Stephen P. Hunger

Stephen P. Hunger, MD is Chief of the Division of Oncology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Director of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research. He is one of the foremost leaders in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) research globally, serving as a principal investigator for landmark Children's Oncology Group (COG) trials. Dr. Hunger was the COG ALL Committee Chair for over a decade and led the AALL0434 trial, which established augmented Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster (aBFM) therapy with nelarabine as the superior regimen for T-cell ALL, dramatically improving outcomes for this high-risk subtype. His research has extensively characterized Ph-like ALL (BCR-ABL1-like ALL), a high-risk subgroup defined by a gene expression profile similar to Philadelphia chromosome-positive ALL but harboring diverse kinase-activating alterations. Dr. Hunger's work in identifying JAK pathway mutations and ABL-class fusions in Ph-like ALL has directly informed clinical trials testing targeted agents such as ruxolitinib and crizotinib in combination with chemotherapy. He has authored over 350 peer-reviewed publications and has contributed fundamentally to the sustained improvement in pediatric ALL survival rates over the past three decades.