Jennifer R. Brown MD, PhD

Jennifer R. Brown, MD, PhD, is the Director of the Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Center of the Division of Hematologic Malignancies at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Brown simultaneously completed a bachelor’s of science and a Master’s of Science in molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University, graduating summa cum laude with distinction. She proceeded to Harvard Medical School where she received her medical degree and doctorate of philosophy in molecular genetics and was awarded the James Tolbert Shipley Prize. She then served as an intern and resident in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at DFCI. In 2004, Dr. Brown joined the faculty of DFCI and Harvard Medical School, where she has an active clinical-translational research program in CLL.

Dr. Brown’s interests include the development of novel targeted therapeutics for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), as well as CLL genomics. She has been instrumental in the clinical development of idelalisib and ibrutinib, leading to their regulatory approvals in CLL. Her genomics work has characterized the somatic mutation profile of CLL, and she is now particularly interested in the implementation of genomic technology in the clinic.

Dr. Brown also has a longstanding research interest in the inherited predisposition to CLL. To date, she has published about 250 papers in the scientific literature, predominantly in CLL. She is the past-recipient of prominent awards from DFCI, including the Clinical Innovation Award and the George Canellos Award for Excellence in Clinical Investigation and Patient Care. She is a member of the International Workshop on CLL (iwCLL) and enjoys a worldwide reputation as a CLL expert.

Dr. Brown is Vice-Chair of the NCCN CLL/SLL/Hairy Cell Leukemia Panel and previously served on a scientific review committee for the NCCN Oncology Research Program.