Dr. Donia Moujalled is the Head of the Translational Leukaemia Therapeutics Group at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, Monash University. Her laboratory develops and translates novel targeted therapies for children and adults with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), with a particular focus on overcoming treatment resistance by targeting apoptotic and metabolic vulnerabilities.

Dr. Moujalled completed her PhD in 2012 at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) in the Cell Death and Cell Signalling Division under the supervision of Professor David Vaux. Her doctoral and early postdoctoral research defined key molecular mechanisms regulating programmed cell death, including the role of RIPK3 and MLKL in necroptosis.

Following postdoctoral training with Dr Mark Guthridge, Dr. Moujalled joined the laboratory of Professor Andrew Wei, where she established a translational research program investigating BH3 mimetic therapies for acute leukaemia. In 2022, she moved with the Wei laboratory to WEHI, where she expanded her research to include childhood and adult acute leukaemia, establishing integrated preclinical platforms using patient-derived samples and xenograft models to identify therapeutic strategies targeting apoptotic and metabolic dependencies. Her work has advanced several novel combination therapies towards early-phase clinical trials and has established collaborative partnerships with industry to accelerate the translation of laboratory discoveries into new treatments for patients.

Dr. Moujalled was awarded a Victorian Cancer Agency Mid-Career Fellowship (2020–2024), which supported the development of her independent research program investigating mechanisms of therapy resistance in acute leukaemia. She has subsequently secured more than $3.5 million in competitive research funding as Chief Investigator from organisations including Cancer Council NSW, Cancer Council Victoria, Cancer Australia and the Victorian Cancer Agency, and has established industry partnerships to accelerate the development of next-generation targeted therapies.

In 2026, Dr. Moujalled was recruited to Monash University to establish the Translational Leukaemia Therapeutics Group at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases. Her laboratory combines functional genomics, advanced metabolic profiling, patient-derived models and innovative preclinical platforms to discover and translate new therapies for children and adults with high-risk acute leukaemia.

Dr. Moujalled has authored more than 25 peer-reviewed publications, holds multiple patents in targeted leukaemia therapeutics, and serves on national grant review panels and the editorial boards of international journals. She is a Guest Editor for the International Journal of Molecular Sciences and is committed to mentoring the next generation of scientists through initiatives including the Girls in STEM mentoring program at the Bionics Institute.