2026 Research Program supports studies aimed at overcoming treatment resistance and improving long-term outcomes for CLL and SLL patients
August 11, 2026 — CLL Society, the world’s leading authority for chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic lymphoma patients, has announced the recipients of its 2026 Research Program awards. This year, two researchers have been honored as the recipients of the Clinical Scholar Award and the Young Investigator Award.
CLL Society works to address the unmet needs of people living with CLL and SLL through education, advocacy, support, and research. Its Research Program funds novel projects that aim to improve outcomes and quality of life for those living with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL). Since launching the program in 2022, CLL Society has dedicated a total of $2,150,000 toward funding some of the nation’s leading CLL / SLL researchers. This year’s recipients reflect a shared focus on the questions patients feel most directly: how to make remissions deeper and longer-lasting, and how to understand and overcome the biology that lets CLL persist and return.
The 2026 Research Program recipients are as follows:
Clinical Scholar Award: Dedicated to supporting exceptional physician-researchers advancing treatment for CLL / SLL, this year’s Clinical Scholar Award honors Dr. Kerry Rogers, Associate Professor in the Division of Hematology at The Ohio State University, where she treats patients at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James). Her project, “Overcoming CLL Resistance to Targeted Agents Through Rational Combination,” tackles a challenge many patients face: covalent BTK inhibitors (cBTKi) such as ibrutinib, acalabrutinib, and zanubrutinib have transformed CLL treatment, but they require continuous use, and over time CLL cells can develop resistance. Through a Phase 2 clinical trial, Dr. Rogers and her team are testing whether combining venetoclax and pirtobrutinib can produce deeper, more lasting remissions in people whose CLL has progressed during cBTKi treatment. The study measures how many patients reach undetectable minimal residual disease, meaning no measurable leukemia in the body, with the goal of a regimen that has a defined stop date, reducing long-term side effects, slowing further resistance, and lowering the burden and cost of treatment.
Young Investigator Award: This award supports early-career researchers pursuing breakthrough science that can improve the understanding and treatment of CLL / SLL. Dr. António Ferreira, a researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a researcher fellow at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, is recognized for his project, “Mechanisms of Malignancy Driven by CLL Proliferation-Associated (CPA) Fibroblasts.” His work looks beyond the leukemia cell to the environment that sustains it. Within the lymph nodes where CLL cells divide and grow, they rely on surrounding cells for survival signals that help them shelter, divide, and resist treatment. Using single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial tissue analysis, Dr. Ferreira is mapping how a newly identified population called CLL Proliferation-Associated (CPA) fibroblasts communicates with CLL and immune cells to create these protective niches. By identifying the molecular signals that allow the niches to form and sustain CLL growth, his research points toward new ways to disrupt the tumor microenvironment and improve treatment outcomes for patients with CLL.
For CLL Society, funding work like this is central to its mission. Enabling research that seeks to extend remissions and disrupt the biology driving CLL is an exciting step toward better options for patients everywhere. Recipients of the Research Program awards are selected through a rigorous review process guided by formal Research Review Committees made up of volunteer members from CLL Society’s Medical Advisory Board, Expert Medical Council, and outside subject-matter experts.
CLL Society’s Research Program is made possible by individual contributions, which channel community support toward the questions that matter most to people living with CLL and SLL. To explore the research these gifts support, visit cllsociety.org/what-we-fund/.
About CLL Society
CLL Society is a leading authority for chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients, families, care partners and medical professionals. Founded in 2013 by Dr. Brian Koffman, a physician, CLL patient and advocate, and Patricia Koffman, a care partner and advocate, the nonprofit organization addresses the unmet needs of the chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL / SLL) community through patient education, advocacy, support and research. CLL Society is a registered 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. To learn more, visit https://cllsociety.org/.
