Nutrition During Childhood Cancer Treatment: Current Understanding & a Path for Future Research

Elena J. Ladas, PhD, RD

Sid and Helaine Lerner Associate Professor for Global Integrative Medicine
Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Co-Director, Center for Comprehensive Wellness
Director, International Initiative for Pediatrics and Nutrition
Associate Research Director, Pediatric Obesity Program
New York, NY, USA

Dr Elena J. Ladas is the Sid and Helaine Lerner Associate Professor for Global Integrative Medicine in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology/Stem Cell Transplant at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). Dr Ladas received a Master’s degree in nutrition biochemistry from the Institute of Human Nutrition at CUIMC and holds a PhD in nutrition epidemiology from Columbia University. She is also a registered dietician. 

Dr Ladas is a clinical investigator with expertise in the clinical integration and scientific evaluation of nutrition and complementary/ alternative medicine in pediatric oncology. Dr Ladas is the Director of the Integrative Therapies Program and Co-Director of the Center for Comprehensive Wellness (CCW), where she is responsible for the clinical oversight and research portfolio of nutrition and integrative therapies. Dr Ladas is the principal investigator on many multi-institutional studies that evaluate the role of nutrition and integrative therapies, as components of supportive care, during and after treatment for childhood cancer. Specifically, she is evaluating the influence of dietary intake on the development of nutrition-related morbidities (such as obesity) in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia through a collaboration with the Dana Farber ALL Consortium. Dr Ladas serves as the Chair of the nutrition committee of Children’s Oncology Group (COG) and is the principal investigator of an R01-funded study that is investigating the role of probiotic therapy on the development of gastrointestinal acute graft-versus-host disease among children and adolescents undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation. Dr. Ladas also leads a multi-institution study evaluating the clinical effects of perturbations on the microbiome among children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.