Portrait: Leo Wang

Leo Wang

MD, Ph.D
Professional Focus Dr. Leo Wang is board certified in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology specializing in cancer in children and blood cancers. His goal in his career as a pediatric physician is to revolutionize the way that pediatric and blood cancers are treated. Dr. Wang leads a research team that is focused on understanding how blood cells develop and grow, how they move around the body, how they turn into cancer cells, and how to use that information to help improve cancer treatment. More precisely, he uses novel mass spectrometry-based phosphoproteomic techniques to identify targetable activation pathways in small numbers of rare blood stem cells.

After receiving his undergraduate degree in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University, Dr. Wang earned his Ph.D. in Immunology and his medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He then completed an internship and residency in Pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. After his residency training, Dr. Wang completed a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant through Dana-Farber Children's Hospital Cancer Center. Subsequently, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship through the Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

Currently, Dr. Wang serves as an Pediatric Hematologist-Oncologist at City of Hope. Academically, he serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Immuno-Oncology and Department of Pediatrics at City of Hope. Dr. Wang is also a Supervising Clinical Researcher at the Leo Wang Laboratory through the Beckman Research Institute. The overarching goal of the research done by the Leo Wang Lab team is to understand blood development at a proteomic level, allowing them to design and implement novel therapies for cancer.

Among his many awards, Dr. Wang has been awarded the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation Young Investigator Award, the St. Baldrick's Foundation Scholar Award, and the Damon Runyon-Sohn Foundation Pediatric Cancer Award.

Dr. Wang's research focuses on hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell biology, improving CAR T cell therapy for pediatric brain tumors, and immune cell signaling and engineering. Dr. Wang incorporates his Yale Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry background with his passion for childhood cancer to help push forward the art of cancer treatment for the future. He has studied and written numerous research publications and has been the primary investigator of many clinical trials relating to his specialty.

Member Feedback:
Extremely knowledgeable, patient, and kind! Dr. Wang made me feel completely confident in the course of treatment in place for my daughter. He validated all of my concerns, answered each and every question thoroughly, and did not rush through the process."
Honors & Awards Selected Awards:

Young Investigator Grant, Hyundai Hope on Wheels | 2017-2019

Young Investigator Award, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation | 2015-2017

2012-2017, Scholar Award, St. Baldrick's Foundation Scholar Award | 2012-2017

Pediatric Cancer Research Fellowship, Damon Runyon-Sohn Foundation | 2012-2016
Research & Publications Selected Publications:

Starr R., Yang X., Aguilar B., Gumber D., Huard S., Wang D., Chang W.C., Brito A., Chiu V., Ostberg J.R., Badie B., Forman S.J., Alizadeh D., Wang L.D.*, Brown C.E. “Selective IL13RA2-targeted functionality of IL13-ligand CARs is enhanced by inclusion of 4-1BB costimulation” BioRxiv 2022.03.30.486439; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.30.486439.

Chen Y.E., Woyshner K., McDermott M., Manousopoulou A., Ficarro S., Marto J., Ge X., Wang L.D., Li J.J. “APIR: a universal FDR-control framework for boosting peptide identification power by aggregating multiple proteomics database search algorithms.” BioRxiv 2021.09.08.459494; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.09.08.459494.

Ge X., Chen Y.E., Song D., McDermott M., Woyshner K., Manousopoulou A., Li W., Wang L.D., Li J.J. “Clipper: p- value-free FDR control on high-throughput data from two conditions” (2021) Genome Biol https:// doi: 10.1186/s13059- 021-02506-9

Hinz S., Manousopoulou A., Miyano M., Sayaman R.W., Aguilera K.Y., Todhunter M.E., Lopez J.C., Sohn L.L, Wang L.D.*, LaBarge M.A.* “Deep proteome profiling of human mammary epithelia at lineage and age resolution” (2021) iScience https:// doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103026

