Our Members
Co-Chairs
Gaurav Goyal, M.D.
Dr. Goyal is a hematologist-oncologist with a special interest in histiocytic disorders. He completed medical school at Smt. N.H.L. Municipal Medical College in Ahmedabad, India, in 2011, and then moved to the United States for further training. He completed his internal medicine residency at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, in 2016, followed by a fellowship in hematology and oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in 2019.
During his fellowship, Dr. Goyal developed a deep interest in histiocytosis and went on to establish the first multidisciplinary Histiocytosis Working Group in collaboration with Dr. Ronald Go, dedicated to improving the understanding and care of patients with these rare diseases. This group was later expanded to form the Histio-Care Network, with multi-institution collaborations to advance the practice, education, and research for patients and families affected by histiocytic disorders. His research spans a wide range of topics including the epidemiology, molecular biology, clinical presentation, treatment, and long-term outcomes of histiocytic disorders. He has led the guidelines for the management of Erdheim-Chester disease and Adult Langerhans cell histiocytosis.
After joining the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2019, Dr. Goyal expanded his focus to include cancer survivorship and long-term outcomes. In 2022, he launched the Histiocytic Disorder Follow-Up Study to better understand the long-term health effects in people living with histiocytosis.
Dr. Goyal’s work has been supported by multiple organizations, including the Histiocytosis Association, AIDS Malignancy Consortium, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and the American Cancer Society. He leads national and international collaborations and clinical trials, and holds several leadership roles, including serving as chair of the HLH in Adults & Adult LCH Working Groups under the Histiocyte Society.
Ronald S. Go, M.D.
Dr. Go was born and raised in the Philippines, where he earned his medical degree from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, followed by a fellowship in hematology-oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He practiced as a community hematologist at Gundersen Health System for 13 years before rejoining the staff at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Go currently serves as Chair of Classical (Benign) Hematology in the Division of Hematology at Mayo Clinic Rochester. His clinical and research interests include histiocytic disorders, immunohematology, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), and thrombotic microangiopathy. He is also the inaugural Chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines Panel for Histiocytic Neoplasms.
Jithma P. Abeykoon, M.D.
As an Assistant Professor and Clinician Investigator at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, Dr. Abeykoon is dedicated to advancing the understanding and treatment of histiocytic malignancies by focusing on disease biology and clinical outcomes. As a laboratory-based clinician-investigator, his work involves identifying novel biomarkers and molecular targets, translating scientific discoveries into innovative therapeutic strategies to improve patient care. A key achievement includes the discovery of a novel drug combination with antitumor activity, published in Blood (Abeykoon, Blood, 2021), which led to an investigator-initiated Phase 1 clinical trial (NCT04640779) at Mayo Clinic for patients with histiocytic malignancies and relapsed lymphoma.
Dr. Abeykoon leads the Histiocytic Neoplasia Practice at Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, and serves as the Principal Investigator for three investigator-initiated clinical trials (NCT04640779, NCT06712810, NCT06411821) centered on small molecule inhibitors targeting CRM1, CSF1R, and ERK for patients with histiocytic cancers. His research, published in prominent journals such as JAMA Oncology (Abeykoon, JAMA Oncol., 2023) and Journal of Clinical Investigation (Abeykoon, JCI, 2025), has demonstrated the efficacy of MEK inhibitors in histiocytic cancers and explored cyclin D1’s role in DNA replication stress and DNA damage repair in hematologic malignancies. With over 110 publications—more than 40 as first or corresponding author—his work reflects a strong commitment to understanding disease biology, improving prognoses, and developing effective treatments for patients with histiocytic cancers and lymphoma. He also leads a comprehensive basic science research program focused on DNA replication and DNA damage repair in malignant hematology, including histiocytic malignancies, while maintaining an active clinical practice dedicated to histiocytic cancers and lymphoma.