Translate 2018 Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellows
Wallace Bourgeois, MD
Chief Fellow
Residency: Columbia University Medical Center / New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Research interests: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Wallace graduated from University of Chicago, earning a bachelor’s degree in religious studies. He then went on to New York University School of Medicine, where he investigated the mechanisms of drug resistance in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia and graduated with honors. Wallace then completed his pediatrics residency at Columbia University Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where outside of his clinical training, he pursued further research in pediatric oncology and bone marrow transplant. Following his pediatrics residency, he was selected to serve an additional year as chief resident. In this role he was involved in managing the pediatric residency program and educating residents. During his time in fellowship, Wallace’s clinical work has entailed the care of pediatric patients with hematologic diseases, oncologic diseases, and conditions requiring stem cell (bone marrow) transplantation.
Kevin Campbell, MD
Residency: Boston Combined Residency Program
Research interests: Clinical oncology
Kevin earned his bachelor’s degree in science in human biology from University of Kansas, where he also received his medical degree. As a medical student, Kevin analyzed daily fluctuations of lung function in multiple pediatric cystic fibrosis patients via home spirometry readings taken over the course of one year. As a Medical Student Scholar at Children’s Mercy Hospital, Kevin researched the mechanism of infiltration of human cytomegalovirus within the placenta during the first trimester. During his time in the Boston Combined Residency Program (BCRP), Kevin used recursive partitioning to identify associations between MYCN copy number and clinical features in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma to improve accuracy of risk stratification. He also retrospectively analyzed clinical and biological factors to determine markers of response and toxicity to MIBG therapy in high risk neuroblastoma patients. Kevin has an impressive background in leadership roles throughout his education and career. He was a Representative in the BCRP, as well as a Clinical Investigation Academy Leader from 2016-2017. Kevin was a Student Representative and Treasurer of the Medical Student Assembly while at the University of Kansas Medical School.
Riaz Gillani, MD
Residency: Boston Combined Residency Program
Research interests: Solid tumor genomics
Riaz graduated from Brown University, earning a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering before earning his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In the Park Laboratory at Johns Hopkins, Riaz contributed to the development of screening protocol for ESR1 mutations in patients with ER-positive metastatic breast cancer. He also worked with colleagues on a digital PCR-based assay for detection of ESR1 mutations in plasma samples. In the Stegmaier Laboratory during his time In the Boston Combined Residency Program, Riaz worked with CRISPR-Cas9 genomic screen data to analyze gene dependencies in neuroblastoma with the goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets. Riaz contributed to two peer-reviewed journal activities in Clinical Cancer Research and International Journal of Nanomedicine in 2016 and 2010, respectively. In 2016, Riaz was selected as the resident recipient of the Fred Lovejoy Housestaff Research and Education Grant, which funded neuroblastoma research. For his commitment to community service, Riaz was awarded the Yat K. Tow Prize for Public Service while at Brown University.
Emily Heikamp, MD, PhD
Residency: Texas Children's Hospital / Baylor College of Medicine
Research Interests: Epigenetics, hematopoiesis, and oncogenic fusion protein biology in pediatric cancer
Emily Heikamp received her MD and PhD from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She also holds an MSc from Oxford University in the United Kingdom where she studied as a Marshall Scholar. Emily trained in pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine / Texas Children’s Hospital. As a pediatrics intern, she was elected to The Journal of Pediatrics editorial board, a position which she continues to hold. Emily completed her residency and first year of pediatric hematology-oncology clinical training at Texas Children’s. As a resident at Baylor, she was a member of the Pediatrician-Scientist Training and Development Program, where she spent time in the laboratory studying hematopoiesis, epigenetics, and leukemia with Margaret Goodell. Emily has long-standing interests in hematopoiesis, immunology, and cancer. As an MD-PhD student in the immunology program at Hopkins, she worked with Jonathan Powell to understand how the mTOR pathway regulates T-cell differentiation. Her PhD work led to several publications, including a first-author paper in Nature Immunology and a provisional US patent. As a student at Oxford, she worked with Adrian Harris to study the tole of the Notch signaling pathway in tumor angiogenesis. She also studied B cell development with Garnett Kelsoe as an undergraduate and Howard Hughes Scholar at Duke University. With her enduring passion for basic science and commitment to improving outcomes in high-risk pediatric cancer, Emily was eager to start forging her career as a pediatric oncologist physician-scientist at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s. The overarching goal of her career is to become an independent investigator and the leader of her own laboratory, with the goal of translating research discoveries to transform clinical practice in pediatric oncology.
Kirsty Hillier, MD
Chief Fellow
Residency: Baylor College of Medicine / Texas Children’s Hospital
Research Interests: Translational basic science in solid tumors
Kirsty earned her bachelor’s degree with honors in allied medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, where she also earned her medical degree. Kirsty was selected to be chief resident at Baylor College of Medicine / Texas Children’s Hospital, where she was a member of a number of committees including the Interviewing Subcommittee, House Staff Selection Committee, Pediatric Residency Curriculum & Evaluation Committee, and the Laboratory Medicine Committee. Kirsty was selected to be the supervising resident for pediatric interns during their very first inpatient rotation. She was a co-author for a publication in Pediatrics in 2017 and presented at the American Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology in 2018. Her presentation was titled, “Factors Impacting Time to Engraftment in Patients with High Risk Neuroblastoma Following Stem Cell Transplant.” Kirsty’s clinical work during her time in fellowship has entailed working with patients with hematologic and oncologic disorders in both the inpatient and outpatient clinical settings.
Jessica Tsai, MD, PhD
Residency: Boston Combined Residency Program
Research Interests: Cell lineage related to solid tumors
Jessica earned her bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Stanford University where she also earned her PhD and medical degree. Jessica was extremely active in the Stanford community. She was a member of the Stanford School of Medicine Medical Scientist Training Program Admission Committee and co-chair of the Stanford Graduate Student Council. She was the recipient of the Stanford University Department of Biology Stephen Fox Award, which is awarded to the top undergraduate in the Department of Biology. During her time in the Boston Combined Residency Program, Jessica performed qualitative research understanding attitudes toward implicit bias and implicit bias training amongst pediatric residency program directors. She prepared and submitted a survey to the Association of Pediatric Program Directors and obtained an Institutional Review Board exempt approval from Boston Medical Center / Boston University School of Medicine. Prior to beginning her fellowship, Jessica was a postdoctoral fellow in the Walsh Laboratory as part of the Integrated Research Pathway. Jessica has contributed to a number of peer reviews journals including JAMA Pediatrics, Science, Nature Biotechnology, and PLoS Biology.
Lara Wahlster, MD, PhD
Residency: Boston Combined Residency Program
Research Interests: Hematology, genetic blood disorders, and bone marrow transplantation
Lara graduated summa cum laude from Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg Germany in 2013. Her doctoral thesis examined intracellular protein folding and degradation mechanisms in neuronal models. After completing her pediatrics internship at Heidelberg University Children’s Hospital, Lara was awarded a Young Investigator Award by the Heidelberg Faculty of Science, which allowed her to pursue an early postdoctoral fellowship in stem cell research. As a postdoctoral fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital, she worked with George Daley, MD, PhD, using patient derived induced pluripotent stem cells for cellular engineering and modeling rare congenital blood disorders. Lara joined the Boston Combined Residency Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center in 2016, completing the accelerated research pathway as one of the physician scientist tracks within the program. She is interested in hematology, genetic blood disorders, and bone marrow transplantation. She is working with her mentor, Vijay Sankaran, MD, PhD, using genomic tools to study hematopoiesis and hematopoietic stem cell biology.