COMING SEPTEMBER 2026

Ghosts in

the Blood

The Extraordinary History of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

By Jeff Sharman MD

Medical Oncologist • Researcher • Author

Explore the book
CLL Unlocked
“The definitive story of CLL and the remarkable individuals that brought us to the cusp of a cure”
— Brian Koffman, MD
Cofounder, CLL Society

PHYSICIAN. SCIENTIST.
STORYTELLER.

Decades of caring for patients and investigating CLL have shaped a passion for understanding both the science and the human story behind it.

ABOUT JEFF SHARMAN ➔

EXPLORE
THE BOOK

Read the introduction, explore the chapters, and discover the people and discoveries that transformed CLL from a fatal diagnosis into a chronic treatable disease.

CLL UNLOCKED
COMING SOON

Trusted education for patients and caregivers. Clear answers. Expert Insights. Empowering knowledge.

LEARN MORE ➔

MEDIA
& SPEAKING

Information for interviews, speaking requests, and professional inquiries.

AUTHOR MEDIA KIT ➔
BOOK MEDIA KIT ➔

  • We tend to believe that learning history of medical landmarks can be boring, until you read this book! Jeff Sharman is an amazing storyteller. He makes every achievement in the path to treat CLL not only exciting, but also a true page-turner!

    Kanti Rai MD – American Father of CLL, creator of Rai Staging

  • To conjure up the future, we must first appreciate the present by understanding how it arose from the past. Within the pages of this beautifully written, heroic volume, the reader gains an essential appreciation of how we got to what we now take for granted. An important read not only for those interested in the history of CLL, but for those involved in creating a better future for our patients.

    Bruce Cheson MD – Creator of “Cheson Criteria,” the original criteria for clinical trial response assessments and American pioneer of Bendamustine

  • Dr. Sharman gives us a riveting account of the science, perseverance, luck and personal stories behind many of the drug discovery and development efforts that have changed the face of CLL

    Pablo Umaña PhD – Creator of Obinutuzumab (Gazyva™)

  • From the earliest efforts to understand blood and disease to the most recent revolutionary changes in CLL, Dr. Sharman uses compelling patient stories and first-hand experience to describe this drug-discovery journey.

    Saul Rosenberg PhD – Creator of oral BCL-2 inhibitors

  • This is an extremely well-crafted description of the process of medical science, from the patient bedside, to the laboratory bench, and back to patients using chronic lymphocytic leukemia as a model. Non-medical as well as medical readers will enjoy the journey that Dr. Sharman has eloquently laid out.

    Nicholas Chiorazzi MD – Co-Discoverer of IgHV mutation status

  • Jeff Sharman captures, with remarkable precision and empathy, the modern history of CLL - from the era of chemotherapy to the rise of targeted therapy. His book is both a scientific chronicle and a deeply human story, told by someone who helped shape the field itself.

    Mathias Rummel, MD, PhD, – West German “Re-Discoverer” of Bendamustine

  • In tracing the history of CLL, Jeff Sharman illuminates how decades of discovery - from the first chemotherapies to the rise of immunotherapy - have transformed both science and patient care. His writing captures not only the evolution of treatment, but the enduring belief that the immune system’s power to heal was always within us, waiting to be discovered

    Ron Levy MD – Cocreator and clinical pioneer of Rituximab.  Laboratory Mentor

  • Jeff Sharman tells the story every early-phase oncologist knows in their bones. The hard-won progress from the toxic struggles of fludarabine to the astonishing clarity and promise first glimpsed with ibrutinib was a result of decades of perseverance in drug development that finally changed the lives of patients with CLL.

    Dan Von Hoff MD – Legendary Phase I Cancer Drug Developer, Early clinical    pioneer of fludarabine

  • A scientific triumph written by a leading physician investigator in the field, who is able to translate generations of scientific progress into a language that those in the field and non-scientific readers alike will embrace.

    Matthew Davids MD – Associate Professor of Medicine – Dana Farber Cancer Institute

STAY CONNECTED

Be the first to receive updates on Ghosts in the Blood, CLL Unlocked, and future educational content.