Deepa Sampath

Deepa Sampath is a Professor (Joint Appointment) and Associate Professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her research focuses on hematological malignancies, particularly chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and acute leukemias, with emphasis on targeted therapies and drug resistance mechanisms. Her recent work includes phase II studies combining ibrutinib with venetoclax in relapsed/refractory CLL, dual targeting of NAMPT and BCL2 in T-ALL, and investigating PKCβ inhibitors in BTK inhibitor-resistant CLL. She has pioneered long-read single-cell RNA sequencing to study cancer subclone-specific genotypes and phenotypes in CLL, and explored time-limited pirtobrutinib, venetoclax, and obinutuzumab combinations in first-line treatment. Her research also covers NAMPT inhibition vulnerabilities in acute myelogenous leukemia and combination therapies for T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia. She received a $705,000 award for her work on the microRNA epigenome in CLL.