Roles
Professor of Medicine
Chair, CMSR Scientific Advisory Committee
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Biography
Dr. Jonathan H. Schatz, MD, began professional life as a journalist after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison but soon pursued a new passion for science and medicine. After premedical studies at Brandeis University, he enrolled at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, where he found time to work in the lab of Dr. Harinder Singh on genes related to blood cancers. His research during medical school won the Leon O. Jacobson Prize for basic science, and he continued to work with Dr. Singh over the next three years as he completed internal medicine residency at University of Chicago Hospitals. Following residency, Dr. Schatz moved onto fellowship in hematology-oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. His work there with Hans-Guido Wendel, Andrew Zelenetz, and Steven Horwitz cemented his career as a lymphoma-focused physician-scientist. In 2012 he received initial faculty appointment in the legendary Lymphoma Program at the University of Arizona and opened his independent research laboratory focusing on preclinical studies of treatment resistance and novel therapies for lymphomas while actively treating patients affected by these diseases.
In 2015, Dr. Schatz moved to the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where his work remains focused on understanding and bypassing treatment resistance mechanisms. A primary focus Dr. Schatz’s work has been resistance to targeted inhibitors and development of alternative strategies. He discovered that PIM kinase activity thwarts the efficacy of mTOR inhibitors by maintaining activation of cap-dependent protein translation and that targeting translation directly overcomes resistance by bypassing multiple upstream survival signals simultaneously. Cap-dependent translation as a therapeutic target in cancer remains an area of high interest, with particular focus on the DEAD-box RNA helicase eIF4A. His work has revealed new classes of compounds able to inhibit this unique target for cancer therapeutics and new mechanisms of a potent class of inhibitors called rocaglates that are now entering clinical trials.
The current main focus of the Schatz laboratory is diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the most common lymphoma type. Work includes novel combination strategies and mechanisms of the recurrently mutated oncogene BCL10. Employing innovations in phenotypic drug screening, the lab recently identified the Cyclin-G Associated Kinase (GAK) as a drug-targetable critical dependency for cell cycle progression by DLBCL tumors. The lab also has developed a strong interest in understanding the underlying basis of responses to cellular immunotherapies targeting high-risk aggressive lymphomas. Dr. Schatz recently co-led studies that revealed through whole-genome sequencing (WGS) tumor-intrinsic factors driving poor responses to CD19-directed chimeric antigen-receptor (CAR) T cells. Elaboration on these findings with focus on clinical translation is actively underway in collaborative multidisciplinary follow-up studies. -
Education & Training
Education
Post Graduate Training
Licensures and Certifications
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Honors & Awards
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Research Interests
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Translation, Cancer Immunotherapy, Drug Discovery -
Publications
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Professional Activities
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