Leo David Wang, M.D., Ph.D.

One of the most important pieces of advice that families should hear is that children and young adults with cancer need to be treated at pediatric cancer centers. There are overwhelmingly convincing data showing that outcomes are much better when young patients are treated by pediatric oncologists."

Dr. Wang earned his undergraduate degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University, followed by his Ph.D. and medical doctorate at University of Chicago. He successfully completed an internship and residency in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Wang then completed his pediatric hematology/oncology/stem cell transplantation fellowship at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, and pursued postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Amy Wagers, Ph.D.,  at the Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

Board-certified in pediatrics and pediatric hematology/oncology, Dr. Wang is the recipient of multiple honors and awards, including a Damon-Runyon Foundation Cancer Research Fellowship, a St. Baldrick’s Scholar Award and an Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation Young Investigator Award.

Dr. Wang will attend on the pediatric oncology and stem cell transplant services while maintaining an active research laboratory. His research focuses on utilizing novel mass spectrometry-based phosphoproteomic techniques to identify targetable activation pathways in small numbers of rare cells. He plans to continue this work on benign and malignant hematopoietic stem cells, as well as to extend his research to investigate critical pathways important in the immune response to cancer. Ultimately, he plans to create a research program that bridges clinical oncology and bone marrow transplantation with fundamental mechanistic research, permitting the translation of novel laboratory findings into clinically important interventions.