L to R: Elizabeth Alva and Matthew KutnyAs of July 1, 2022, Elizabeth “Lilly” Alva, M.D., MSPH, assistant professor in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, will be taking over as director of the Pediatric Solid Tumor Program. In this capacity, she will oversee and help grow and develop clinical, research, and educational aspects of the solid tumor program.
Dr. Alva is a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine. She completed her pediatric residency training at Children’s Hospital Colorado and pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship training at Children’s of Alabama. While completing her fellowship, she obtained a master in science and Public Health in Clinical and Translational Science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. After completing fellowship in 2014, Dr. Alva remained on as faculty at UAB. During her time on faculty, Dr. Alva has improved access to early phase clinical trials for pediatric patients with solid tumors by helping the division become members of the Beat Childhood Cancer Consortium and the Sunshine Consortium. She serves as the institutional principal investigator for both consortiums. She has also striven to improve outcomes and early detection of cancer for pediatric patients with cancer predisposition syndromes with her role as the director of the Pediatric Cancer Predisposition Screening Program.
On a national level, Dr. Alva is an active member of the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), where she serves on the Pediatric MATCH steering committee as well as the Pediatric MATCH Target Agent Prioritization Committee. She is the study chair of the National Cancer Institute-Children’s Oncology Group Pediatric Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (MATCH) Phase 2 protocol of Ivosidenib in patients with tumors harboring IDH1 mutations.
As of July 1, 2022, Matthew Kutny, M.D., associate professor in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, will be taking over as director of the Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, & BMT Clinical Trials Office (CTO). In this role, he will be overseeing and coordinating the conduct of clinical trials across our division and will be assisted by Bridget Tate, clinical research nurse manager, and Vicky Poss, regulatory manager.
Dr. Kutny is a graduate of Brown University and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He completed training in pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Children’s Hospital. He then trained in pediatric hematology/oncology and bone marrow transplant through the University of Washington at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Seattle Children’s Hospital. Dr. Kutny’s research focus is in developing pediatric leukemia treatments with improved efficacy and decreased toxicities. He led a successful international clinical trial in pediatric acute promyelocytic leukemia for the NCI’s pediatric cancer consortium (the Children’s Oncology Group). He serves on the steering committees of the COG Myeloid disease and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia committees, and in this capacity, he helps plan and design national clinical trials for pediatric leukemia.
In 2018 Dr. Kutny became the institutional principal investigator (PI) for COG at UAB and Children’s of Alabama, and he has served as the local PI for many pediatric cancer trials. Dr. Kutny was appointed as the associate director of the Pediatric CTO upon its formation in 2020, and he has helped develop clinical trials resources for the Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, & BMT and the Department of Pediatrics.
Congratulations to Drs. Alva and Kutny for their new roles!