Dr. Berko aims to advance personalized care of children with solid tumors by harnessing molecular signatures for diagnostics and precision targeted therapy development.

During her fellowship in pediatric hematology and oncology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr. Berko joined the laboratory of internationally recognized researcher Yael P. Mossé, MD, studying genomic evolution in neuroblastoma. Dr. Berko applies her expertise in molecular and computational genomics to develop novel translational sequencing assays and apply these to patient cohorts to identify molecular biomarkers of disease response and resistance.

Dr. Berko currently leads large cohort studies aimed at understanding how mutations present at diagnosis and acquired during treatment affect patient outcomes and cancer resistance. Dr. Berko's commitment to advancing care is demonstrated by contributions to trial and translational groups on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, where she participates on committees in both the Children's Oncology Group (COG) in the United States and the SIOPEN Neuroblastoma Research Network in Europe to advance liquid biopsy diagnostics for children with cancer.

Among the highlights of Dr. Berko's research:

• Developed a novel neuroblastoma-specific deep sequencing assay which has now been incorporated into clinical tissue/liquid biopsy diagnostics for new COG patients, and has been validated as a clinically approved assay which will be made available to patients internationally.
• Led the correlative biology study of serial circulating tumor DNA(ctDNA) samples on the NANT 1502 Phase I/IIb study of Lorlatinib (published in Nature Medicine in 2023), identifying novel genetic mechanisms of resistance to Lorlatinib through ctDNA (published in Nature Communications in 2023)
• Led sequencing studies of major COG neuroblastoma patient cohorts, identifying the frequency of clonal and subclonal mutations at diagnosis and their prognostic importance.

MD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY (Medicine)

PhD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY (Genetics)

Residency, New York Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, Columbia University Medical Center, New York (Pediatrics)

Fellowship, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (Pediatric Hematology and Oncology)

Scientist

Evan Lindberg Neuroblastoma Research Scholar, The EVAN Foundation, 2021-

Junior Investigator, American Cancer Society/St. Baldrick’s Foundation, 2021-

Women Who Conquer Cancer Pediatric Young Investigator Award, ASCO, 2021

Doris Duke Physician Scientist Fellowship, 2019-2022

Resident Research Award, Columbia University Medical Center, New York Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, Columbia University Medical Center, 2017