Beth Apsel Winger, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor
Department of Clinical Pharmacy
Apsel Winger
[email protected]
Phone: +1 415 502-1994
1550 Fourth Street, Rm 590D
UCSF Box 0613
San Francisco, CA 94158
United States

Private practice

San Francisco, CA 94143
San Francisco, CA 94158
United States

Links

Apsel Winger Lab UCSF Profiles

Affiliations

Joint appointments

Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine

What I do

My research is translational and informed by my clinical experience. In my lab we experimentally study mutant kinases discovered by clinical Next Generation Sequencing in patients with vascular anomalies and cancer, with the goal of understanding how these mutant kinases cause disease and can be exploited as drug targets to improve treatment options.

My research expertise

quantitative pharmacology, individualized dosing, targeted therapies, molecular dynamics

Professional background

Degrees

MD, School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, 2011
PhD, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of California San Francisco, 2008
BA, Chemistry, Yale, 2001

Licensure and certifications

American Board of Pediatrics Board Certification, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, American Board of Pediatrics Board Certification, 2019
Medical Licensure, State Board of California, 2014
American Board of Pediatrics Board Certification, General Pediatrics, American Board of Pediatrics Board Certification, 2014

Biography

Dr. Winger’s research is focused on advancing precision medicine to improve therapeutics and outcomes for patients with cancer and other blood diseases. Her research has two main focuses: 1) understanding mutations in kinases so that we can expand the use of targeted therapies and match the right drug to the right patient, and 2) developing precision dosing strategies to give every patient the right amount of drug for their body.

Research keywords

  • Chimerism
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors
  • Busulfan
  • alpha-Thalassemia
  • Pyrazoles
  • Precursor T-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma
  • alpha-Globins
  • Immunocompromised Host
  • Melphalan
  • Staurosporine
  • Enterocolitis
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit
  • Triazines
  • Mycobacterium bovis

