Introduction
Dr. Nicholas Chiorazzi is best known for his discovery, alongside Dr. Terence Hamblin, of the importance of IGHV mutations. This discovery allowed for the separation of patients into two major clinical groups: indolent clinical course and aggressive clinical course. Other important themes of his work include a detailed examination of immunoglobulins in IgG+ CLL. He has conducted an exhaustive investigation of antigens that might be involved in the immune process of this neoplastic transformation.
Dr. Chiorazzi received his medical degree from Georgetown University in 1970. He carried out his medical internship and residency at the North Shore Memorial, New York, and Rockefeller University hospitals. He had a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard in cellular immunology with Dr. David H. Katz and Dr. Baruj Benacerraf and he studied human immunology in the laboratory of Dr. Henry G. Kunkel, first as a visiting investigator and later as the deputy head after Dr. Kunkel’s death until the laboratory closed. Currently, he is head of the Karches Center for Chronic Lymphocytic Research at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. Among his numerous honors and awards, he has received the Rai Binet Medal for Outstanding Contributions to CLL Research.