Michael Crump

Michael Crump, MD, FRCPC is a Medical Oncologist and Hematologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, where he has been a leading investigator in relapsed and refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) for more than three decades. He is recognized for his key contributions to the ZUMA-7 trial — a pivotal phase III randomized study published in NEJM (2022) comparing axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) CAR-T cell therapy with standard-of-care salvage chemoimmunotherapy plus autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) as second-line treatment for relapsed/refractory DLBCL. ZUMA-7 demonstrated that axi-cel significantly improved event-free survival compared with the traditional salvage-then-ASCT approach, fundamentally redefining the second-line treatment paradigm for DLBCL and contributing to FDA approval of axi-cel in this setting. Prior to ZUMA-7, Dr. Crump was a founding contributor to SCHOLAR-1 — the first large multicenter retrospective analysis of outcomes in refractory DLBCL — which documented dismal outcomes (median OS ~6 months, ORR ~26%) with salvage therapy in this population, establishing the unmet need that drove the development of CAR-T therapies. He has led multiple CCTG (Canadian Cancer Trials Group) lymphoma trials and is recognized internationally for his expertise in aggressive lymphoma management and biomarker-driven therapy selection.