LITTLE ROCK –Sanjay Maraboyina, M.D., has joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as a radiation oncologist and sees patients at the UAMS Radiation Oncology Center.

Maraboyina also is an assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology in the UAMS College of Medicine.

A graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Maraboyina completed his internship in internal medicine at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, and his residency at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas.

He previously served as a radiation oncologist at Hot Springs Radiation Oncology and is certified by the American Board of Radiology.

LITTLE ROCK – New findings on juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) by researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and collaborators at other institutions were published online this month by the medical journal Nature Genetics.

UAMS scientists collaborating on the research titled “The Genomic Landscape of Juvenile Myelomoncytic Leukemia” were led by Peter Emanuel, M.D., director of the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute and a professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, and included Y. Lucy Liu, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, and Kimo C. Stine, M.D., professor in the Department of Pediatrics, all in the UAMS College of Medicine.

JMML is a very rare and aggressive form of childhood leukemia most often found in children younger than 6. Only about 50 children in the United States are diagnosed with JMML each year. While the most successful therapy is bone marrow transplantation, this intensive treatment is only effective for about 50 percent of patients and can result in long-term side effects.

The UAMS study, published Oct. 12, confirms two important findings that can assist doctors in determining which patients will most likely respond to existing treatment options and which are candidates for experimental or other therapies.

The findings include confirmation that JMML arises due to abnormalities in the Ras signaling pathway within blood cells. Ras proteins control signaling pathways that affect cell growth and division and can lead to the mutations found in tumors. The study also revealed that the number of genetic mutations present at diagnosis is an important predictor for prognosis and survival.

“These findings are a major step forward in understanding the development of this rare disease and future advances in treatment, not only for JMML but also for other more common leukemias,” said Emanuel, who has studied JMML since 1986 and was one of the first — along with Kevin Shannon, M.D., professor of pediatrics at the University of California San Francisco — to hypothesize the study’s findings concerning the Ras signaling pathway.

Emanuel and Shannon’s research groups have collaborated on JMML research for 23 years. Additional investigators from the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital participated in the study, which used cell and tissue samples collected during a five-year nationwide clinical trial conducted by the National Cancer Institute’s Children’s Oncology Group.

“Our study examined the entire genome of many JMML patients, thanks in large part to those who donated cells and tissue during the clinical trial,” Emanuel said. The cell and tissue bank, which is housed at UAMS, provided more than half of the specimens used in the study.

A second JMML study also published on Oct. 12 by Nature Genetics corroborated the UAMS group’s findings and referenced Emanuel’s research as supporting documentation.

LITTLE ROCK – Nine of the 10 cancer physicians from Arkansas named as “2015 Top Cancer Doctors” in the United States are from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and its Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.

The Top Cancer Doctors list was printed in the July 31-Aug. 7, 2015, issue of Newsweek in conjunction with Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., the producers of “America’s Top Doctors.” The list was compiled through peer nominations and research conducted during the course of two decades.

“This is just a further confirmation that UAMS has more doctors recognized for their clinical excellence than any other facility in the state, and that, as the Cancer Institute continues to grow and expand that there are fewer and fewer instances where Arkansans need to leave the state to obtain state-of-the-art cancer care,” said UAMS Cancer Institute Director Peter Emanuel, M.D.

The following UAMS physicians were named Top Cancer Doctors in the United States:

• V. Suzanne Klimberg, M.D., breast surgeon, director of the UAMS Division of Breast Surgical Oncology and professor in the UAMS College of Medicine

• James Y. Suen, M.D., head and neck surgeon, chairman of the UAMS Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and distinguished professor in the UAMS College of Medicine

• Alexander F. Burnett, M.D., gynecologic oncologist and professor in the UAMS College of Medicine

• Laura Hutchins, M.D., hematologist/oncologist and professor in the UAMS College of Medicine

• Peter Emanuel, M.D., hematologist/oncologist, director of the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute and professor in the UAMS College of Medicine

• Issam Makhoul, M.D., hematologist/oncologist, director of the UAMS Division of Hematology/Oncology and associate professor in the UAMS College of Medicine

• Bart Barlogie, M.D., Ph.D., founder of the UAMS Myeloma Center and distinguished professor in the UAMS College of Medicine

• James Yuen, M.D., plastic surgeon and professor and chief of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in the UAMS College of Medicine

• Richard J. Jackson, M.D., pediatric surgeon at Arkansas Children’s Hospital (an affiliate of UAMS) and professor in the UAMS College of Medicine