Dr. Michael Bern joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of Oncology as an Instructor as of July 2026.
Dr. Bern’s research focuses on understanding mechanisms of therapy resistance in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). ~25% of AML patients fail to achieve a remission with standard of care intensive induction chemotherapy. These “Primary-Refractory” (P-R) patients have poor outcomes and limited treatment options, and they represent an area of unmet clinical need. Dr. Bern’s research uses multi-omic studies of primary patient samples to define the molecular and immune landscape of P-R AML. His research takes advantage of mouse models of AML to establish a mechanistic understanding of the molecular and immune features identified from studies of patients with therapy-resistant AML. The long-term goal of this research is to develop novel therapies to improve outcomes for patients with P-R AML.