Stephen J. Forman, M.D.
- Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation
- Hematologic Malignancies
- Leukemia
- Lymphoma
- T Cell Immunotherapy
- Director, Hematologic Malignancies Research Institute
- Professor, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation
- Principal Investigator, Lymphoma SPORE
- Director, T Cell Therapeutics Research Laboratory
- Co-director, Hematologic Malignancies Program, Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Professor, Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research
It remains a privilege, after 45 years of doing this, to be allowed to take care of somebody who has these diseases.
Stephen J. Forman, M.D., is an international expert in leukemia, lymphoma and bone marrow transplantation. Dr. Forman is also co-editor of "Thomas’ Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation," a definitive textbook for clinicians, scientists and health care professionals.
Dr. Forman exudes the special blend of zealous determination and compassion typical of City of Hope team members, illustrated by his own words: “We come to work every day thinking ‘cure ...’ Once we've extended our hand and grabbed yours, we don't let it go.”
In 45 years at City of Hope, Dr. Forman has been instrumental in dramatically advancing survival rates for blood disorders. He is deeply involved with the translational and clinical research at City of Hope's Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center, Cellular Immunotherapy Center, Judy and Bernard Briskin Center for Multiple Myeloma Research and the Gehr Family Center for Leukemia Research.
His current projects are focused on immunotherapy — using the body's own immune system to attack cancer. Much of his current work centers on T cells and their cancer-fighting potential.
Location
Duarte Cancer Center
Duarte, CA 91010
Education & Experience
1974, M.D., Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
1970, B.A., Philosophy, cum laude, St. John's College, Annapolis, MD
1979-1980, Fellow, Medical Oncology, City of Hope, Duarte, CA
1978-1979, Research Associate, Hematology Division, Department of Pharmacology, Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
1976-1978, Fellow, Hematology Division, LAC+USC Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
1974-1975, Harbor UCLA Hospital, Torrance, CA
1974-1976, Intern and Resident, Internal Medicine, Harbor UCLA Hospital, Torrance, CA
2014-present, Director, Hematologic Malignancies Research Institute, City of Hope, Duarte, CA
2014-present, Associate Director for Clinical Sciences, City of Hope, Duarte, CA
2004-present, Director, T Cell Therapeutics Research Laboratory, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte, CA
1987-present, Co-Leader, Hematologic Malignancies Program, City of Hope, Duarte, CA
1987-2019, Chair, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope, Duarte, CA
1980-present, Staff Physician, Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research, City of Hope, Duarte, CA
1979-present, Staff Physician, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope, Duarte, CA
1978-1979, Research Associate, Hematology Division, Department of Pharmacology, Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
Awards & Memberships
Awards
2019, E. Donnall Thomas Lecture, American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation
2019, DKMS Mechtild Harf Science Award
Memberships
2018, Association of American Physicians
2018, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
Publications
- Zhang, C., Huang, R., Ren, L., Song, J., Kortylewski, M., Swiderski, P., Forman, S., & Yu, H. (2023). Local CpG-Stat3siRNA treatment improves antitumor effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology, 2023.08.17.553571. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.08.17.553571
- Lee, E. H. J., Murad, J. P., Christian, L., Gibson, J., Yamaguchi, Y., Cullen, C., Gumber, D., Park, A. K., Young, C., Monroy, I., Yang, J., Stern, L. A., Adkins, L. N., Dhapola, G., Gittins, B., Chang, W. C., Martinez, C., Woo, Y., Cristea, M., Rodriguez-Rodriguez, L., … Priceman, S. J. (2023). Antigen-dependent IL-12 signaling in CAR T cells promotes regional to systemic disease targeting.Nature communications,14(1), 4737. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40115-1
- Forman S. J. (2023). Why we have transplant reunions.Transplantation and cellular therapy,29(8), 477–479. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtct.2023.07.004
