Meet the Team
Leadership
Elizabeth Lawlor, MD, PhD
Dr. Elizabeth Lawlor is interim center director for the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research. Her research focuses on Ewing sarcoma, an aggressive bone and soft tissue tumor that peaks in adolescence and for which new cures are needed.
Faculty
Heather H. Gustafson, PhD
Dr. Heather Gustafson is a principal investigator at the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research and directs the Engineering and Designing Immunotherapy Laboratory (EDIT Labs). Her lab focuses on how to train a child’s innate immune system to fight cancer.
Vandana Kalia, PhD
Dr. Vandana Kalia is a principal investigator at the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research. She is studying how genes regulate T cells and is pursuing ways to commandeer that process and help T cells to destroy tumors.
Shannon Oda, PhD
Dr. Shannon Oda is a principal investigator at the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research. Her lab develops engineering strategies that enable T cells to overcome obstacles in the tumor microenvironment and mount a more powerful, durable and sustained attack on cancer cells.
Rimas Orentas, PhD
Dr. Rimas Orentas is a principal investigator at the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research. He has extensive experience in CAR T-based immunotherapy approaches to cancer therapy.
Surojit Sarkar, PhD
Dr. Surojit Sarkar is a principal investigator at the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research. He is pursuing ways to help the immune system remember cancer and attack it if it relapses – whether that’s months or decades after a child goes into remission.
Nicholas Vitanza, MD
Dr. Nicholas Vitanza is a pediatric neuro-oncologist and translational scientist whose career is dedicated to the care of children with CNS tumors such as DIPG or DMG.