Publications

Winger BA, Ajayi A, Vichinsky E. Diagnosis and Treatment of Alpha Thalassemia Major. Hemoglobin. 2025 Jan; 49(1):3-9.
Dvorak CC, Temple WC, Cisneros GS, Chu J, Winestone LE, Higham CS, Shimano KA, Kharbanda S, Avagyan S, Pauerstein P, Huang JN, Cheng G, Waters E, Winger BA, Cowan MJ, Long-Boyle JR. Younger children with nonmalignant disease have increased incidence of mixed myeloid chimerism after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation with busulfan-based conditioning. Transplant Cell Ther. 2025 Apr; 31(4):259.e1-259.e15.
Marinoff AE, Thrall A, Aaronson K, Braun BS, Castellanos M, Chu J, Hermiston M, Huang BJ, Levinson A, Southworth E, Winger BA, Olshen A, Stieglitz E. Thrombopoietin Receptor Agonists for Thrombocytopenia in Pediatric Hematologic Malignancies. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2025 Mar; 72(3):e31528.
Paolino J, Dimitrov B, Apsel Winger B, Sandoval-Perez A, Rangarajan AV, Ocasio-Martinez N, Tsai HK, Li Y, Robichaud AL, Khalid D, Hatton C, Gillani R, Polonen P, Dilig A, Gotti G, Kavanagh J, Adhav AA, Gow S, Tsai J, Li Y, Ebert BL, Van Allen EM, Bledsoe J, Kim AS, Tasian SK, Cooper SL, Cooper TM, Hijiya N, Sulis ML, Shukla NN, Magee JA, Mullighan CG, Burke MJ, Luskin MR, Mar BG, Jacobson MP, Harris MH, Stegmaier K, Place AE, Pikman Y. Integration of Genomic Sequencing Drives Therapeutic Targeting of PDGFRA in T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia/Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2023 11 14; 29(22):4613-4626.
Apsel Winger B, Devine WP, Hsiao EC, Zapala M, Van Ziffle J, Gupta N, Frieden IJ, Shimano KA. EML4::ALK fusions in complex lymphatic malformations. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2023 Jun 28; e30516.
Sandoval-Pérez A, Winger BA, Jacobson MP. Correction to "Assessing the Activation of Tyrosine Kinase KIT through Free Energy Calculations". J Chem Theory Comput. 2023 Jan 10; 19(1):376.
Sandoval-Pérez A, Winger BA, Jacobson MP. Assessing the Activation of Tyrosine Kinase KIT through Free Energy Calculations. J Chem Theory Comput. 2022 Oct 11; 18(10):6251-6258.
Huang L, Winger BA, Cheah V, Gingrich D, Marzan F, Lu Y, Cooper JC, Aweeka F, Long-Boyle J. Quantification of N, N' N"-triethylenethiophosphoramide, N, N"-triethylenephosphoramide, cyclophosphamide, and 4-hydroxy-cyclophosphamide in microvolume human plasma to support neonatal and pediatric drug studies. J Chromatogr Open. 2022 Nov; 2.
Li S, Dvorak CC, Lu Y, Chan D, Gobburu JVS, Long-Boyle J, Apsel Winger B. Population Pharmacokinetics of Melphalan for Pediatric Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation. J Clin Pharmacol. 2022 07; 62(7):873-882.
Apsel Winger B, Long SE, Brooks J, Gupta AO, Dvorak CC, Long-Boyle JR. A Guidance for Concomitant Drug Reconciliation Prior to Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in Children and Young Adults. Front Pediatr. 2021; 9:713091.
Pikman Y, Tasian SK, Sulis ML, Stevenson K, Blonquist TM, Apsel Winger B, Cooper TM, Pauly M, Maloney KW, Burke MJ, Brown PA, Gossai N, McNeer JL, Shukla NN, Cole PD, Kahn JM, Chen J, Barth MJ, Magee JA, Gennarini L, Adhav AA, Clinton CM, Ocasio-Martinez N, Gotti G, Li Y, Lin S, Imamovic A, Tognon CE, Patel T, Faust HL, Contreras CF, Cremer A, Cortopassi WA, Garrido Ruiz D, Jacobson MP, Dharia NV, Su A, Robichaud AL, Saur Conway A, Tarlock K, Stieglitz E, Place AE, Puissant A, Hunger SP, Kim AS, Lindeman NI, Gore L, Janeway KA, Silverman LB, Tyner JW, Harris MH, Loh ML, Stegmaier K. Matched Targeted Therapy for Pediatric Patients with Relapsed, Refractory, or High-Risk Leukemias: A Report from the LEAP Consortium. Cancer Discov. 2021 06; 11(6):1424-1439.
Apsel Winger B, Shukla P, Kharbanda S, Keizer RJ, Goswami S, Cowan MJ, Dvorak CC, Long-Boyle J. The Relationship Between Busulfan Exposure and Achievement of Sustained Donor Myeloid Chimerism in Patients with Non-Malignant Disorders. Transplant Cell Ther. 2021 03; 27(3):258.e1-258.e6.
Shukla P, Goswami S, Keizer RJ, Winger BA, Kharbanda S, Dvorak CC, Long-Boyle J. Assessment of a Model-Informed Precision Dosing Platform Use in Routine Clinical Care for Personalized Busulfan Therapy in the Pediatric Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (HCT) Population. Front Pharmacol. 2020; 11:888.
Wang H, Long-Boyle J, Winger BA, Nicolaides T, Mueller S, Prados M, Ivaturi V. Population Pharmacokinetics of Vemurafenib in Children With Recurrent/Refractory BRAF Gene V600E-Mutant Astrocytomas. J Clin Pharmacol. 2020 09; 60(9):1209-1219.
Apsel Winger B, Cortopassi WA, Garrido Ruiz D, Ding L, Jang K, Leyte-Vidal A, Zhang N, Esteve-Puig R, Jacobson MP, Shah NP. ATP-Competitive Inhibitors Midostaurin and Avapritinib Have Distinct Resistance Profiles in Exon 17-Mutant KIT. Cancer Res. 2019 08 15; 79(16):4283-4292.
Winger BA, Foy E, Sud SR, MacKenzie JD, Pua HH, Lau AH, Heyman MB, Laszik Z, Tureen J. Mycobacterium bovis Enterocolitis in an Immunocompromised Host. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2016 07; 63(1):e17-9.
Apsel Winger B, Shah NP. PPARγ: Welcoming the New Kid on the CML Stem Cell Block. Cancer Cell. 2015 Oct 12; 28(4):409-411.
Feldman ME, Apsel B, Uotila A, Loewith R, Knight ZA, Ruggero D, Shokat KM. Active-site inhibitors of mTOR target rapamycin-resistant outputs of mTORC1 and mTORC2. PLoS Biol. 2009 Feb 10; 7(2):e38.
Apsel B, Blair JA, Gonzalez B, Nazif TM, Feldman ME, Aizenstein B, Hoffman R, Williams RL, Shokat KM, Knight ZA. Targeted polypharmacology: discovery of dual inhibitors of tyrosine and phosphoinositide kinases. Nat Chem Biol. 2008 Nov; 4(11):691-9.
Zunder ER, Knight ZA, Houseman BT, Apsel B, Shokat KM. Discovery of drug-resistant and drug-sensitizing mutations in the oncogenic PI3K isoform p110 alpha. Cancer Cell. 2008 Aug 12; 14(2):180-92.
Mackey ZB, Baca AM, Mallari JP, Apsel B, Shelat A, Hansell EJ, Chiang PK, Wolff B, Guy KR, Williams J, McKerrow JH. Discovery of trypanocidal compounds by whole cell HTS of Trypanosoma brucei. Chem Biol Drug Des. 2006 May; 67(5):355-63.
Pillinger MH, Dinsell V, Apsel B, Tolani SN, Marjanovic N, Chan ES, Gomez P, Clancy R, Chang LF, Abramson SB. Regulation of metalloproteinases and NF-kappaB activation in rabbit synovial fibroblasts via E prostaglandins and Erk: contrasting effects of nabumetone and 6MNA. Br J Pharmacol. 2004 Jul; 142(6):973-82.
Pillinger MH, Rosenthal PB, Tolani SN, Apsel B, Dinsell V, Greenberg J, Chan ES, Gomez PF, Abramson SB. Cyclooxygenase-2-derived E prostaglandins down-regulate matrix metalloproteinase-1 expression in fibroblast-like synoviocytes via inhibition of extracellular signal-regulated kinase activation. J Immunol. 2003 Dec 01; 171(11):6080-9.