



Harvard Medical School
Alexandra J. Miliotis Pediatric Oncology Research Fund at Harvard Medical School
Loren Walensky, MD, PhD Principal Investigator and Attending Physician in the Department of Pediatric Oncology at the Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center; Professor Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and Director of the Harvard/MIT MD-PhD Program, was one of Alexandra’s outstanding doctors, and is recognized internationally in his field as a significant contributor in both research and clinical pediatric oncology practices.
Under Dr. Walensky’s leadership, and through his affiliation with Harvard Medical School, ATF created the Alexandra J. Miliotis Pediatric Oncology Research Fund at Harvard Medical School. “Alex’s Team” has now funded over 50 grants to Harvard Medical students – “Alex Miliotis Fellows” – in the field of pediatric oncology, including such topics as genetic expression and mutation, cancer treatment methods, and family support services.
This is a competitive Fellowship, designed to provide selected Harvard Medical School students with the opportunity to conduct research in pediatric oncology at Children’s Hospital Boston, Dana Farber Cancer Institute and affiliated hospitals and research laboratories. These students gain practical experience in hospital and research settings , under the mentorship of on-staff clinical/research physicians.
To date, more than 70% of the funded Fellows continue to pursue work in the pediatric oncology field. Many of the fellowship recipients maintain a relationship with “Alex’s Team,” expressing their sincere appreciation for the unique opportunities afforded to them by the Foundation, and “paying it forward” by introducing their incoming classmates to the opportunity to participate in this program.
2025 Summer Fellows

Simran Bansal
Mentor: Jennifer Snaman, MD
Cancer and Blood Disorder Center, Boston Children’s Hospital / Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Simran Bansal is a rising second-year medical student at Harvard Medical School with a longstanding passion for narrative medicine and patient-centered care. Her research has focused on improving communication and psychosocial support for families navigating serious illness, particularly in neonatal and palliative care settings. She is also the author of HIElights of Hope, a book that helps parents of infants with brain injuries reconceptualize hope in the face of uncertainty and connect to peer support.

Sneh Patel
Mentor: Riaz Gillani , MD
Hematology and Oncology, Boston Children’s Hospital
“Our project seeks to determine the frequency of pathogenic variants in cancer predisposition genes (CPGs) among early-onset childhood cancers and to elucidate how these variants impact clinical characteristics and outcomes. It integrates registry-linked sequencing of newborn blood spots from children diagnosed with solid or central nervous system tumors before the age of eight in Michigan. In addition to examining the effect of inherited CPG variants on age at diagnosis, tumor aggressiveness, and survival, we are also exploring the role of post-zygotic mosaicism in CPGs, as previous studies have suggested that a significant portion of pediatric cancers may arise from mosaic variants that standard testing might overlook. By using analytical pipelines capable of detecting low-level mosaicism in sequencing data, our work seeks to identify the true prevalence and clinical importance of both germline and mosaic pathogenic variants in childhood cancer predisposition, with the goal of improving genetic risk assessment.”