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Stem cell transplantation specialist joins Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
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Professor Geoffrey Hill has been appointed director of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
His appointment will take effect July 1.
Hill leads the bone marrow transplantation and cancer programs at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, Australia. He also treats stem cell and bone marrow transplant recipients at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Australia.
When he joins Fred Hutch, Hill will be a member of the clinical research division. He will hold the José Carreras/E. Donnall Thomas endowed chair for cancer research, and provide care to transplant recipients at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Fred Hutch’s clinical care partner. He also will serve as professor in the division of medical oncology at University of Washington.
“Fred Hutch has been the leader in bone marrow transplantation for decades, and Geoff’s expertise as a researcher and clinician will enable the Hutch to stay at the cutting edge of the field,” Nancy E. Davidson, MD, senior vice president of the clinical research division at Fred Hutch and president and executive director of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, said in a press release. “We’re thrilled about the vision Geoff will bring to our efforts to advance stem cell transplantation.”
Hill — recognized for his expertise related to graft-versus-host disease — will work closely with immunotherapy experts at Fred Hutch and the Bezos Family Immunotherapy Clinic at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance to identify ways to combine transplantation with other immunotherapies that involve engineering T cells to target and kill cancer cells.
“As a transplant physician, there is a great attraction to move to the Hutch, both because of its historical significance in pioneering bone marrow transplantation and its continuing innovation in this therapy,” Hill said in the release. “What drives my work as a clinician and a researcher is seeing patients with poor outcomes after transplant and trying to address those through clinical research. We’ve found a number of new immune pathways involved in initiating and maintaining GVHD, which give us good therapeutic targets.”