Jolanta Grembecka received her PhD in chemistry at Wroclaw University of Technology (Poland) and then completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Virginia. She joined the University of Michigan as an Assistant Professor in 2009, progressed through the academic ranks to Professor with tenure in 2022, and was named the Richard and Susan Rogel Professor in Cancer Therapeutics. Her research focuses on the development of novel small-molecule based therapies for cancer, with an emphasis on acute leukemia. Her laboratory pioneered the development of small molecule inhibitors targeting the menin-MLL1 interaction as a novel treatment for leukemia. These efforts led to the development of Ziftomenib (codeveloped with Kura Oncology), which received FDA approval for acute myeloid leukemia in 2025. Her laboratory applies interdisciplinary approaches, including medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, structural biology and biological studies, to develop and evaluate new experimental therapeutics targeting epigenetic proteins (e.g. histone methyltransferases: ASH1L1, NSD1/3) and protein-protein interactions with the overarching goal of discovering new treatments for leukemias with unmet medical need.