Our Members
Suzanne Lentzsch, MD, PhD
- Director, Multiple Myeloma and Amyloidosis Program
Dr. Suzanne Lentzsch is a Professor of Clinical Medicine and the Director of the Multiple Myeloma and Amyloidosis Program at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University and at New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York. She is at New York Presbyterian Hospital/ Columbia University Medical Center.
Dr. Lentzsch is an internationally recognized expert in the field of Multiple Myeloma and Amyloidosis. She serves as a SWOG Myeloma Committee Member, SWOG Study Coordinator and International Myeloma Foundation "Black Swan Research Initiative" committee member. She is a member of the standing advisory board for the evaluation of Secondary Primary Malignancies associated with IMiDs.
Jing Fu, PhD
- Research Scientist
Dr. Jing Fu graduated with a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Peking University in China in 2006. Her work as a doctoral candidate focused on the role of p38 MAPK pathway in inflammation. After receiving her doctorate, Dr. Fu joined the Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology as an Instructor. In 2007, she joined the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute as a postdoctoral researcher where her research focused on NF-kappaB signaling in cancer.
In 2011 Dr. Fu joined Dr. Lentzsch’s Laboratory as an Associate Research Scientist, and was then promoted to Research Scientist in 2018. She is currently investigating the role of MMP-13 in multiple myeloma-induced osteoclast activation and bone lesion. Furthermore, Dr. Fu is very interested in plasma cell associated AL Amyloidosis and exploring to enhance the activity of the fibril-reactive antibody 11-1F4 to improve its AL amyloid resolution efficiency and to develop this antibody as an imaging tool for patients with AL Amyloidosis.
Guifen “Judy” Liu
- Technician & Lab manager
Judy graduated with a Master's degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Shanghai University in China in 2018. In 2022, she joined the Columbia University Medical Center as a technician and lab manager who supports the lab research program and is responsible for lab orders.
![Judy Liu]()
Josefine Krüger
- Postdoc Research Fellow
Dr. Josefine Krueger graduated as MD from Charité Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Germany, where she also started her residency in Internal Medicine in the Department of Hematology, Oncology and Cancer Immunology. In her doctoral thesis she evaluated a new personalized medicine approach by using in vitro drug testing for patients with multiple myeloma. In 2023 she joined Dr. Lentsch’s laboratory as Postdoctoral Research Fellow. In her research she is investigating RAS mutated myeloma with focus on the MAPK GCK (Germinal Center Kinase) as a therapeutical target.
Michael Hughes
- Postdoc Clinical Fellow
Dr. Michael Sang Hughes received his A.B. in Classics magna cum laude from Harvard College. He matriculated to Harvard Medical School, where he received his MD cum laude. He subsequently completed an Internal Medicine residency at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. He is a current clinical fellow in Hematology-Oncology at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and he joined the Lentzsch Laboratory in 2023.
Dr. Hughes' prior research explored the interplay between cancers and the host immune system. As an undergraduate medical student, he worked with Dr. Kerry Reynolds and Michael Dougan to characterize immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced gastroenterocolitis. As a Johns Hopkins Physician Scientist Training Pathway scholar during his residency, Dr. Hughes worked with Dr. Ephraim Fuchs to investigate long-term outcomes of patients with peripheral T-cell lymphomas who undergo haploidentical blood and marrow transplantation.
Dr. Hughes' current research focuses on novel anti-AL amyloidosis fibril strategies as well as survival outcomes in multiple myeloma populations. He was selected for the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology Young Investigator Award.
Divaya Bhutani, MD
- Assistant Professor of Medicine
Dr. Divaya Bhutani graduated from Govt. Medical College, Patiala in India. He did his Internal medicine residency at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Bronx, NY and fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at Wayne State University and Karmanos Cancer Institute, Detroit. His prior experience includes work as an Attending Physician at Myeloma Institute of Research and Therapy at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR and Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University, Detroit. MI.
Dr. Bhutani’s research is in the development of novel therapies for Multiple Myeloma and studying the complications of stem cell transplantation. Dr. Bhutani has published multiple original articles in peer reviewed journals and presented his work at national meetings including American Society of Hematology and American Society of Clinical Oncology. While at Karmanos Cancer Institute, Dr. Bhutani received a grant to conduct an investigator initiated prospective trial studying, Selinexor in patients with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and an American Cancer Society grant to study the role of B lymphocytes in acute graft versus host disease. Currently, Dr. Bhutani is conducting two investigator initiated prospective clinical trials at Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. One of the trials is evaluating the use of CD38 antibody (Isatuximab) in patients with Monoclonal Gammopathy of Renal Significance. The second trial is going to evaluate the use of Isatuximab to alter immune microenvironment in patients undergoing autologous stem cell transplantation for Multiple Myeloma or Lymphoma.
