Meet the Team
Leadership
Mignon Loh, MD
Dr. Mignon Loh is center director for the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research and chief of the Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, Bone Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy, overseeing the Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Her research focuses on how and why leukemia progresses, as well as making genomics discoveries in the lab that translate into new and better diagnostics and therapeutics for children, adolescents and young adults with leukemia.
Elizabeth Lawlor, MD, PhD
Dr. Elizabeth Lawlor is associate 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
Myron Evans II, PhD
Dr. Myron Evans II is a principal investigator at the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research. His research focuses on understanding the epigenetic events that drive normal brain development and malignant central nervous system (CNS) tumors.
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.
James M. Olson, MD, PhD
Dr. Jim Olson focuses on the discovery and development of novel therapeutics (e.g., “Tumor Paint”/Tozuleristide) with particular expertise in pediatric brain tumors. His team collaborates with labs across all disciplines at Seattle Children's Research Institute to discover novel therapeutics for pediatric patients.
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.
Siobhan Pattwell, PhD
Dr. Siobhan Pattwell is a principal investigator at the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research. Her research focuses on the intersection between neurodevelopment, genetics and cancer.
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.