UChicago Medicine launches Miller Family Center for Rare Blood Cancers thanks to philanthropic gift

Investing in lives

On the path to remission, Miller felt compelled to help. The Miller Family Center for Rare Blood Cancers, which began its work in July, builds on UChicago’s history in the study and treatment of CML.

In 1973, UChicago doctor and pioneering geneticist Janet Rowley, MD, discovered the genetic abnormality that causes CML. Rowley’s discovery paved the way for the creation of targeted therapies, and it marked the first time a particular chromosomal abnormality was tied to a single kind of cancer.

“Philanthropy is critical for research on rare diseases,” Miller said. “As I learned more about CML, I realized that patients like me are really dependent on unique research discoveries, which most likely come from academic institutions.”

The Millers’ gift includes support to create a rare blood cancer data commons, which will be developed by a team led by Samuel Volchenboum, MD, PhD, MS, a Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Chief Research Informatics Officer for the Biological Sciences Division. Volchenboum is the creator of the Data for the Common Good, a unified platform for research data, which has successfully launched multiple international data commons across many disease areas.

With a career focused on data-sharing, Volchenboum has seen the power of institutions working together to understand rare diseases.

“If patients showed up in 1950 with a form of leukemia, they were uniformly sent home to die,” he said. “There was no treatment and no cure. What people really realized early on is that the only way to combat these diseases was to collect data at scale from all over the country.”

Thanks to shared data and research, the same blood cancer that killed every pediatric patient in 1950 is now curable around 95% of the time.

Driving research forward

The Miller Center harnesses knowledge across UChicago Medicine’s Hyde Park campus, with more than a dozen experts contributing to its mission.

Drazer, the center’s director and an Assistant Professor of Medicine, said one major goal is to expand the diagnostic capacity of what physicians currently can do for patients — and do it more quickly.

“Essentially, there’s always a 10- to 15-year gap between what we can do in the actual research laboratory at the cutting edge and what we can do in the clinic,” Drazer said. “We all want projects that have the most potential for eventually helping patients.”

Sonali Smith, MD, UChicago Medicine Chief of the Section of Hematology and Oncology, said she’s confident in Drazer’s ability to drive the center’s research forward.

“The University of Chicago has constantly been involved with discovery and trying to study some of the hardest questions and the hardest diseases,” Smith said. “Dr. Drazer is a very meticulous, scientifically-driven person who will use this support to his fullest ability. I’m excited to see the center’s progress and better understand what makes these diseases tick.”

Mark Miller and his family hope the center’s efforts will greatly expand knowledge in the field of rare blood cancers, narrowing gaps in research and care.

“I pray that patients who unfortunately have a rare blood cancer have a better chance of living a longer life from future discoveries, in the same way that I am living now,” Miller said.