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Dana-Farber/Boston Children's is a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.
Jessica A. Pollard, MD
- Senior Physician
- Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Appointment Phone
- 617-632-3270
- 888-733-4662
Fax
- 617-632-5710
General
Treatment Centers
Discipline
Clinical Interests
Development of novel prognostication tools and utilization of targeted therapeutics to improve clinical outcomes within pediatric AML
Location
Background
Board Certifications
Fellowship
Residency
Medical School
Biography
Dr. Pollard joins the Hematologic Malignancies service as faculty member and clinical researcher. Dr. Pollard came to Dana-Farber after working as an attending at Seattle Children's Hospital/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center from 2006-2014. For the last 4 years she has been an attending at Maine Children's Cancer Program at Maine Medical Center where she was an Attending Physician in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Pollard received her B.S. degree, with honors, in biology from Cornell University in 1995 and went on to earn her M.D. from Columbia University in 2000. She completed her residency in pediatrics at the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital before joining a joint pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship program with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer research Center in 2003. Following the completion of her fellowship training, Dr. Pollard was faculty at the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital until 2014. She relocated to Maine in 2014 where she worked as an attending at Maine Children's Cancer Program/Maine Medical Center until her relocation to Boston in 2018. Dr. Pollard's expertise lies in the management of children with myeloid malignancies. Her research focus is in development of clinical trials that improve outcomes in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and related myeloid disorders by utilizing knowledge of disease biology to optimize treatment approaches. Moreover, she has an interest in germline conditions that predispose to myeloid malignancies and how such conditions impact treatment considerations.
Research
As a clinical researcher with expertise in management of children with myeloid malignancies, Dr. Pollard's research has focused on development of novel prognostication tools and utilization of targeted therapeutics to improve clinical outcomes with pediatric AML. Specifically, she has studied the role of CD33 expression in pediatric AML and its impact on gemtuzumab ozogamicin(GO) response. She has also aided development of targeted therapeutic approaches for pediatric patients with FLT3/ITD+ AML and has studied the role of maintenance sorafenib treatment in this disease subset (COG AAML1031). As the vice chair for the upcoming phase III COG AML de novo AML study (AAML1831), she will study whether a second generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor, gilteritinib, will provide further clinical benefit for FLT3 mutated disease, particularly when utilizing a backbone of chemotherapy that also includes GO and a liposomal form of anthracycline (CPX-351). Dr. Pollard will continue to develop clinical trials that study novel targeted therapies in pediatric myeloid malignancies and will expand her studies to include investigation of novel agents in the treatment of MDS and germline disorders that predispose to AML. She will also partner with colleagues in both the field of AML and ALL to develop collaborative leukemia trials that will utilize rigorous diagnostic methodologies to aid identification of clinically relevant mutations that can be targeted with novel agents within the context of relapsed/refractory leukemia.