Simonds E.F., Lu E.D., Badillo O., Karimi S., Liu E.V., Tamaki W., Rancan C., Downey K.M., Stultz J., Sinha M., McHenry L.K., Nasholm N.M., Chuntova P., Sundström A., Genoud V., Shahani S.A., Wang L.D., Brown C.E., Walker P.R., Swartling F. J., Fong L., Okada H., Weiss W.A., Hellström M. “Deep immune profiling reveals targetable mechanisms of immune evasion in checkpoint blockade-refractory glioblastoma” (2021) J Immunother Cancer https:// doi: 10.1136/jitc- 2020-002181

Lindner S.E., Egelston C.A., Huard S.M., Lee P.P., and Wang L.D. “Arhgap25 deficiency leads to decreased numbers of peripheral blood B cells and defective germinal center reactions.” (2020) ImmunoHorizons. 4(5):274-281. https://doi.org/10.4049/immunohorizons.2000021

Rockne R.C., Branciamore S., Qi J., Frankhouser D.E., O’Meally D., Hua W.K., Cook G., Carnahan E., Zhang L., Marom A., Wu H., Maestrini D., Wu X., Yuan Y.C., Liu Z., Wang L.D., Forman S., Carlesso N., Kuo Y.H., and Marcucci G. “State-transition analysis of time-sequential gene expression identifies critical points that predict development of acute myeloid leukemia.” (2020) Cancer Res. https://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/80/15/3157.long

Kohn D.B., Booth C., Kang E.M., Pai S.Y., Shaw K.L., Santilli G., Armant M., Buckland K.F., Choi U., De Ravin S.S., Dorsey M.J., Kuo C.Y., Leon-Rico D., Rivat C., Izotova N., Gilmour K., Snell K., Dip J.X.B., Darwish J., Morris E.C., Terrazas D., Wang L.D., Bauser C.A., Paprotka T., Kunhs D.B., Gregg J., Raymond H., Everett J., Honnet G., Biasco L., Newburger P.E., Bushman F.D., Grez M., Gaspar H.B., Williams D.A., Malech H.L., Galy A., and Thrasher A.J. “Lentiviral Gene Therapy for X-linked Chronic Granulomatous Disease.” (2020) Nat. Med. 26, 200-206. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-019-0735-5.
Conditions
Acquired aplastic anemia
Acute lymphocytic leukemia ( ALL )
Acute myeloid leukemia ( AML )
Alpha thalassemia
Autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura
Beta thalassemia
Bone marrow failure
Bone sarcoma
Common variable immunodeficiency
Cyclic neutropenia
Dyskeratosis congenita
Ewing sarcoma
Granulocytopenia
Hematopoietic cancer
Hemoglobin H disease
Hodgkin's lymphoma
Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura ( ITP )
Leukemia
Leukopenia
Lymphoma
Neuroblastoma
Neutropenia
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma ( NHL )
Osteosarcoma
Rhabdomyosarcoma
Severe combined immunodeficiency
Sickle cell disease
Wilms' tumor
Procedures
Autologous stem cell transplantation
Blood transfusion
Bone marrow biopsy
Bone marrow transplant
CAR T therapy
Chemotherapy
Combination regimens
Complex cytogenetics
Gene expression to predict responses to immunotherapy in leukemia
Gene mutations to guide treatment
Gene therapy
Genome sequencing
High dose chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia
High intensity therapy
Immune checkpoint based therapies
Immune checkpoints in hematologic malignancies
Immunotherapies
Individualized therapeutic treatment strategies
Induction chemotherapy
Intensive induction chemotherapy
Intrathecal chemotherapy
Novel immunotherapies
Novel therapies
Peripheral blood stem cell transplant
Stem cell transplant
Targeted therapies
Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Stem Cell Institute | Research
Fellowship
Dana-Farber Boston Children's Cancer | Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant
Fellowship
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia | Pediatrics
Internship, Residency
University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
Medical School
University of Chicago | Ph.D - Immunology
Yale University | Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry
Board Certifications
American Board of Pediatrics
Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
Hospital Affiliation
City of Hope
Place of Work
Pediatric Hematologist-Oncologist | City of Hope | Industry & Research | Current
Supervising Clinical Researcher | Leo Wang Lab | Beckman Research Institute | Academic | Current
Assistant Professor | Department of Pediatrics | City of Hope | Academic | Current
Assistant Professor | Department of Immuno-Oncology | City of Hope | Academic | Current
Languages
English
French
Links