- Zhao, Y., Aldoss, I., Qu, C., Crawford, J. C., Gu, Z., Allen, E. K., Zamora, A. E., Alexander, T. B., Wang, J., Goto, H., Imamura, T., Akahane, K., Marcucci, G., Stein, A. S., Bhatia, R., Thomas, P. G., Forman, S. J., Mullighan, C. G., & Roberts, K. G. (2021). Tumor-intrinsic and -extrinsic determinants of response to blinatumomab in adults with B-ALL.Blood,137(4), 471–484. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood.2020006287
- Alizadeh, D., Wong, R. A., Gholamin, S., Maker, M., Aftabizadeh, M., Yang, X., Pecoraro, J. R., Jeppson, J. D., Wang, D., Aguilar, B., Starr, R., Larmonier, C. B., Larmonier, N., Chen, M. H., Wu, X., Ribas, A., Badie, B., Forman, S. J., & Brown, C. E. (2021). IFNγ Is Critical for CAR T Cell-Mediated Myeloid Activation and Induction of Endogenous Immunity.Cancer discovery,11(9), 2248–2265. https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.CD-20-1661
- Siddiqi, T., Wang, X., Blanchard, M. S., Wagner, J. R., Popplewell, L. L., Budde, L. E., Stiller, T. L., Clark, M. C., Lim, L., Vyas, V., Brown, C. E., & Forman, S. J. (2021). CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy for treatment of primary CNS lymphoma.Blood advances,5(20), 4059–4063. https://doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2020004106
- Aldoss, I., Khaled, S. K., Wang, X., Palmer, J., Wang, Y., Wagner, J. R., Clark, M. C., Simpson, J., Paul, J., Vyas, V., Chien, S. H., Stein, A., Pullarkat, V., Salhotra, A., Al Malki, M. M., Aribi, A., Sandhu, K., Thomas, S. H., Budde, L. E., Marcucci, G., … Forman, S. J. (2023). Favorable Activity and Safety Profile of Memory-Enriched CD19-Targeted Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy in Adults with High-Risk Relapsed/Refractory ALL.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research,29(4), 742–753. https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-2038
- Herrera, A. F., Chen, L., Nieto, Y., Holmberg, L., Johnston, P., Mei, M., Popplewell, L., Armenian, S., Cao, T., Farol, L., Sahebi, F., Spielberger, R., Chen, R., Nademanee, A., Puverel, S., Nwangwu, M., Lee, P., Song, J., Skarbnik, A., Kennedy, N., … Feldman, T. (2023). Brentuximab vedotin plus nivolumab after autologous haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation for adult patients with high-risk classic Hodgkin lymphoma: a multicentre, phase 2 trial.The Lancet. Haematology,10(1), e14–e23. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-3026(22)00318-0
- Wang, X., Dong, Z., Awuah, D., Chang, W. C., Cheng, W. A., Vyas, V., Cha, S. C., Anderson, A. J., Zhang, T., Wang, Z., Szymura, S. J., Kuang, B. Z., Clark, M. C., Aldoss, I., Forman, S. J., Kwak, L. W., & Qin, H. (2022). CD19/BAFF-R dual-targeted CAR T cells for the treatment of mixed antigen-negative variants of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.Leukemia,36(4), 1015–1024. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-021-01477-x
- Aldoss, I., Clark, M., Marcucci, G., & Forman, S. J. (2021). Donor derived leukemia in allogeneic transplantation.Leukemia & lymphoma,62(12), 2823–2830. https://doi.org/10.1080/10428194.2021.1929966
- Alvarnas JC, Zaia JA, Forman SJ. How I treat patients with HIV-related hematological malignancies using hematopoietic cell transplantation. Blood. 2017 Sep 7. pii: blood-2017-04-551606. DOI: 10.1182/blood-2017-04-551606. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 28882882.
- Mei MG, Cao TM, Chen L, Song JY, Siddiqi T, Cai JL, Farol LT, Al Malki MM,Salhotra A, Aldoss I, Palmer J, Herrera AF, Zain J, Popplewell LL, Chen RW, Rosen ST, Forman SJ, Kwak L, Nademanee AP, Budde LE. Long-Term Results of High-Dose Therapy and Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation for Mantle Cell Lymphoma: Effectiveness of Maintenance Rituximab. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2017 Jul 18. pii: S1083-8791(17)30575-X. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2017.07.006. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 28733266.
- Gu Y, Zhang J, Ma X, Kim BW, Wang H, Li J, Pan Y, Xu Y, Ding L, Yang L, Guo C, Wu X, Wu J, Wu K, Gan X, Li G, Li L, Forman SJ, Chan WC, Xu R, Huang W. Stabilization of the c-Myc Protein by CAMKIIγ Promotes T Cell Lymphoma. Cancer Cell. 2017 Jul 10;32(1):115-128.e7. DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2017.06.001. PubMed PMID: 28697340; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5552197.
