Interview with Sally Sambrook, Executive Director of Clinical Operations, and Alessandra Forcina, Global Clinical Program Lead – Lymphoma at AstraZene

Sally, Alessandra – I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to sit down with you both and discuss the fascinating research happening in the rapidly growing hematology space. Before we dive into the research, I am curious to know who or what inspired you to pursue a career in hematology-oncology research.

Alessandra Forcina: Thank you, Anas! It’s great to be here. During my medical training, I had the privilege to care for several patients, mainly with acute leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma, often undergoing bone marrow transplants. I still remember most of them and keep their memory vivid in my heart. They shared their fears and dreams with me, which profoundly inspired me and helped me to set priorities in my professional life. Most importantly, it has given me a sense of urgency to find new curative medicine.

Sally Sambrook: Thanks for having me as well! I also am driven by personal experiences. When I was thirteen, my uncle, who was a big part of my and my family’s life, was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer at forty years old. At a young age, I witnessed him go from being a strong, independent person to, unfortunately, having a tough battle with chemotherapy and ultimately passing away, which made a huge impression on my life. It’s my motivation to advance science and treatments to make a difference for patients and their families so that they have a better experience than my family had all those years ago. This experience sparked me to pursue science at university and obtain a PhD in pharmacology.

It's moving to see how much your personal experiences have impacted your career paths. We are lucky to have such motivated individuals on our Hematology R&D team. As you well know our oncology pipeline continues to diversify as we expand to innovative modalities, including T cell engagers and bispecific antibodies. In your opinion, what is the most exciting mechanism or modality for blood cancers on the horizon?

Sally: For me, the science behind an antibody drug conjugate (ADC) is fascinating. How I describe it to my daughter is that part of the ADC finds the cancer – that’s the targeted bit – and then the other bit is chemotherapy. So, it targets the cancer cells and then - BOOM - attacks them.

Alessandra: Great way to describe the modality in simple terms, Sally. Since I was a student, I have been fascinated by the complex molecular mechanisms leading to blood diseases and how the immune system can be harnessed to attack cancer arising in the blood. T cell engagers have shown promising results in indolent and aggressive lymphomas, with quite durable responses. This form of therapy is usually well tolerated.1 If further optimized, alone or in combination with other agents, I believe T cell engagers have the potential to be transformative and may play a key role even in the frontline setting for various blood cancers.

Hearing both of you discuss your passions in the field is exciting, and I couldn’t agree more that transformative blood cancer treatments are on the horizon. Why do you think it is important to fund the research of female scientists and what advice would you offer to women entering the hematologic oncology research space today?

Sally: Interestingly the clinical operations team at AstraZeneca is predominantly female, with more than 70% of our team being women. It is so important to me that we continue to inspire women to pursue science careers because they can thrive in leadership roles in the field. There are so many opportunities, and in fact, one of the things I say to students is, “where do you think things like cosmetics come from? The answer is science. Wouldn't you like to develop a new mascara one day?” Making science relatable in this way triggers their interest that there's more to science than your traditional biology chemistry path, which can feel intimidating.

Alessandra: That’s a great way to encourage students to pursue science, Sally! My advice to young women entering this space today is to trust themselves and what they can achieve, speak up, ask questions and keep an open and curious mind, but above all, be passionate and always kind, whatever you do.

Last question I am asking all my guests this year – what’s something on your bucket list unrelated to work?

Alessandra: Last year, when the pandemic was finally slowing down, my husband and I decided to give ourselves a life-long challenge by planning a trip to each of the destinations flying from London Stansted Airport. So far, we are a bit behind this plan, but the motivation is still very high!

Sally: Wow! Keep at it, Alessandra, and you’ll accomplish that goal soon enough. My husband and I have always wanted to get a motor home when I retire and travel around Europe doing what we want to do when we want to do it. We will pile the dogs into the motor home and live life vaguely throughout the continent. And no one will tell us any differently – we would live freely outside the confines of the 9 to 5 structure. That kind of freedom is at the top of my bucket list.

It was really excellent to connect with you both and thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me! I look forward to seeing your career and personal goals come to fruition.

References

1.      Denlinger N, Bond D, Jaglowski S. CAR T-cell therapy for B-cell lymphoma. Curr Probl Cancer. 2022;46(1):100826.