Dr. Bhutani is an active member of national cooperative group called Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG). Through SWOG, he is a principal investigator on a prospective trial (S2005) evaluating the use of Venetoclax in patients with Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia. In addition, he is currently developing a trial trough SWOG, using anti-amyloid antibody CAEL-101 in patients with renal AL Amyloidosis.
Selected publications:
•1. Edwards CV, Rao N, Bhutani D, Mapara MY, Radhakrishnan J, Shames S, Maurer MS, Leng S, Solomon A, Lentzsch S, Eisenberger A. Phase 1a/b Study of Monoclonal Antibody CAEL-101 (11-1F4) in Patients with AL Amyloidosis. Blood. 2021.
•2. Kastritis E, Palladini G, Minnema MC, Wechalekar AD, Jaccard A, Lee HC, Sanchorawala V, Gibbs S, Mollee P,Venner CP, Lu J, Schönland S, Gatt ME, Suzuki K, Kim K, Cibeira MT, Beksac M, Libby E, Valent J, Hungria V, Wong SW, Rosenzweig M, Bumma N, Huart A, Dimopoulos MA, Bhutani D, Waxman AD, Goodman SA, Zonder JA, Lam S, Song K, Hansen T, Manier S, Roeloffzen W, Jamroziak W, Kwok F, Shimazaki C, Kim JS, Crusoe E, Ahmadi T, Tran N, Qin X, Vasey SV, Tromp B, Schecter JM, Weiss BM, huang SH, Vermeulen J, Merlini G, Comenzo RL for the ANDROMEDA Trial Investigators. Daratumumab-based Treatment for Immunoglobulin Light Chain Amyloidosis. N Engl J Med. 2021 Jul 1;385(1):46-58.
•3. Coltoff A, Bomback A, Shirazian S, Lentzsch S, Bhutani D. Treatment of monoclonal gammopathy associated C3 glomerulopathy with daratumumab-based therapy. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 2021 Apr 23:S2152-2650(21)00155-5.
•4. Bhutani D, Pan S, Latif D, Goldsmith RL, Saith SE, Mapara MY, Chakraborty R, Lentzsch S , Maurer MS. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing in patients with Cardiac Amyloidosis. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 2021 Apr 23:S2152-2650(21)00154-3.
•5. Seymour EK, Khan HY, Li Y, Chaker M, Muqbil I, Aboukameel A, Ramchandren R, Houde C, Sterbis G, Yang J, Bhutani D, Pregja S, Reichel K, Huddlestun A, Neveux C, Corona K, Landesman Y, Shah J, Kauffman M, Shacham S, Mohammad RM, Azmi AS, Zonder JA. Selinexor in Combination with R-CHOP for Frontline Treatment of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: Results of a Phase I Study. Clin Cancer Res. 2021 Jun 15;27(12):3307-3316. PMID: 33785483.
•6. Premkumar V, Pan S, Lentzsch S, Bhutani D. Use of Daratumumab in high risk Multiple Myeloma: A meta-analysis. eJHaem. 2020;1:267-271.
•7. Bhutani D, Jaiyeoba C, Kim S, Naylor P, Uberti JP, Ratanatharathorn V, Ayash L, Deol A, Alavi A, Revankar S, Chandrasekar P. Relationship between clostridium difficile infection and gastrointestinal graft versus host disease in recipients of allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2019 Jan;54(1):164-167.
•8. Bhutani D, Gregory Dyson, Richard Manasa, Abhinav Deol, Voravit Ratanatharathorn, Lois Ayash, Muneer Abidi, Lawrence G. Lum, Uberti Joseph. Incidence, Risk Factors, and Outcome of Cytomegalovirus Viremia and Gastroenteritis in Patients with Gastrointestinal Graft-versus-Host Disease. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2015 Jan;21(1):159-64.
Rajshekar Chakraborty, MD
- Assistant Professor of Medicine
Dr. Raj Chakraborty went to medical school at University College of Medical Sciences, University of Delhi, India, following which, he completed his Internal Medicine residency at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai-Queens Hospital Center Program, New York. After residency, he spent three years as a clinical researcher at the Mayo Clinic, with a focus on clinical outcomes-based research in multiple myeloma and light chain amyloidosis. Subsequently, he completed his Hematology/Oncology fellowship at Cleveland Clinic. During fellowship, he conducted outcomes research with a focus on quality of life and treatment-related toxicities in plasma cell disorders. After fellowship, he started his job as Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Multiple Myeloma and Amyloidosis Program at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
Currently, Dr. Chakraborty’s research focus is on clinical trials of novel agents in multiple myeloma and AL amyloidosis. He will lead a multicenter investigator-initiated trial on venetoclax in relapsed/refractory t(11;14) light chain amyloidosis. He is also collaborating with the Department of Radiology to establish a whole body difussion- weighted MRI protocol for imaging-based reponse assessment in myeloma, and designing studies to incorporate it in assessment of minimal residual disease. He is an active member of the PROMOTION project led by the Health Outcomes Research Unit, GIMEMA, and has led a study looking at patient-reported outcome, reporting in randomized controlled trials of hematologic malignancies with their team.
