Researcher | Research Overview
The focus of our research is in two major areas: the treatment of patients with solid tumors -- notably neuroblastoma -- and the study of survivors of childhood cancer. In treating patients with neuroblastoma, our approach has been to intensify therapy using high-dose therapy in tandem with stem cell rescue. We are participants in the NANT (New Agents in Neuroblastoma Therapy) consortium and the COG Phase 1 consortium.
Our translational work in collaboration with Dr. Rani George and Dr. Kim Stegmaier focuses on identification of new targeted agents for neuroblastoma. We have an active targeted radiotherapy clinical trials program, utilizing MIBG therapy, and clinical trials in immunotherapy for neuroblastoma. In research on medical late effects, we have been studying young adult patients with a history of cancer treatment, hoping to delineate the morbidity of a variety of therapies and to introduce screening and prevention in this group of patients. An early mammography trial after chest irradiation has been completed, showing that women who were treated with chest radiation are at significant risk of breast cancer and that mammography detects early tumors in this cohort. A study of MRI detection is underway.
We are active participants in the largest childhood cancer survivor cohort study, the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, involving 24 centers and over 17,000 survivors. We have completed an analysis of breast cancers in that cohort, and we are studying risk factors for secondary sarcomas.
Researcher | Research Background
Dr. Lisa Diller is the Chief Medical Officer, Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, and the Vice Chair, Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is also the Director of the Perini Family Survivors Center and the David B. Perini Jr. Quality of Life Clinic at Dana-Farber. She is a Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Diller received a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and earned her medical degree from the University of California at San Diego. She was a resident at Boston Children's Hospital and did her subspecialty training at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's, where she has been on the faculty for over 20 years. Dr. Diller's research focuses on the late effects of treatment for childhood cancer and genetic cancer predisposition syndromes in childhood. In addition, she investigates novel treatments for pediatric solid tumors, particularly tumors that occur in infants and toddlers.