Skip to main content
Catherine Callaghan Coombs

Catherine Callaghan Coombs

HS Associate Clinical Professor, Step 2, University of California Irvine

Biography

Catherine Callaghan Coombs, M.D., M.S., is HS Associate Clinical Professor, Step 2, at the University of California, Irvine. She received a Master of Science in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Coombs completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Duke University Medical Center and her Hematology and Oncology Fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She previously served on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine with Tenure in 2022.

Coombs' research focuses on clonal hematopoiesis and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Her work has examined the prevalence and clinical implications of clonal hematopoiesis in patients with solid tumors and prostate cancer, demonstrating associations with adverse clinical outcomes and cardiovascular complications. She has served as principal investigator on multiple clinical trials evaluating novel therapies for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, including studies of BTK inhibitors and venetoclax-based regimens. Her research has been supported by the American Society of Clinical Oncology Young Investigator Award, the Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award, and an NCI K12 award.

Coombs has authored over 75 peer-reviewed publications in journals including Cell Stem Cell, Nature Genetics, Blood, and the New England Journal of Medicine. She serves as an ad hoc reviewer for multiple journals including Blood, Lancet Oncology, and the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Coombs is a member of the Expert Medical Council for the CLL Society and serves on advisory boards for multiple pharmaceutical companies developing therapies for hematologic malignancies. She is board certified in Internal Medicine, Oncology, and Hematology.

Return to top

Education

  • BA in Chemistry, Saint Louis University, 2004
  • MS in Analytical Chemistry, University of Cincinnati, 2006
  • MD, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 2010
Return to top

Distinctions

  • Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society, 2010
  • American Society of Clinical Oncology Young Investigator Award, 2016
  • Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award, 2019
  • Carolina Care Excellence Award, UNC Hospitals and UNC Faculty Physicians, 2020, 2022
Return to top

Areas of Expertise

  • Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Therapy
  • BTK Inhibitor Development
  • Venetoclax Combination Regimens
  • Clonal Hematopoiesis Implications
  • Richter’s Transformation
  • Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma
  • Clonal Cytopenias of Undetermined Significance

