Dr. Leonard on Precision Medicine in Hematologic Malignancies

John P. Leonard, MD, associate dean of Clinical Research, interim chair of the Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, Weill Cornell Medicine/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, discusses the advance of precision medicine across hematologic malignancies.

Like much in oncology, the theme that is coming through in hematologic malignancies is precision medicine and precision science, Leonard explains. Researchers are focused on setting disease subcategories, whether that is for targeted therapies and identifying molecular targets within subsets of patients, or for identifying minimal residual diseas. This is so that physicians can determine who needs more or less therapy, a different therapy, or can identify when relapse is occurring.

Those are the major areas across hematologic malignancies, and that is the theme in cancer care in general, he concludes.