Mukta Arora, M.D.

Mukta Arora, M.D.

In 2005, Mukta Arora, assistant professor in the Medical School’s Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation, was one of five researchers chosen to participate in the AHC-sponsored Clinical Research Scholars program. This program—a precursor to the University’s NIH-funded K12 known as the Career Advancement Program for Clinical Research program (CAPS)—provides mentoring and financial support to junior faculty pursuing clinical research.

She began working with mentor and transplant physician Daniel Weisdorf, M.D., in 2003 in the area of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), which affects half of all bone marrow transplant survivors and is fatal in half of all cases. Since her fellowship as an AHC scholar, Arora’s work has continued to follow this path, and she is currently expanding into translational research in genomics.

“This area has a lot of potential,” she says, “but not much data is out there concerning GVHD and genomics in bone marrow transplants, compared with the data available on solid organ transplants.” Genomic research will provide more insight into pathophysiology and identifying prognostic groups for intensified therapy. Very large sample sizes are needed for this research, so multi-center trials are required.

Arora is currently applying for local funding in order to obtain more preliminary data, and hopes to move to larger funding for multi-center networking and trials in the future. The direction of her original fellowship work remains her passion and she is optimistic about how her new translational research may help lead to targeted new treatments to improve outcomes for patients undergoing transplantation.