Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Professor Andrew Spencer is Head of the Malignant Haematology and Stem Cell Transplantation Service at The Alfred Hospital, Professor of Haematology at Monash University, Head of the Myeloma Research Group and Co-Director of the ACRF Blood Cancer Therapeutics Centre at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, all in Melbourne, Australia.
Professor Spencer completed his medical training in clinical and laboratory haematology in Brisbane and Sydney in 1992. He then was awarded a LRF (UK) Fellowship and spent 3 years at The Royal Postgraduate Medical School, London, United Kingdom where he undertook research into B-cell clonality in chronic myeloid leukemia and was awarded a Doctorate in Medicine from the University of London. Subsequently he moved to The Alfred Hospital where he established an independent translational research program. He was appointed Head of Malignant Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation Services in 2007 and established a first-in-human and early phase hematology clinical research unit at the hospital in 2009.
Professor Spencer has 185 peer reviewed publications with citations in excess of 12,600 and holds 4 international patents in multiple myeloma (MM) therapeutics. Since 2013 he has been an invited speaker at 40 international meetings on genomics, therapeutics and disease monitoring in MM and is an invited investigator of the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) Black Swan Research Initiative devising and implementing global minimal residual disease strategies for MM. He serves on the scientific advisory boards of the IMF and the International Myeloma Working Group. He chairs the Myeloma and Related Diseases Registry that he established in 2012 and the Australasian Myeloma Research Consortium. He sits on the steering committee for the global MM registry initiative INSIGHT.
Professor Spencer is a member of the following:
- American Association for Cancer Research, 2009 – present
- Australasian Leukaemia and Lymphoma Group, 2000 – present
- Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians, 1992 – present
- Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, 1992 – present
- American Society of Hematology, 1995 - present
- Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand, 1996 - present
- Royal Society of Medicine, 2018 – present
Professor Spencer currently holds the following executive positions:
- Foundation Member, Myeloma Australia, 2002-present
- Scientific Advisory Board, International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) 2006 – present
- Member, International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) 2006 – present
- Member, Medical and Scientific Advisory Group, Myeloma Australia, 2006 – present
- Member, Australian Haemopoietic Progenitor Cell Transplantation (HPCT) Reference Committee, 2009 – present
- Chair and Lead Investigator bi-national (Australia & New Zealand) Myeloma & Related Diseases Registry (MRDR), 2012 – present
- Member, IMF Black Swan Research Initiative, 2013 - present
- Lead Investigator, Myeloma 1000 - MRDR national biobanking project, 2014 – present
- Founder and Co-ordinating Principal Investigator, Australasian Myeloma Research Consortium (AMaRC). 2016 – present
- Chair and Lead Investigator Asia Pacific (APAC) Myeloma & Related Diseases Registry (MRDR), 2018 – present
- Member, TrialHub Advisory Committee, 2020 – present
- Member, Research Leadership and Governance Committee, 2022 – present
- Chair, Myeloma Australia MSAG Research Pillar, 2022 – present
Research interests
The research program of Professor Andrew Spencer aims to:
(1) identify more effective and rationale novel therapeutic strategies for MM through the identification of drug resistance processes and/or biomarkers of drug responsiveness (employing transcriptional and proteomic studies in mouse models and primary tumours) with rapid translational of synergistic drug combinations into early phase investigator-initiated clinical trials, and
(2) identify mechanisms of MM disease progression, with a particular focus on the role of the cell surface phosphatase CD45, and
(3) explore the role of different modalities of minimal residual disease (MRD) detection in MM to optimise their utility in clinical practice.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
External positions
Head, Clinical Research Unit (CRU), Department of Clinical Haematology, Alfred Health
2009 → …
Principal Specialist and Head, Malignant Haematology and Stem Cell Transplantation Service, Department of Clinical Haematology, Alfred Health
2007 → …
Research area keywords
- Haematology
- biomarkers of drug responsiveness
- blood cancer
- bortezomib
- clinical research
- drug resistance
- ell surface phosphatase CD45
- haematological malignancies
- mouse model
- multiple myeloma
- translational research
- novel therapeutics
- epigenetic therapy
