Romanos Sklavenitis Pistofidis, M.D., Ph.D.
- Multiple Myeloma
- Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia
- Genomics
- Immunology
Assistant Professor, Department of Integrative Translational Sciences
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Division of Clinical Genomics and Therapeutics, Translational Genomics Research Institute
Referring Colleagues
(626) 218-9231
Romanos Sklavenitis Pistofidis, M.D., Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Integrative Translational Sciences at Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope® in Duarte, California, and the Judy & Bernard Briskin Center for Multiple Myeloma Research, where he directs the Romanos Sklavenitis Pistofidis Lab (RSP Lab). He is also a faculty member at the Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences.
Dr. Sklavenitis Pistofidis is a physician-scientist whose research focuses on establishing biologically informed decision-making in the clinical care of patients with multiple myeloma, Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia and other blood cancers. He received his Doctor of Medicine, graduating summa cum laude, from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Thessaloniki, Greece.
In 2016, he moved to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he completed his Ph.D. and postdoctoral training in computational biology, cancer biology and immunology. His research has been recognized with many awards from organizations such as the International Myeloma Society, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the International Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia Foundation.
In 2024, he co-founded PreDICTA Biosciences, a biotech startup that leverages next-generation assays to transform prognosis and therapy selection for patients with multiple myeloma and other blood cancers.
Education & Experience
Degrees
- 2023, Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- 2016, M.D., Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Fellowships
- 2018-2019, Postdoctoral Fellow, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Cancer Program, Cambridge, MA
- 2016-2019, Postdoctoral Fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Department of Medical Oncology, Boston, MA
Professional Experience
- 2025-current, Assistant Professor, Department of Integrative Translational Sciences, Judy & Bernard Briskin Center for Multiple Myeloma Research, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte, CA
- 2019-2025, Instructor in Medicine, Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, and Cancer Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
Awards & Memberships
- 2024, Young Investigator Award, International Myeloma Society
- 2022, Abstract Achievement Award, 64th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology
- 2022, Young Investigator Award for Exemplary Abstract, International Myeloma Society
- 2022, Emerging Generation Award, American Society for Clinical Investigation
- 2021, Best Oral Presentation Award, American Association for Cancer Research — Korean Cancer Association Joint Conference on Precision Medicine in Solid Tumors
- 2021, Abstract Achievement Award, 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology
- 2021, Young Investigator Award for Exemplary Abstract, International Myeloma Society
- 2020, “Phaedon Fessas” Young Investigator Award, Hellenic Society of Hematology
- 2019, Young Investigator Award, International Myeloma Society
- 2018, Abstract Achievement Award, 60th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology
- 2018, Young Investigator Award, International Workshop for Waldnestrom’s Macroglobulinemia
Publications
- Lightbody ED*, Sklavenitis-Pistofidis R*, et al. SWIFT-Seq: Single-cell RNA sequencing of circulating tumor cells provides clinical and biological insights for patients with multiple myeloma and its precursor conditions. Nature Cancer. 2025; doi: 10.1038/s43018-025-01006-0.
- Alberge JB, Dutta AK, Poletti A, …, Sklavenitis-Pistofidis R, Chip Stewart, Gad Getz, Irene M. Ghobrial. Genomic landscape of multiple myeloma and its precursor conditions. Nature Genetics. 2025;57(1493-1503).
- Sklavenitis-Pistofidis R*, Konishi Y*, et al. Single-cell RNA sequencing defines distinct disease subtypes and reveals hypo-responsiveness to interferon in asymptomatic Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia. Nature Communications. 2025;16(1480).
- Sklavenitis-Pistofidis R*, Lightbody ED*, Reidy M*, et al. Large-scale dependency and drug screens to characterize the therapeutic vulnerabilities of Multiple Myeloma with Amp1q. Blood. 2025; doi:10.1182/blood.2024025102.
- Nadeem O, Aranha MP, Redd R, Timonian M, Magidson S, Lightbody ED, Alberge J-B, Bertamini L, Dutta AK, El-Khoury H, Bustoros M, Laubach JP, Bianchi G, O’Donnell E, Wu T, Tsuji J, Anderson KC, Getz G, Trippa L, Richardson PG, Sklavenitis-Pistofidis R & Ghobrial IM. Deeper response predicts better outcomes in high-risk smoldering myeloma: results of the I-PRISM phase II clinical trial. Nat Comm. 2025;16(358).
- Rahmat M, Clement K, Alberge J-B, Sklavenitis-Pistofidis R, et al. Selective Enhancer Gain of Function Deregulates MYC Expression in Multiple Myeloma. Cancer Research. 2024.
- Issa LHB, Flechon L, Laine W, Ouelkdite A, Gaggero S, Cozzani A, Tilmont R, Chauvet P, Gower N, Sklavenitis-Pistofidis R, et al. MYC dependency in GLS1 and NAMPT is a therapeutic vulnerability in multiple myeloma. iScience. 2024;27(4).
- Kazandjian D*, Diamond B*, Papadimitriou M, Hill E, Sklavenitis-Pistofidis R, et al. Genomic Profiling to Contextualize the Results of Intervention for Smoldering Multiple Myeloma. Clinical Cancer Research. 2024;OF1-OF9.
- Flechon L, Arib I, Dutta AK, Issa LHB, Sklavenitis-Pistofidis R, et al. Genomic profiling of mycosis fungoides identifies patients at high risk of disease progression. Blood Advances. 2024;8(12):3109-3119.
- Dutta AK*, Alberge J-B*, Lightbody ED, Boehner CJ, Dunford A, Sklavenitis-Pistofidis R, et al. MinimuMM-seq: genome sequencing of circulating tumor cells for minimally invasive molecular characterization of multiple myeloma pathology. Cancer Discovery. 2023;13(2):348-363.
- Sklavenitis-Pistofidis R, et al. Immune biomarkers of response to immunotherapy in patients with high-risk Smoldering Myeloma. Cancer Cell. 2022;40(11).
- Konishi Y*, Sklavenitis-Pistofidis R*, et al. Attenuated response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in patients with asymptomatic precursor stages of multiple myeloma and Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia. Cancer Cell. 2021.
- Shen YJ*, Mishima Y*, Shi J*, Sklavenitis-Pistofidis R*, et al. Progression signature underlies clonal evolution and dissemination of Multiple Myeloma. Blood. 2020.
- Bustoros M*, Sklavenitis-Pistofidis R*, et al. Genomic Profiling of Smoldering Multiple Myeloma Identifies Patients at a High Risk of Disease Progression. J Clin Oncol. 2020.