Sep. 20, 2021

Goldsmith named co-leader of DDT Program at Winship

Photo of Goldsmith named co-leader of DDT Program at Winship

Kelly C. Goldsmith, MD, a physician-scientist specializing in pediatric oncology, has been named co-leader of Winship's Discovery and Developmental Therapeutics Research Program.

Kelly C. Goldsmith, MD, a physician-scientist specializing in pediatric oncology, has been named co-leader of the Discovery and Developmental Therapeutics (DDT) Program, one of four research programs within Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University.

Effective September 20, 2021, Goldsmith will serve in this role alongside Haian Fu, PhD, who has led the DDT Program since 2010. The DDT Program focuses the expertise of Winship investigators and collaborators within and beyond Emory on developing more effective ways to diagnose, detect, treat, and survive cancer.

"I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Goldsmith as co-leader of the DDT Program,” said Fu. “With her strong track record translating scientific discoveries into clinical practice, as well as her national and institutional leadership roles, she is an exceptional addition to the leadership team."

"Dr. Goldsmith has vast experience bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and has pioneered important advances in childhood cancer,” said Suresh Ramalingam, MD, Winship's executive director and the Roberto C. Goizueta Distinguished Chair for Cancer Research. “She will no doubt strengthen our developmental therapeutics research efforts and help Winship continue to improve the lives of people with cancer."

Goldsmith, who joined Emory in 2009, is an associate professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine. She serves as director of the Neuroblastoma/MIBG Therapy Program and clinical director of the Aflac Precision Medicine Program at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Board certified in pediatric hematology and oncology by the American Board of Pediatrics, Goldsmith specializes in the treatment of the childhood extracranial solid tumor neuroblastoma. Her research focuses on defining molecular mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance in neuroblastoma in order to translate novel therapeutics into early phase clinical trials for this highly aggressive disease.

"It is truly an honor to be chosen to co-lead the DDT Program with Dr. Fu," said Goldsmith. "This program is truly inspiring, to see cutting edge laboratory discoveries transform into novel therapies that improve cancer care for patients in Georgia."

Goldsmith added, "In this era of high throughput technologies for cancer discovery, cancer targets are being identified that are agnostic to tumor type or age of the patient. I therefore hope to leverage my clinical and translational research experience to facilitate pediatric and adult oncology collaborations to identify common targetable pathways in order to accelerate drug development and novel clinical trials for our patients."

Goldsmith is principal investigator of numerous grants, including an American Cancer Society/St. Baldrick's Foundation Pilot Accelerate Award to fund the correlative investigations aimed at defining biomarkers of GD2 immunotherapy response across three nationally enrolling Children's Oncology Group (COG) clinical trials.

The Peach Bowl LegACy Foundation fully funded Goldsmith's collaboration with H. Trent Spencer, PhD, based on their R21 funded preclinical work, to translate a first-in-child phase-1 clinical study of expanded allogeneic gamma delta (γδ) T cells in combination with dinutuximab/temozolomide/zoledronate for patients with relapsed/refractory neuroblastoma (AflacST2002).

Goldsmith has chaired or co-chaired several national clinical trials to evaluate novel treatments for patients with neuroblastoma, including studies that involve immunotherapy and precision medicine approaches. She is a member of the COG Neuroblastoma Executive Committee, vice chair of the COG Neuroblastoma Biology Committee and was recently reappointed to a second term on the NIH/NCI/CCTN Pediatric Adolescent and Solid Tumor Steering Committee, which addresses the design, prioritization, and evaluation of concepts for large clinical trials in solid tumors of adolescents and children.

Goldsmith received her MD from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and completed her residency and fellowship at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

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