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Advanced-stage cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) is a
rare and life-threatening type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma
(NHL) that starts in the skin, with poor outcomes,
particularly in Black patients. It remains unclear why Black
CTCL patients are at higher risk of death compared to
White patients. Through her 2020 Lymphoma Scientific
Research Mentoring Program (LSRMP) project, Dr. Allen
found that there seems to be a unique presentation of
CTCL in Black patients compared to other races, where
these patients present younger, predominately female, more
cutaneous tumors and higher-risk presentations. For her
2021 LRF research project, Dr. Allen will assemble a large
group of CTCL patients across the country, capturing
detailed clinical and tumor specimens to determine the
clinical, social, and genetic factors that contribute to poor
survival in Black patients. She will also conduct a clinical
trial combining two new therapies that may improve
patients’ outcomes with CTCL and assess barriers for
clinical-trial enrollment in Black patients.

Dr. Allen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of
Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University
School of Medicine in Atlanta. She obtained her MD
from the University of Florida College of Medicine in
Gainesville, Fla., and completed her residency at the
University of Maryland in Baltimore. She was drawn to
lymphoma research when she noticed groups of Black

CTCL patients with highly symptomatic disease and
poor survival had been excluded from extensive studies
in lymphoma. Her frustrations focused specifically on
poor outcomes she saw in young Black women. Dr.
Allen received several devastating cases of Black women
diagnosed with very advanced CTCL who did not respond
to therapy and died from their disease. “We sought to
understand why Black patients seemed to have a different
and more aggressive disease and how social and genetic
determinants of health contribute to outcomes in this
population,” Dr. Allen recalls.

In the next 10 years, Dr. Allen hopes that advances in
lymphoma research will shift the paradigm in T-cell
lymphoma toward more effective and tolerable therapies
and identify critical gaps in care for ethnic minorities. “I
am enormously grateful to LRF for the impact they have on
patient education, my education, and funding this project in
CTCL. I hope the results of this study will lead to greater
improvements in all CTCL patients in the future,” she says.
Dr. Allen’s research project is part of LRF’s Health Equity
Initiative, devoted to addressing barriers in access to care and
research in lymphoma.

The post Pamela Blair Allen, MD, MS appeared first on Lymphoma Research Foundation.

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