- Kumar B, Kalvala A, Chu S, Rosen S, Forman SJ, Marcucci G, Chen CC, Pullarkat V. Antileukemic activity and cellular effects of the antimalarial agent artesunate in acute myeloid leukemia. Leuk Res. 2017 Aug;59:124-135. DOI: 10.1016/j.leukres.2017.05.007. Epub 2017 May 10. PubMed PMID: 28646646.
- Salhotra A, Shan Y, Tsai NC, Sanchez JF, Aldoss I, Ali H, Paris T, Spielberger R, Cao TM, Nademanee A, Forman SJ, Chen R. Hyperfractionated Cyclophosphamide, Vincristine, Doxorubicin, and Dexamethasone Chemotherapy in Mantle Cell Lymphoma Patients Is Associated with Higher Rates of Hematopoietic Progenitor Cell Mobilization Failure despite Plerixafor Rescue. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2017 Aug;23(8):1264-1268. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2017.04.011. Epub 2017 Apr 18. PubMed PMID: 28434928.
- Urak R, Walter M, Lim L, Wong CW, Budde LE, Thomas S, Forman SJ, Wang X. Ex vivo Akt inhibition promotes the generation of potent CD19 CAR T cells for adoptive immunotherapy. J Immunother Cancer. 2017 Mar 21;5:26. DOI:10.1186/s40425-017-0227-4. eCollection 2017. PubMed PMID: 28331616; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5359873.
- Krishnan AY, Palmer J, Nademanee AP, Chen R, Popplewell LL, Tsai NC, Sanchez JF, Simpson J, Spielberger R, Yamauchi D, Forman SJ. Phase II Study of Yttrium-90 Ibritumomab Tiuxetan Plus High-Dose BCNU, Etoposide, Cytarabine, and Melphalan for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: The Role of Histology. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2017 Jun;23(6):922-929. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2017.03.004. Epub 2017 Mar 4. PubMed PMID: 28267593.
- Stein A, Palmer J, Tsai NC, Al Malki MM, Aldoss I, Ali H, Aribi A, Farol L, Karanes C, Khaled S, Liu A, O'Donnell M, Parker P, Pawlowska A, Pullarkat V, Radany E, Rosenthal J, Sahebi F, Salhotra A, Sanchez JF, Schultheiss T, Spielberger R, Thomas SH, Snyder D, Nakamura R, Marcucci G, Forman SJ, Wong J. Phase I Trial of Total Marrow and Lymphoid Irradiation Transplantation Conditioning in Patients with Relapsed/Refractory Acute Leukemia. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2017 Apr;23(4):618-624. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2017.01.067. Epub 2017 Jan 10. PubMed PMID: 28087456; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5382014.
- Gibson CJ, Lindsley RC, Tchekmedyian V, Mar BG, Shi J, Jaiswal S, Bosworth A, Francisco L, He J, Bansal A, Morgan EA, Lacasce AS, Freedman AS, Fisher DC, Jacobsen E, Armand P, Alyea EP, Koreth J, Ho V, Soiffer RJ, Antin JH, Ritz J, Nikiforow S, Forman SJ, Michor F, Neuberg D, Bhatia R, Bhatia S, Ebert BL. Clonal Hematopoiesis Associated With Adverse Outcomes After Autologous Stem-Cell Transplantation for Lymphoma. J Clin Oncol. 2017 May 10;35(14):1598-1605. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2016.71.6712. Epub 2017 Jan 9. PubMed PMID: 28068180; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5455707.
- Armenian SH, Horak D, Scott JM, Mills G, Siyahian A, Berano Teh J, Douglas PS, Forman SJ, Bhatia S, Jones LW. Cardiovascular Function in Long-Term Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Survivors. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2017 Apr;23(4):700-705. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2017.01.006. Epub 2017 Jan 5. PubMed PMID: 28065839; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5348114.
- Sala Torra O, Othus M, Williamson DW, Wood B, Kirsch I, Robins H, Beppu L, O'Donnell MR, Forman SJ, Appelbaum FR, Radich JP. Next-Generation Sequencing in Adult B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Patients. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2017 Apr;23(4):691-696. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2016.12.639. Epub 2017 Jan 3. PubMed PMID: 28062215; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5465962.