Ruyan Rahnama, MD, MSc, PhD
Adjunct Instructor
Pediatrics
School of Medicine

Instructor in Pediatric Oncology with clinical and research focus in childhood leukemia and the development of novel engineered cell therapies using natural killer cells as an effector platform.

Awards

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• Third Year Fellowship Award, St. Baldrick's Foundation, 2024
• Fellowship Award, St. Baldrick's Foundation, 2022

Education & Training

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• PhD Cellular and Molecular Medicine Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine 08/2024
• Fellowship Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Johns Hopkins University/ National Institute of Health 06/2022
• Residency General Pediatrics New York Presbyterian / Columbia University Medical Center / Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital 06/2019
• MD Medicine Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 05/2016
• MSc Global Health University of California, San Francisco 08/2012
• BA Molecular and Cell Biology University of California, Berkeley 05/2010

Publications (12)

Top publication keywords:
LymphomaImmunotherapy, AdoptiveSingle-Chain AntibodiesAntibody AffinityNeedle-Exchange ProgramsKiller Cells, NaturalHematologic NeoplasmsAnesthetics, LocalLeukemiaCytotoxicity, ImmunologicPlant LectinsInduced Pluripotent Stem CellsChondrocytesLeukemia, Myeloid, AcuteHarm Reduction

• Early cytokine and chemokine signals shape the anti-AML activity of bispecific engager-secreting T cells.
  Haematologica 2025 Holl NJ, Fearnow A, Christodoulou I, Vorri SC, Rahnama R, Choe J, Ghosal A, Ng WI, Vyas V, Song HW, Varadhan R, Bonifant CL
• Single-chain variable fragment affinity tuning can optimize anti-AML CAR-NK cell functionality.
  Journal for immunotherapy of cancer 2025 Rahnama R, Kizerwetter M, Yang H, Christodoulou I, Guaraca C, Holl NJ, Choe J, Vorri SC, Zinsky M, Jones DG, Garcia Espinoza N, Kuo YH, Zahurak M, Varadhan R, Spangler JB, Bonifant CL
• Brain Metastasis in Pediatric Patients with Osteosarcoma.
  Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) 2024 Murphy J, Sundby RT, Resch EE, Rahnama R, Lemberg KM, Maalouf A, Suru A, Fixler J, Ladle BH, Rhee DS, Levin AS, Pallavajjala A, Gocke C, Ladra MM, Groves ML, Acharya S, Gross JM, Llosa NJ, Pratilas CA
• Activation of Cell-Intrinsic Signaling in CAR-T Cells via a Chimeric IL7R Domain.
  Cancer research communications 2024 Vorri SC, Holl NJ, Leeming M, Apostolova P, Marple A, Ravich JW, Canbaz A, Rahnama R, Choe J, Modi A, Fearnow AD, Walsh STR, Pearce EL, Varadhan R, Bonifant CL
• Engineering builds multipotency for iPSC-NKs.
  Blood 2022 Rahnama R, Bonifant CL

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• Gene-Based Natural Killer Cell Therapies for the Treatment of Pediatric Hematologic Malignancies.
  Hematology/oncology clinics of North America 2022 Rahnama R, Christodoulou I, Bonifant CL
• Glycoprotein Targeted CAR-NK Cells for the Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 Infection.
  Frontiers in immunology 2021 Christodoulou I, Rahnama R, Ravich JW, Seo J, Zolov SN, Marple AN, Markovitz DM, Bonifant CL
• Engineering CAR-NK cells to secrete IL-15 sustains their anti-AML functionality but is associated with systemic toxicities.
  Journal for immunotherapy of cancer 2021 Christodoulou I, Ho WJ, Marple A, Ravich JW, Tam A, Rahnama R, Fearnow A, Rietberg C, Yanik S, Solomou EE, Varadhan R, Koldobskiy MA, Bonifant CL
• Access to harm reduction programs among persons who inject drugs: findings from a respondent-driven sampling survey in Tehran, Iran.
  The International journal on drug policy 2014 Rahnama R, Mohraz M, Mirzazadeh A, Rutherford G, McFarland W, Akbari G, Malekinejad M
• Trophic stimulation of articular chondrocytes by late-passage mesenchymal stem cells in coculture.
  Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society 2013 Wang M, Rahnama R, Cheng T, Grotkopp E, Jacobs L, Limburg S, Kim HT, Kuo AC
• Cytotoxicity of local anesthetics on human mesenchymal stem cells.
  The Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume 2013 Rahnama R, Wang M, Dang AC, Kim HT, Kuo AC
• Comparison of gene expression patterns in articular cartilage and dedifferentiated articular chondrocytes.
  Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society 2011 Cheng T, Maddox NC, Wong AW, Rahnama R, Kuo AC