Cord Blood Transplantations

Dr. Horwitz is Professor of Medicine and director of the Adult Blood and Marrow Transplant Program in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy at Duke University School of Medicine. Dr. Horwitz received his medical degree from Rush University in Chicago, and did his internal medicine training at Northwestern University.  His specialty training in Hematology and Oncology was at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda Maryland.  Dr. Horwitz arrived at Duke University in 2003 where he is a translational clinical investigator with particular research interests that include adult umbilical cord blood transplantation and post transplant immune recovery.  He is the director of clinical research within the Adult Blood and Marrow Transplant Program. He is a member of the steering committee of both the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network and has served in a similar capacity for the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research.Nelson J. Chao, MD, MBA, is the Donald D. and Elizabeth G. Cooke Professor in Cancer Research and Professor of Medicine and Immunology and the Chief of the Division of Hematological Malignancies and the Division of Cellular Therapy/BMT at Duke University. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University, MD from Yale University and his post-graduate training at Stanford University. He was the Associate Director of Stem Cell Transplantation at Stanford University prior to moving to Duke University in 1996 as the Director of the Bone Marrow Transplantation Program. The program was renamed as the Division of Cellular Therapy/BMT. He is also the Co-Director of the Clinical Stem Cell Transplantation Laboratory and continues to direct his own research laboratory focused on understanding and preventing graft-versus-host disease and improving immune reconstitution. He is also the Director of Global Cancer for the Duke Cancer Institute and the Duke Global Health Institute. In 2012, he has also become the Chief of the Division of Hematological Malignancies. He obtained his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in 2000. He is the author of approximately 250 peer-reviewed papers, 25 book chapters and one book. He is also a co-founder of two start-up biotechnology companies in Research Triangle Park, Aldagen and C2 Regenerate. Nationally, he is the co-chair of the Radiation Injury Treatment Network (RITN) and the principal investigator for a Center for Medical Countermeasures against Radiation (CMCR).

• Historical perspective and current trends.- Current cord blood banking concepts and practices.- Strategies for Cord Blood Graft Selection: Single or double cord blood unit for transplant: What have we learned?- Immunogenetics and cell dose considerations in cord blood transplants: What does matters?- Ex-vivo cord blood manipulation: Methods, data and challenges.- Conditioning regimens for cord blood transplants.-  Cord blood transplants for non-neoplastic hematologic diseases: Data, consensus and challenges.- Cord Blood Transplants for Neoplastic Diseases in Children- Data, Consensus & Challenges: Cord blood transplants for myeloid malignancies in children.- Cord blood transplants for lymphoid malignancies in children.- Cord Blood Transplants for Neoplastic Diseases in Adults- Data, Consensus & Challenges: Cord blood transplants for myeloid malignancies in adults.- Cord blood transplants for lymphoid malignancies in adults.- Immune reconstitution after cord blood transplantation.- Cord blood transplants for non-hematopoietic disorders.- Cord blood transplants versus other sources of allografts:  Comparison of data in adult setting.- Unique complications and limitations of cord blood transplants.- Future prospect of cord blood transplants.