2025 PTCTC/Jeff Gordon Children's Foundation Young Investigator Award Winner

The 2025 PTCTC/JGCF Young Investigator Award is presented to Matthew Kudek, MD.

Dr. Matt Kudek, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI.

IL-34 functions as a cytokine rheostat skweing macrophage polarization towards an anti-inflammatory phenotype and thereby prevents pathological damage to the GI tract during GVHD.

Matthew is a physician-scientist and an attending physician impassioned to improve the lives of pediatric patients suffering from cancer. At the Medical College of Wisconsin and Children’s Wisconsin Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Matthew holds faculty appointments in the Departments of Pediatrics and Microbiology & Immunology. His research interests are centered on the detrimental allogeneic immune responses that occur in graft versus host disease (GVHD) as a consequence of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Specifically, under the mentorship of Dr. William Drobyski, Matthew is studying novel immunomodulatory signaling axes that result from changes in cytokine production by intestinal epithelial cells in GVHD. His current research examines the mechanisms by which an epithelial-produced cytokine, IL-34, modifies pathologic immune responses through direct and indirect influence of macrophage and T cell polarization, respectively, in GVHD. Successful completion of this work will enable opportunities for translation of his research into the clinical care of patients suffering from GVHD, with the potential to improve patient survival and enhance quality of life following stem cell transplantation procedures. 

Watch Jeff Gordon present this award in the video below!