Dr. Maria Figueroa: The Importance of Teamwork in Science

Before taking on her current roles as a professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Associate Director of Translational Research at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, V Foundation grantee Maria “Ken” Figueroa, M.D., grew up in Argentina, surrounded by the world of soccer. Contrary to most of her peers, she was not a die-hard fan, but this summer, she’ll be keeping up with the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

“I do have a team that I am a fan of in Argentina, but it’s not like I’m following every weekend game,” Dr. Figueroa said. “But the national team is different. And with [Lionel] Messi playing, come on, how can you not be watching his last World Cup? And the guy is still amazing. Of course, I have to say Argentina will defend the title and win it.”

Soccer, like many sports, emphasizes the importance of teamwork. There are 11 players on the field working as one unit to achieve a common goal. While Dr. Figueroa will not be lacing cleats any time soon, she is a part of an even greater team that is saving lives: Team Science.

Dr. Figueroa was educated and trained during the emergence of targeted therapies. She was fascinated by the new era of genomics, and the potential benefits of these studies for patients in the future.

“As a hematologist, I was always frustrated by the fact that we were using this sort of ‘machine gun’ approach, where we were trying to hit everything, the good, the bad, and the ugly in our chemotherapeutic approaches.”

After being recruited to the United States in the mid-2000s, Dr. Figueroa has specialized in myeloid malignancies, including chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML), a rare disease that has seen few treatment advancements for patients in decades.

During her preliminary work in CMML, Dr. Figueroa observed that the cancer that responded worst to treatment overexpressed a protein, “PRAME”, that normally should not be expressed, which is a trait that other cancers hold as well.

“When I saw that, I was like, ‘Oh, this is a perfect opportunity.’ We can take the broader interest and apply it to this very bad, very rare disorder.”

This is where Dr. Figueroa builds her team. “I don’t know how anyone does science without collaborating. I don’t know how to do it.”

Around the same time as that discovery, Dr. Figueroa met Dr. Soheil Meshinchi, a researcher who specializes in developing targeted therapies. Oncologists have already successfully used targeted therapies for other hematologic malignancies, and after looking at the data, Dr. Figueroa and Dr. Meshinchi are working on developing T cell receptors and CAR T cells for CMML patients.

While the treatments are being developed, Dr. Figueroa is working on identifying biomarkers that could predict how certain patients would respond to the new immunotherapy treatment option.

“You want to make sure you’re giving it to the person who will benefit, that you’re not overburdening that patient with side effects when they have no potential for benefit,” Dr. Figueroa said. “We think both about physical toxicity and about financial toxicity [the high costs of receiving medical treatment], which is a very real thing. It’s very important. If we can tailor our therapies to those patients who are most likely to respond, now we have a winner.”

“It’s a whole translational project, from understanding the biology, to translating it, hopefully into patients soon,” Dr. Figueroa continued. “Because the good thing is this therapy is already being tested in patients [of other cancers], so that’s the whole thing I find fascinating because the lead time to getting it into [CMML] patients is going to be short.”

With Dr. Figueroa bringing CMML expertise and Dr. Meshinchi bringing therapeutic development expertise, they continued the team mindset and quickly leaned on their peers to help them understand other nuances of this project. Dr. Figueroa is collaborating with a fellow researcher at Miami, Dr Stefan Kurtenbach, who has studied PRAME for many years.

“If I were to do it on my own, we’re talking decades,” Dr. Figueroa explained. “I would have to learn a new expertise, bring it to the lab, recruit people, get the funding. Here, we’re hitting the ground running.”

“The total is more than the sum of the parts,” Dr. Figueroa said. “I’ve been doing basic and translational research since 2004 when I first started my postdoc. This is the most excited I’ve been about a lead in a project.”

This work would not be possible without the support of incredible donors who believe in the power of collaboration. Scientific discoveries from researchers across the country layer to build momentum for the next great breakthrough. Teamwork is leading us to Victory Over Cancer.

“This is such a time where our understanding of molecular biology, the technology, the advances in technology, the advances in our computational power have put us in a position where we can take something from something that was unknown into a new effective drug that ends up being FDA-approved very quickly… This is not the time to cut back in funding.”