CONSULTANT HAEMATOLOGIST
Dr Katherine Cummins
BPhysio (Hons) MBBS (Hons) PhD FRACP
Dr Katherine Cummins graduated with honours from medical school at The University of Melbourne, and was awarded fellowships by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia after completing Haematology training at the Alfred Hospital, Monash Medical Center and the Austin Hospital. She then completed a PhD in CAR T-cells at The University of Pennsylvania (USA), focusing on the development of CAR T-cells for the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia. She was awarded several scholarships during this time, and contributed to publications in prestigious journals including Cell, Nature Medicine and Nature Biotechnology.
After returning to Australia, Dr Cummins joined Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and The Royal Melbourne Hospital as a clinician scientist, with appointments as both a clinical haematologist and a researcher in a cellular therapy laboratory. Her research is aimed at developing and translating novel CAR T-cell therapies to the clinic, and Dr Cummins was awarded a research fellowship by Snowdome and Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision for 2022-2023 to support this laboratory work.
Katherine is interested in all aspects of haematology, including malignant and non-malignant disorders, and is available for both face-to-face and telehealth consultations.
Practice Interests
Katherine’s areas of interest include malignant haematology (blood cancers), iron deficiency, investigation of abnormal blood counts, and diagnosis and treatment of disorders of bleeding and clotting. Her areas of special interest are acute leukaemia, myelodysplastic syndromes and CAR T-cells.
Katherine aims to provide comprehensive, professional and friendly medical care in a personalised and patient-focussed manner.
Practice Locations
Dr Katherine Cummins consults privately in rooms located in Erin Street, Richmond, in close proximity to Epworth Richmond.
Katherine is available for both face-to-face and telehealth consultations.
43 Erin Street
Richmond VIC 3121
Tel: 03 9069 8282
Fax: 03 9427 0847
Email: info@oncology.com.au
Hospital Accreditation
Clinical Interests Include:
Updated: September 2025
Extended Profile
Dr Katherine Cummins
– Key Research, Journal & Book Publications, Presentations &/or Awards
Selected Journal Publications (Recent)
- Zargari A, Cummins KD, Hosking P, Pham A, Hawkes E, Ting SB. Increased STAT expression in Reed-Sternberg cells as a potential positive prognostication biomarker in Hodgkin lymphoma. Pathology. 2023 Aug;55(5):650-655. doi: 10.1016/j.pathol.2023.02.007. Epub 2023 Apr 19.
- Lee YG, Guruprasad P, Ghilardi G, Pajarillo R, Sauter CT, Patel R, Ballard HJ, Hong SJ, Chun I, Yang N, Amelsberg KV, Cummins KD, Svoboda J, Gill S, Chong EA, North K, Church SE, Fraietta JA, Chang WJ, Lacey SF, Lu XM, Zhang Y, Whig K, Schultz DC, Cherry S, Gerson J, Schuster SJ, Porazzi P, Ruella M. Modulation of BCL-2 in Both T Cells and Tumor Cells to Enhance Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Immunotherapy against Cancer. Cancer Discov. 2022 Oct 5;12(10):2372-2391. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-21-1026.
- Ghassemi S, Durgin JS, Nunez-Cruz S, Patel J, Leferovich J, Pinzone M, Shen F, Cummins KD, Plesa G, Cantu VA, Reddy S, Bushman FD, Gill SI, O’Doherty U, O’Connor RS, Milone MC. Rapid manufacturing of non-activated potent CAR T cells. Nat Biomed Eng. 2022 Feb;6(2):118-128. doi: 10.1038/s41551-021-00842-6. Epub 2022 Feb 21.
- Singh N, Frey NV, Engels B, Barrett DM, Shestova O, Raivkumar P, Cummins KD…Gill S & Ruella M. Antigen-independent activation enhances the efficacy of 4-1BB-costimulated CD22 CAR T cells. Nat Medicine (2021), 27(5):842-850
- Klichinsky M, Ruella M, Shestova O, Best A, Zeeman M, Schmierer M, Gabrusciewicz K, Anderson N, Petty N, Cummins KD… Carl H. June CH & Gill S. Human chimeric antigen receptor macrophages for cancer immunotherapy. Nat Biotech (2020), 28(8):947-953
- Hurtz C, Wertheim GC, Loftus JP, Blumenthal D, Lehman A, Li Y, Manning B, Cummins KD… Carroll M & Tasian SK. Oncogene-Independent BCR-Like Signaling Adaptation Confers Drug Resistance in Ph-like ALL. J Clin Invest (2020) 1;120(7):3637-3653
- Cummins KD and Gill S. CAR T-cell therapy for AML: How close to reality? Haematologica (2019), 104(7):1302-1308
- Minson A, Cummins KD et al. The natural history of vascular and other complications in patients treated with nilotinib for chronic myeloid leukemia, Blood Adv (2019), 9:3(7); 1084-1091
- Kim MY, Yu K, Kenderian SS, Ruella R, Chen S, Shin T, Aljanahi AA, Schreeder DS, Klichinsky M, Shestova O, Kozlowski MS, Cummins KD… Dunbar CE & Gill S. Genetic Inactivation of CD33 in Hematopoietic Stem Cells to Enable CAR T Cell Immunotherapy for Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Cell (2018); 173(6):1439-1453
- Cummins KD and Gill S. Will CAR T-cell therapy have a role in AML? Promises and Pitfalls. Semin Hematol (2019), (562):155-163
- Teh TC, Nguyen NY, Moujalled DM, Segal D, Pomilio G, Rija S, Jabbour A, Cummins KD… Guthridge MA & Wei AH. Enhancing venetoclax activity in acute myeloid leukemia by co-targeting MCL1. Leukemia (2018); 32(2):303-312
- Cummins KD & Gill S. Anti-CD123 chimeric antigen receptor T-cells: an evolving treatment strategy for hematological malignancies, and a potential ace-in-the-hole against antigen-negative relapse. Leuk Lymphoma (2018), 59(7):1539-1553
- Fox LC, Cummins KD et al., The incidence and natural history of dasatinib complications in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia. Blood Adv (2017) 1(12):802-811
Professional Memberships
Fellow of Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP)
