Mel Greaves

Mel Greaves has made fundamental contributions to understanding how childhood leukemia arises and evolves from prenatal to postnatal life. His research demonstrated that childhood ALL is initiated in utero with a prenatal clone that can persist silently for years before environmental triggers drive overt leukemia. He established the evolutionary origins of leukemia as a multi-step clonal process. His work revolutionized understanding of leukemia biology and has informed preventive strategies for childhood cancer.