Rebecca J. Chan MD-PhD

Assistant Professor
Departments of Pediatrics & Medical & Molecular Genetics
James W. Riley Hospital for Children

M.D.-Ph.D., Indiana University School of Medicine, 1995
Internship & Residency, UCLA School of Medicine, 1995-1998
Fellowship, Indiana University School of Medicine, 1998-2002

Dr. Chan's research interests include investigating molecular mechanisms underlying children's myeloid leukemias, in particular juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia. Specifically, somatic mutations of the PTPN11 gene, which encodes the protein tyrosine phosphatase, Shp-2, are observed in 35% of patients with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia. Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia is highly resistant to standard chemotherapeutic regimens and is lethal in the absence of allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Studies in Dr. Chan's lab are addressing both signal transduction pathway aberrancies and transcriptional abnormalities induced by common PTPN11 mutations observed in childhood leukemia. Elucidation of these aberrant molecular mechanisms will provide novel and rational therapeutic targets in these highly lethal diseases.