Selected Publications:
1. Chakraborty R, Cannella L, Cottone F, Efficace F. Quality of patient-reported outcome reporting in randomised controlled trials of haematological malignancies according to international quality standards: a systematic review. Lancet Haematology. 2020 Dec;7(12):e892-e901. PMID: 33242446
2. Ball S, Behera TR, Anwer F, Chakraborty R. Risk of kidney toxicity with carfilzomib in multiple myeloma: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Annals of Hematology. 2020 May 7 [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 32382772
3. Chakraborty R, Rybicki L, Nakashima MO, Dean RM, Faiman BM, Samaras CJ, Rosko N, Dysert H, Valent J, Anwer F. Characterization and prognostic impact of immunoparesis in relapsed multiple myeloma. British Journal of Haematology. 2020 Feb 28 [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 32018328
4. Chakraborty R, Majhail N. Treatment and Disease-related Complications in Multiple Myeloma: Implications for Survivorship. American Journal of Hematology. 2020 Feb 22 [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 32086970
5. Basali D, Chakraborty R, Rybicki L, Rosko N, Reed J, Karam M, Schlueter K, Dysert H, Kalaycio M, Valent J. Real-world data on safety and efficacy of venetoclax-based regimens in relapsed/refractory t(11;14) multiple myeloma. British Journal of Haematology. 2020 Feb 3 [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 32012228
6. Chakraborty R, Bin Riaz I, Malik SU, Marneni S, Mejia Garcia A, Anwer F, Khorana AA, Rajkumar SV, Kumar S, Murad MH, Wang Z, Khan SU, Majhail NS. Venous thromboembolism risk with contemporary lenalidomide-based regimens despite thromboprophylaxis in multiple myeloma: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Cancer. 2020 Jan 8 [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 31913498
7. Chakraborty R, Liu HD, Rybicki L, Tomer J, Khouri J, Dean RM, Faiman BM, Kalaycio M, Samaras BJ, Majhail NS, Valent J. Progression with clinical features is associated with worse subsequent survival in multiple myeloma. American Journal of Hematology. 2019 Apr;94(4):439-445. PMID: 30663805
8. Chakraborty R, Muchtar E, Kumar SK, Buadi FK, Dingli D, Dispenzieri A, Hayman SR, Hogan WJ, Kapoor P, Lacy MQ, Leung N, Warsame R, Kourelis T, Gonsalves W, Gertz MA. Outcomes of maintenance therapy with lenalidomide or bortezomib in multiple myeloma in the setting of early autologous stem cell transplantation. Leukemia. 2018 Mar;32(3):712-718. PMID: 28848227
9. Chakraborty R, Muchtar E, Kumar SK, Jevremovic D, Buadi FK, Dingli D, Dispenzieri A, Hayman SR, Hogan WJ, Kapoor P, Lacy MQ, Leung N, Gertz MA. Serial measurements of circulating plasma cells before and after induction therapy has an independent prognostic impact in patients with multiple myeloma undergoing upfront autologous transplantation. Haematologica. 2017 Aug;102(8):1439-1445. PMID: 28473618
10. Chakraborty R, Muchtar E, Kumar SK, Jevremovic D, Buadi FK, Dingli D, Dispenzieri A, Hayman SR, Hogan WJ, Kapoor P, Lacy MQ, Leung N, Gertz MA. Impact of post-transplant response and minimal residual disease on survival in myeloma with high-risk cytogenetics. Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. 2017 Apr;23(4):598-605. PMID: 28115277
11. Chakraborty R, Muchtar E, Kumar SK, Jevremovic D, Buadi FK, Dingli D, Dispenzieri A, Hayman SR, Hogan WJ, Kapoor P, Lacy MQ, Leung N, Gertz MA. Risk stratification in myeloma by detection of circulating plasma cells prior to autologous stem cell transplantation in the novel agent era. Blood Cancer Journal. 2016 Dec 16;6(12):e512. PMID: 27983726
Michael Bayani
- Program Manager
Michael Bayani joined the team in 2022 and functions as the Program Manager of the Multiple Myeloma and Amyloidosis Program at Columbia University Medical Center.
Michael provides administrative support and is responsible for lab orders as well as assisting in hiring new laboratory team members.
