Dr. Abdel-Wahab is the Evnin Family Chair of Molecular Pharmacology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) where he also serves as Chair of the Molecular Pharmacology Program in the Sloan Kettering Institute and an Attending Physician on the Leukemia Service.

His research focuses on understanding the functional implications of somatic mutations found in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with the hopes of improving our understanding of disease biology and developing novel therapies. Over the last ten years, his laboratory has been focused on understanding alterations in the process of RNA splicing in MDS.

Motivated by the discovery of high frequency mutations in the splicing machinery in MDS, other leukemia types, and certain solid tumors, his lab’s work has led to the development of several therapeutic approaches for these genetic subtypes of cancer which are currently in phase 1/2 clinical trials. In addition, his laboratory has performed a number of studies of molecular genetics and genomics of blood cancers more broadly and used this information to develop novel therapeutic approaches for myeloid and lymphoid hematologic cancers.

Dr. Abdel-Wahab’s work has been recognized by an NIH Outstanding Investigator R35 Award, the Seldin-Smith Award for Pioneering Research from the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Dameshek Award from the American Society of Hematology, the Paul Marks Prize from MSK, the Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in Cancer Research, and induction into the National Academy of Medicine.