Mary Klotman, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine, and Michael Kastan, MD, PhD, executive director of the Duke Cancer Institute, have announced the creation of a new Division of Hematological Malignancies and Cellular Therapy within the Department of Medicine under the leadership of Nelson Chao, MD.
This new division comes from the merger of the faculty and staff currently in the DCI's Hematologic Malignancies Program and the Division of Cellular Therapy in the Department of Medicine.
Faculty and staff in the current Hematological Malignancies Program treat hundreds of patients annually with various types of leukemias, lymphomas, myelomas, myeloproliferative disorders, myelodysplastic disorders, aplastic anemia, and other less common malignancies of the blood system. For patients who have treatment-resistant or recurrent cancers, this reorganization will support a seamless transition to blood and marrow transplant and other cellular therapy options for care. Notably, it will also increase clinical research opportunities as the faculty members across subgroups align to create robust areas of inquiry.The new division is expected to allow faculty, staff and patients to experience the results of a more convenient and enriched partnership between these two complementary and critically important groups.