Dr. Jennifer Woyach is an Associate Professor in the Division of Hematology at The Ohio State University. As a member of the Leukemia Research Program at the OSUCCC, she focuses her studies on chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and other hematologic malignancies.
Her research focuses on targeted therapies for CLL and strategies to overcome resistance to targeted therapies. Dr. Woyach led the collaborative effort which identified the mechanism of resistance to the BTK inhibitor ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in CLL and has led preclinical and clinical studies to identify drugs which can overcome ibrutinib- resistance.
Most recently, she led a multi-institutional Phase III clinical trial that showed older patients with CLL have a significantly lower rate of disease progression if treated with ibrutinib rather than with bendamustine (Treanda) plus rituximab (Rituxan)—a regimen previously considered as one of the most effective therapies for this group of patients. It was the first head-to-head comparison between the two treatments. Results were reported simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) and in the plenary session at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2018 Annual Meeting.
Dr. Woyach has co-authored more than 75 articles in such well-respected publications as NEJM, Lancet Oncology, Blood and Cancer Discovery. She has also shared her research at multiple conferences, including ASH, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting and the International Workshop on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (iwCLL).