Dr. David Dingli
Hematologist and Professor of MedicineAt the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
Summary
David Dingli, M.D., Ph.D., is a hematologist who primarily treats patients with multiple myeloma and related plasma cell disorders. Many of these patients have kidney involvement as part of their illness. His research relates to the development of mathematical and computational models to understand hematopoiesis and its disorders. He has developed models to understand the dynamics of blood formation and various disorders that arise in cells of the bone marrow.
Focus Areas
-
Dynamics of hematopoiesis and hematopoietic stem cell behavior. Dr. Dingli works to develop a quantitative understanding of the time and space dependent interactions of the cells in the bone marrow both in health and in disease.
-
Evolution of mutations within hematopoiesis and their natural history. Mutations in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells are at the root of bone marrow cancers and the incidence and expansion of such mutations is critical to understand the why, when and how these tumors arise. Tumor development is an evolutionary process and Dr. Dingli utilizes concepts from evolutionary biology to understand these tumors.
-
Understand the dynamics of tumor therapy with novel therapies. Dr. Dingli uses mathematical and computational models to understand how novel therapies such as ‘small molecules’ and tumor selective viruses can kill tumor cells. This is an important step for optimal and safe use of these novel and expensive agents for therapy.
Significance to Patient Care
Dr. Dingli’s research helps the development of algorithms that make the best use of novel therapeutics and tailors therapy for the individual patient – personalized therapy. Given the high cost of these medications, developing technologies that use these drugs optimally will result in a reduction in the risk of complications from therapy as well as a reduction in the cost of care.
Professional Highlights
-
Professor of Medicine, Mayo Clinic
-
Adjunct Professor, Biomedical Informatics and Computational Biology Program, University of Minnesota Rochester
-
Editor-in-Chief: Blood and Lymphatic Cancer: Targets and Therapy
-
Editorial Board Member: Hematology Reviews, Journal of Hematology
-
Scientific Reviewer for various funding agencies including Cancer Research UK, Leukemia Research Fund, National Science Foundation, Austria Science Fund and others
-
Scientific Reviewer for many journals including: Blood, Stem Cells, Leukemia, PLoS Computational Biology, Molecular Systems Biology, Physical Review Letters, Applied Mathematics and Computation, American Journal of Kidney Diseases and many others
-
Recipient of 30 awards
-
Fellow of numerous scientific societies
-
Author of over 150 publications, numerous abstracts and book chapters
-
Education
Fellowship - Hematology
Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic
Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Sciences - Mayo Graduate School, College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic
Residency - Internal Medicine
Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic Mathematical Modeling
M.D.
University of Malta (with distinction)
Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University
Mathematics and Computers in Medicine - Santa Fe Institute
