Dr. Katherine Matthay is the chief of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital and has been focused for more than 20 years on translational research in neuroblastoma, a deadly childhood cancer. At UCSF, she has developed and led multiple trials using a unique targeted radiopharmaceutical, 131I-MIBG for neuroblastoma.
Dr. Matthay also leads the UCSF Pediatric Malignancies Program and an NIH funded Phase I New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapy consortium (NANT) for treatment of relapsed and resistant neuroblastoma.
I am one of the senior solid tumor faculty at UCSF, having joined the institution in 2019. My scholarly and clinical practice have focused on the treatment of pediatric liver cancers and rare cancers. I was the US National PI for the International Hepatoblastoma therapeutic trials, SIOPEL 4 and SIOPEL 6.I am currently the senior sub-PI for the Hepatocellular Carcinoma treatment arm of the Pediatric Hepatic tumors International Therapeutic Trial (PHITT).
I am a pediatric oncologist and physician-scientist with a focus on examining new therapeutic strategies for sarcomas. Whether using genetic and biochemical tools for discovery, preclinical models for target and biomarker validation, or participating in the care of patients on clinical trials, my goal is to align my research and clinical practice to improve cure rates and quality of life for these patients.
Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is a blood cancer that affects young children and is difficult to diagnose. Currently available therapies cure only half of patients, with some children experiencing an aggressive disease course while some children get better with very little treatment. We have now shown that the presence of secondary mutations at diagnosis predicts a poor outcome. We have also shown that DNA methylation profiling can identify patients most likely to experience favorable outcomes.
