Jerome Ritz

Jerome Ritz is a prominent professor and researcher at Harvard University, where he leads a distinguished program in immunology and hematology, focusing on translational applications in cancer therapy. He earned his MD and completed his clinical training in internal medicine and hematology/oncology, establishing a foundation for his research career. His work centers on understanding the immune mechanisms underlying hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, with particular emphasis on T-cell and B-cell interactions, immune reconstitution, and the prevention of graft-versus-host disease. A major theme of his research involves developing novel cellular therapies, including chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell and natural killer (NK) cell approaches, to improve outcomes for patients with hematologic malignancies such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML), myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. His recent contributions include pioneering studies on venetoclax-based conditioning regimens, GMP-compliant manufacturing of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived T cells, and multiomic sequencing techniques to characterize donor immune cells post-transplant. With an h-index of 127 and over 1,190 publications, Dr. Ritz is recognized as a leading authority in the field, frequently publishing in high-impact journals like Blood, Blood Advances, and Clinical Cancer Research. His research not only advances fundamental immunology but also directly informs clinical trials and therapeutic strategies, bridging laboratory discovery with patient care to enhance the efficacy and safety of transplantation and immunotherapy. Their research directions are illustrated by key works including "Liquid biopsy epigenomic profiling for cancer subtyping", and "Epitope editing enables targeted immunotherapy of acute myeloid leukaemia".