Recent Publications

  • Coombs C.C., Woyach J.A., Brown J.R., Ghia P., Roeker L.E., Patel K., Eyre T.A., Tam C.S., Seymour J.F., Shah N.N., Flinn I., Cheah C.Y., Ma S., Rhodes J.M., Izutsu K., Jurczak W., Wierda W.G., Hess L.M., Bhandari N.R., Loubert A., et al., “Patient-reported outcomes among patients with mantle cell lymphoma or chronic lymphocytic leukemia receiving pirtobrutinib in the BRUIN phase 1/2 study: final analysis” (opens in new tab), Current Medical Research and Opinion, 2026.
  • Coombs CC, “Frontline Therapy of CLL—Changing Treatment Paradigms” (opens in new tab), Current Hematologic Malignancy Reports, vol. 19, pp. 65-74, 2024.
  • Pham N, Coombs CC, O'Brien S, “Are we closer to a standard of care for Richter's syndrome? Novel treatments on the horizon” (opens in new tab), Expert Review of Hematology, vol. 17, no. 4-5, pp. 117-126, 2024.
  • Roeker LE, Coombs CC, Shah NN, Jurczak W, Woyach JA, Cheah CY, Patel K, Maddocks K, Wang Y, Zinzani PL, Munir T, Koh Y, Thompson MC, Muehlenbein CE, Wang C, Sizelove R, Abhyankar S, Hasanabba S, Tsai DE, Eyre TA, et al., “Safety of extended pirtobrutinib exposure in relapsed and/or refractory B-cell malignancies” (opens in new tab), Acta Haematologica, vol. 148, pp. 180-197, 2024.
  • Jensen JL, Bobek O, Chan ICC, Miller BC, Hillman DW, Heller G, Druley T, Armstrong AJ, Morris MJ, Milowsky MI, Beltran H, Bolton KL, Coombs CC, “Clonal Hematopoiesis and Clinical Outcomes in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Patients Given Androgen Receptor Pathway Inhibitors (Alliance A031201)” (opens in new tab), Clinical Cancer Research, vol. 30, pp. OF1-OF10, 2024.
  • Jain N, Coombs CC, D'Olimpio J, Shah NN, Barrientos J, “Preliminary Safety and Efficacy Results from a Phase 1b Study of Oral Non-Covalent BTK Inhibitor AS-1763 in Patients with Previously Treated B-Cell Malignancies”, 2024. Presented at European Hematology Association meeting, Madrid, Spain, 2024.
  • Coombs CC, Roeker L, Rhodes J, Ghosh N, Manzoor BS, “Real-World Treatment Effectiveness in High-Risk Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Receiving Venetoclax-Based Therapy: An International Study”, 2024. Presented at European Hematology Association meeting, Madrid, Spain, 2024.
  • Lamanna L, Brown JR, Ujjani CS, Eyre T, Manzoor B, Ghosh N, Roeker L, Davids MS, Coombs CC, “Treatment Outcomes of Patients Treated with Venetoclax-Obinutuzumab Therapy Vs Btki Therapies in 1L CLL: An International Real-World Study”, 2024. Presented at American Society of Hematology meeting, San Diego, CA, 2024.
  • Jain N, Coombs CC, D'Olimpio J, Shah NN, Barrientos JC, Lee ST, Gillis-Smith A, Ma S, Kirita S, Sawa M, Miyamoto K, Arimura A, Wierda WG, Gandhi V, Pinilla-Ibarz J, “Preliminary Results from a Phase 1b Study of Non-Covalent Pan-Mutant BTK Inhibitor Docirbrutinib (AS-1763) in Patients with Previously Treated B-Cell Malignancies”, 2024. Presented at American Society of Hematology meeting, San Diego, CA, 2024.
  • Thompson MC, Bhat SA, Jurczak W, Patel K, Shah NN, Woyach JA, Coombs CC, “Outcomes of Therapies Following Discontinuation of Non-Covalent Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors for Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Richter Transformation”, 2024. Presented at American Society of Hematology meeting, San Diego, CA, 2024.
  • Sharman JP, Munir T, Grosicki S, Roeker L, Burke JM, Chen CI, Grzasko N, Follows G, Mátrai Z, Sanna A, Yi S, Feng R, Hua VM, Holodja J, Jurczak W, Ritgen M, Qiu L, Bosch F, Coombs CC, “BRUIN CLL-321: Randomized Phase III Trial of Pirtobrutinib Versus Idelalisib Plus Rituximab (IdelaR) or Bendamustine Plus Rituximab (BR) in BTK Inhibitor Pretreated Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia”, 2024. Presented at American Society of Hematology meeting, San Diego, CA, 2024.
  • Coombs CC, “Noncovalent BTK inhibitors in B-cell lymphoma”, Clinical Advances in Hematology and Oncology, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 100-103, 2023.
  • Jensen JL, Easaw S, Anderson T, Varma Y, Zhang J, Jensen BC, Coombs CC, “Clonal Hematopoiesis and the Heart: a Toxic Relationship” (opens in new tab), Current Oncology Reports, vol. 25, pp. 455-463, 2023.
  • Coombs CC, Easaw S, Grover NS, O'Brien SM, “Cellular Therapies in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Richter's Transformation: Recent Developments in Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cells, Natural Killer Cells, and Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant” (opens in new tab), Cancers (Basel), vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 1838, 2023.
  • Easaw S, Ezzati S, Coombs CC, “SOHO State of the Art Updates and Next Questions: Updates on BTK Inhibitors for the Treatment of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia” (opens in new tab), Clinical Lymphoma Myeloma and Leukemia, vol. 23, pp. 697-704, 2023.
  • Jensen JL, Bobek O, Chan IC, Hillman DW, Heller G, Druley TE, Morris MJ, Milowsky MI, Beltran H, Bolton KL, Coombs CC, “Clonal hematopoiesis in the phase 3 Alliance A031201 trial of metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) treated with androgen receptor (AR)-targeted therapies”, 2023. Presented at American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
  • Coombs CC, Shah NN, Jurczak W, Woyach JA, Cheah C, Patel K, Maddocks KJ, Wang Y, Muehlenbein CE, Wang C, Abhyankar S, Tsai DE, Eyre TA, “Long-term safety with ≥12 months of pirtobrutinib in relapsed/refractory (R/R) B-cell malignancies”, 2023. Presented at American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
  • Woyach JA, Coombs CC, Lewis KL, Escalon MP, Ceccarelli M, Bian YF, Wierda WG, “BRUIN CLL-314: A phase 3, open-label, randomized study of pirtobrutinib versus ibrutinib in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma”, 2023. Presented at American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
  • Rhodes JM, Shadman M, Lamanna N, Manzoor BS, Coombs CC, “Racial Disparities in Real-World Treatment Patterns and Outcomes Among Patients With CLL”, 2023. Presented at European Hematology Association meeting, Frankfurt, Germany.
  • Lansigan F, Eyre TA, Ghosh N, Manzoor BS, Coombs CC, “Real-World Treatment and Outcomes of Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Receiving First-Line (1L) Therapy in the Novel Agent Era: An International Study”, 2023. Presented at European Hematology Association meeting, Frankfurt, Germany.
Return to top

Most Cited Publications

Return to top

Contact Information

Email: coombsc@uci.edu

Phone: 714-456-8100

Return to top

This profile was created with the help of AI.

Last updated on 10/2/2026.