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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A First-in-Human (FIH) Phase 1/2 Study to Assess Safety, Tolerability, and Preliminary Anti-Tumor Activity of REGN7945, an anti-CD38 x anti-CD28 Costimulatory Bispecific Monoclonal Antibody, in Combination with Linvoseltamab, an anti-BCMA x anti-CD3 Bispecific Monoclonal Antibody, in Participants with Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma
Spencer, A. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI))
24/03/25 → 23/03/27
Project: Research
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Long Term Follow-Up of Patients Exposed to Lentiviral -Based CAR T-Cell Therapy
Spencer, A. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI))
5/03/25 → 4/03/27
Project: Research
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aMMbition - A Phase 2, Open-label Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Different Sequences of Ciltacabtagene Autoleucel (Cilta-cel), Talquetamab SC in Combination with Daratumumab SC (Tal-D) and Teclistamab SC in Combination with Daratumumab SC (Tec-D) Following Induction with Daratumumab, Bortezomib, Lenalidomide and Dexamethasone (DVRd) in Participants with Standard-risk Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma
Spencer, A. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI))
8/08/24 → 7/08/26
Project: Research
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GLAM study - Genomic Liquid biopsy Analysis for Multiple myeloma
Spencer, A. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Mithraprabhu, S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Reynolds, J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Wood, E. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Wellard, C. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Bingham, N. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Wong, D. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Irving, A. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Wright, T. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Ho, P. J. (Chief Investigator (CI)) & McCaughan, G. (Chief Investigator (CI))
1/08/24 → 31/07/28
Project: Research
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MonumenTAL-8 - A Phase 2, Open-Label, Multicenter Study of Ciltacabtagene Autoleucel and Talquetamab for the Treatment of Participants with High-Risk Multiple Myeloma
Spencer, A. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI))
20/07/24 → 20/07/26
Project: Research
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Comparison of EasyM, a clonotypic mass spectrometry assay, and EuroFlow minimal residual disease assessment in multiple myeloma
Zhao, J., Khong, T., Gorniak, M., Khaled, A., McDonald, Z., Reynolds, J., Mithraprabhu, S., Bingham, N., Lim, S., Wong, D., Johnston, A., Motorna, O., Murphy, N., Quach, H., Yang, L. & Spencer, A., Mar 2025, In: Haematologica. 110, 3, p. 764-767 4 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › Research › peer-review
Open Access2 Citations (Scopus) -
Presence of 1q21 Gain and Amplification May be Associated With Poorer Outcomes in Daratumumab-treated Multiple Myeloma Patients
Lim, K. J. C., Wellard, C., Moore, E., Ninkovic, S., Chng, W. J., Spencer, A., Mollee, P., Hocking, J., Ho, P. J., Janowski, W., Kim, K., McCaughan, G., Dun, K., McQuilten, Z. K., Chen, F. & Quach, H., Apr 2025, In: Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma and Leukemia. 25, 4, p. 243-248 6 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
1 Citation (Scopus) -
Circulating tumor DNA and bone marrow minimal residual disease negativity confers superior outcome for multiple myeloma patients
Mithraprabhu, S., Reynolds, J., Quach, H., Horvath, N., Kerridge, I., Khong, T., Durie, B. G. M. & Spencer, A., Mar 2024, In: Haematologica. 109, 3, p. 974-978 5 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › Research › peer-review
Open Access2 Citations (Scopus) -
Daratumumab, cyclophosphamide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone for transplant-ineligible myeloma: AMaRC 03-16
Mollee, P., Reynolds, J., Janowski, W., Quach, H., Campbell, P., Gibbs, S., Lee, S., Lee, E., Taylor, K., Cochrane, T., Wallington-Gates, C., Kwok, F., Weber, N., Kerridge, I., Weston, H., Ho, P. J., Leahy, M. F., Horvath, N. & Spencer, A., 23 Jul 2024, In: Blood Advances. 8, 14, p. 3721-3730 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access6 Citations (Scopus) -
Developing and validating a discrete-event simulation model of multiple myeloma disease outcomes and treatment pathways using a national clinical registry
Irving, A., Petrie, D., Harris, A., Fanning, L., Wood, E. M., Moore, E., Wellard, C., Waters, N., Huynh, K., Augustson, B., Cook, G., Gay, F., McCaughan, G., Mollee, P., Spencer, A. & McQuilten, Z. K., 27 Aug 2024, In: PLoS ONE. 19, 8, 14 p., e0308812.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access
Activities
- 1 Contribution to workshop, seminar, course
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Inaugural National Myeloma Workshop
Ioanna Savvidou (Invited speaker) & Andrew Spencer (Organiser)
9 Sept 2016Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to workshop, seminar, course