Kapil N. Bhalla, M.D.

Dr. Bhalla is a nationally and internationally recognized physician scientist for his original basic/translational research findings that have led to the clinical testing of novel targeted agents or combinations for the therapy of leukemia and myeloproliferative neoplasms. Dr. Bhalla currently serves as a Professor and Kelcie Kana Research Chair in the Leukemia Department of MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston TX. Until 2014, he was a Full Member and the Scientific and Medical Director of the Cockrell Center for Advanced Therapeutics and Co-Director of the Phase Clinical Research Unit of the Houston Methodist Research Institute. In the past, Dr. Bhalla served as the Deputy Director of University of Kansas Cancer Center and Founding Director of the Medical College of Georgia Cancer Center. A graduate of the University of Delhi’s Maulana Azad Medical College in India, he completed internships in Pathology and Internal Medicine and a residency in Internal Medicine in the US. Following a Post-doctoral Fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, he served as a Professor on the faculty of the Medical University of South Carolina, Emory University, University of Miami and University of South Florida. He is Board-certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology. He is a past recipient of the American Cancer Society’s Career Development Award, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of America’s Fellow and Scholar Awards. He also served as the  Eminent Scholar of Georgia Research Alliance, Distinguished Cancer Scientist of Georgia Cancer Coalition and Kansas Bioscience Authority Eminent Scholar. He has been formerly a member of Experimental Therapeutics II and Basic Mechanisms of Cancer Therapy, and Chairperson of the Developmental Therapeutics Study Section. He is the author of more than 220 scholarly articles on cancer research. Dr. Bhalla’s current basic and translational research is supported by multiple NCI RO1 grants of which he is the principal investigator. His research is focused on cancer epigenetics, signaling and chaperone biology, with the goal to pre-clinically develop novel targeted therapies of leukemia and lymphoma. This research involves elucidating the biology of potential therapeutic targets and mechanisms of activity and resistance to the novel anti-cancer agents that engage the targets and the cancer-specific dependencies. These targets include mutant signaling proteins, molecular chaperones and epigenetic modifiers (writers, eraser and reader proteins). Specifically, the research focus is on mutant NPM1, FLT3 and epigenetic targets such as KDM1A, BET proteins and polycomb complex 2. This research also includes the elucidation of the predictive biomarkers of clinical efficacy of the novel anticancer agents or their combinations.