Maria Luisa Sulis, MD cares for children and adolescents with leukemia and lymphoma. She has special expertise in caring for those with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), as well as patients whose disease has relapsed after prior treatment. Dr. Sulis and her colleagues offer patients investigational therapies whenever possible, often in combination with existing cancer treatments. They are also working to decipher the genetics of these diseases to use this information to create personalized cancer treatments.

Dr. Sulis finds the biology of pediatric cancers to be intriguing. Her experience includes nine years of conducting molecular biology research in the laboratory, which includes the study of the fundamental roots of T-ALL. She is now conducting clinical research through NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital's participation in the Phase I Consortium, a group of 21 institutions in the country designated by the National Cancer Institute through the Children's Oncology Group (COG) to conduct Phase I pediatric clinical trials-the earliest phase of studies for patients. The center is the only one in New York participating in this consortium, enabling Dr. Sulis and her team to offer promising new therapies that not every center has. This is the type of care available only in academic medical centers.

Dr. Sulis's experience in studying the molecular biology of pediatric leukemia also supports her participation in the Precision in Pediatrics Sequencing (PIPSEQ) Program, in which participants aim to identify the molecular drivers of each patient's cancer and use this information to personalize their treatment using novel targeted investigational agents.