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Nationwide Children’s Hospital names director of cellular therapy, cancer immunotherapy
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Dean Lee, MD, PhD, has been appointed director of the cellular therapy and cancer immunotherapy program for Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s division of hematology/oncology/bone marrow transplantation and its Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases.
Lee will serve as attending physician on the blood and marrow transplantation service at Nationwide Children’s. His research and trial work will focus on the ability to manipulate cells to prevent or reduce graft-versus-host disease, infection and disease relapse.
Dean Lee
Lee also will serve as director of cellular therapy at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Advanced cellular therapy — which combines knowledge of the immune system with the benefits of stem cell transplantation — offers the potential to enhance the body’s immune system to eradicate cancer while minimizing adverse effects of toxic therapies.
“This joint partnership [between these two institutions] has incredible potential to lead the field of immuno-oncology,” Lee said in a press release. “The patient resources, intellectual assets and advanced facilities all support the potential for rapid advancements in the field. The future is very bright for cellular therapy, and I am proud to lead a team that will leverage the potential of these institutions to advance these new therapies for patients everywhere.”
In his director role with Ohio State, Lee will work with the clinical team at The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute to expand translational research approaches to treat adults with cancer.
“Dean is a game changer. He will be a driving force in innovative cellular therapy research that will ultimately impact cancer patient care here and around the world,” Michael Caligiuri, MD, director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, as well as CEO of The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, said in a press release.
Lee previously served as section chief of pediatric cellular therapy and associate professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is co-chair of the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium’s stem cell sources/cell therapy strategy group.