Fellowship, St. Baldrick’s Foundation
  • 2019  Young Investigator Award, Edward. P Evans MDS Foundation
  • 2020  Young Investigator Award, American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
  • 2020  Quinlan Kohn Scholarship, Swachman-Diamond Congress
  • 2021-2026  Career Development Award, NIDDK – K08                                                     

Research Interests

  • Inherited Bone Marrow Failure Disorders
  • Clonal Hematopoiesis
  • Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome
  • Discovery and Developmental Therapuetics

Selected Publications

Ali RH, Silverman B, Orellana EA, Kennedy A, Bowers C, Gutierrez A, Papke D, Fletcher CD, Atayde AP, Shimamura A, Gregory RI. A noncatalytic role for mettl1 in oncogenic translation in soft tissue sarcoma. Cancer Research 83(7):3500-3500, 2023.

Khan AW, Kennedy AL, et al. The frequent and clinically benign anomalies of chromosomes 7 and 20 in Shwachman-diamond syndrome may be subject to further clonal variations. Mol Cytogenetics Nov 24;14(1):54, 2021.

Kennedy AL, Myers KC, Bowman J, Gibson CJ, et al. Distinct genetic pathways define pre-malignant versus compensatory clonal hematopoiesis in Shwachman-Diamond syndrome. Nat Commun Feb 26;12(1):1334, 2021.

Rao S, Yao Y, Soares de Brito J, Yao Q, Shen AH, Watkinson RE, Kennedy AL, et al. Dissecting ELANE neutropenia pathogenicity by human HSC gene editing.” Cell Stem Cell May 6;28(5):833-845.e5, 2021. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2020.12.015. Epub 2021 Jan 28.

Pikman Y, Conway AS, Robichaud AL., Kitara S, Church AJ, Kennedy AL, Silverman LB, Billet AL, Weinstock DM, Harris MH, Stegmaier K. Targeting EZH2 for the treatment of hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma. Blood Adv April 14;4(7):1265-1269, 2020.

Benson LA, Li H, Henderson LA, Solomon IH, Soldatos A, Murphy J, Bielekova B, Kennedy AL, Rivkin MJ, Davies KJ, Hsu AP, Holland SM, Gahl WA, Sundel RP, Lehmann LE, Lee MA, Alexandrescu S, Degar BA, Duncan CN, Gorman MP. Pediatric CNS-isolated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm Apr 8;6(3):e560, 2019.

Li H, Benson LA, Henderson LA, Solomon IH, Kennedy AL, Soldatos A, Bielekova B, Murphy J, Davies KJ, Lehmann LE, Lee MA, Alexandrescu S, Degar BA, Gorman MP, Duncan CN.

Central nervous system-restricted familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis responds to hematopoietic cell transplantation. Blood Adv Feb 26;3(4):503-507, 2019.

Kennedy AL, Shimamura A. Genetic predisposition to MDS: clinical features and clonal evolution. Blood Mar 7;133(10)1071-1085, 2019.

Storck S, Kennedy AL, Marcus KJ, Teot L, Vaughn J, Gnekow AK, Märkl B, Leuschner I, DuBois SG, French CA, Frühwald MC. Pediatric NUT-midline carcinoma: Therapeutic success employing a sarcoma based multimodal approach. Pediatr Hematol Oncol Oct 17:1-7, 2017. [Epub ahead of print]

Kennedy AL, Vallurupalli M, Chen L, Crompton B, Cowley G, Vazquez F, Weir BA, Tsherniak A, Parasuraman S, Kim S, Alexe G, Stegmaier K. Functional, chemical genomic, and super-enhancer screening identify sensitivity to cyclin D1/CDK4 pathway inhibition in Ewing sarcoma.  Oncotarget Aug 18, 2015. [Epub ahead of print]

Kennedy, AL, Adams, PD, Morton JP. Ras, PI3K/Akt and senescence: Paradoxes provide clues for pancreatic cancer therapy. Small Gtpases Sep;2(5)264-267, 2011.

Kennedy AL, Morton JP, et. al. Activation of the PIK3CA/AKT pathway suppresses senescence induced by an activated RAS oncogene to promote tumorigenesis. Molecular Cell Apr 8, 2011.

Kennedy AL, McBryan T, Enders GH, Johnson FB, Zhang R, Adams PD. Senescent mouse cells fail to overtly regulate the HIRA histone chaperone and do not form robust Senescence Associated Heterochromatin Foci. Cell Div Jun 22, 2010.

Ye X, Zerlanko B, Kennedy AL, Banumathy G, Zhang R, Adams PD. Downregulation of Wnt Signaling is a trigger for formation of facultative heterochromatin and onset of cell senescence in primary human cells. Molecular Cell Jul 20, 2007.

Mullighan CG, Kennedy AL, et. al. Pediatric acute myeloid leukemia with NPM1 mutations is characterized by a gene expression profile with dysregulated HOX gene expression distinct from MLL-rearranged leukemias. Leukemia Sep 21, 2007.

Scacheri PC, Kennedy AL, et. al.  Pancreatic insulinomas in multiple endocrine neoplasia, type I knockout mice can develop in the absence of chromosome instability or microsatellite instability. Cancer Research Oct 1, 2004.

Scacheri PC, Crabtree JS, Kennedy AL, et. al. Homozygous loss of menin is well tolerated in liver, a tissue not affected in MEN1.  Mammalian Genome Nov 15, 2004.

Last update: January 2024

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