What happens when a pediatric oncologist who has sat at the bedside of children with cancer decides the best way to help more patients is to leave the clinic entirely? In this episode, Zach Gobst sits down with Dr. Kristiyana Kaneva, a board-certified pediatric hematologist, oncologist, and neuro-oncologist, now Senior Clinical Director of Oncology Early Development at AbbVie, to explore what it really takes to bridge the gap between the bench and the patient.

Dr. Kaneva reflects on her training at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the weight of caring for critically ill children, and the early mentor who first introduced her to the world of precision medicine and pediatric brain tumors. She shares how that spark led her to Tempus AI, where she led an end-to-end team to bring a minimal residual disease (MRD) test for colorectal cancer from concept to commercial launch and what it felt like to see that test making a real difference in the clinic.

Now at AbbVie, Dr. Kaneva discusses the work of oncology early clinical development: shepherding novel molecules through IND submissions and first-in-human Phase 1 trials. She makes the case for why pediatric patients can’t be an afterthought in drug development, how FDA regulatory guidance is beginning to close that gap, and why the next generation of in vivo CAR T therapies could transform access for patients around the world.

In this episode, we cover:

• What drew Dr. Kaneva to pediatric oncology as a college student and why she never changed course
• The emotional realities of training at one of the country’s busiest pediatric cancer centers
• How precision medicine and a pioneering mentor at CHLA redirected her career toward diagnostics and industry
• Leading the development and commercial launch of an MRD test for colorectal cancer at Tempus AI
• What oncology early clinical development looks like at AbbVie from IND applications to first-in-human trials
• Why pediatric drug development has historically lagged and how the field is slowly catching up
• The promise of off-the-shelf in vivo CAR T therapies and what they could mean for global patient access

Subscribe for more conversations on clinical research innovation that keeps patient needs at the center.