Fitting CLL Treatment to Patients’ Lives: Adam S. Kittai, MD

For many patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the path to treatment begins with a conversation, not a prescription. Adam S. Kittai, MD, director of the CLL Program at Perlmutter Cancer Center, director of the Lymphoma Program at Perlmutter Cancer Center–Long Island, and associate professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, says this approach is central to his daily practice. Kittai explains that in CLL, “we usually have a long runway before we have to start treatment.” This is time that allows him to learn what matters most to his patients, including what brings them joy and what they do on a daily basis. Even when a treatment decision is needed at a first visit, he still works to understand the person in front of him.

This is knowledge that can shape therapy, he says, because many CLL treatments work well regardless of prognostic features and carry tolerable toxicity. Other cancers, such as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, offer fewer frontline options. In CLL, Kittai can discuss each drug’s toxicities and how often patients would need to come in for it, then choose a therapy together with the patient that first their life.

Kittai is equally passionate about training the next generation of clinicians. He believes trainees need support and strong education to become compassionate, empathetic physicians, particularly as an aging society will need more doctors. His mentees, he explains, are more adept with new technologies such as artificial intelligence and are clearer about the kind of education they need. Kittai sees an opportunity to combines those perspectives with approaches that have worked classically.

What energizes him most is the trainees’ enthusiasm. Even in a field that has produced medication helping patients live longer with less toxicity, he says, watching new trainees’ eyes widen at the possibilities for the future remains refreshing and wonderful to see. Their excitement reminds him why oncology and hematology remain such exciting fields to work in today.