Addressing latent viral infection in KS and lymphoma
Prof. Ethel Cesarman – Biography
Dr. Cesarman was born in Mexico City, where she obtained her MD degree, followed by a PhD from New York University and Anatomic Pathology Residency training at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. Dr. Cesarman was part of the team that discovered the Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV/HHV-8) and found that this virus is consistently present in a subset of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, designated primary effusion lymphomas (PEL), which led to the recognition of these lymphomas as a distinct disease entity. Current research efforts in the Cesarman lab are aimed at better understanding mechanisms of herpesviral pathogenesis, including the role of herpesviruses in the tumor microenvironment, with the goal of directly therapeutically targeting viral oncogenic signals, or indirectly through immunotherapeutic approaches. Dr. Cesarman has also conducted cancer genomic studies to gain a deeper understanding of the viral and cellular contribution to the tumor genetic and epigenetic landscape, focusing on lymphoma and other AIDS-related malignancies.