Mohamed Abou-el-Enein, MD, PhD, MSPH, has joined the Keck School of Medicine of USC as the inaugural Executive Director of the Joint USC/CHLA Cell Therapy Program. He began his post Jan. 4.

Abou-el-Enein will also serve as Medical Director of the new cGMP facility for cell and gene therapy that is under construction in the Norris Research Tower on the Health Sciences Campus, scheduled for completion in 2022.

In these roles, Abou-el-Enein will work closely with institutional leadership to provide vision and to oversee the development of a “one-stop-shop” translational platform that aims to assist investigators in bringing their basic work in cell and gene therapies into clinical testing.

Abou El-Enein has a primary faculty appointment as associate professor of clinical medicine in the Department of Medicine (oncology), with joint appointments in the Departments of Pediatrics and Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. He is also a member of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The Cell Therapy Program and cGMP facility are part of a joint venture of the Keck School, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and Keck Medicine of USC.

Abou-el-Enein has extensive training and expertise in the area of cell and gene therapy development. He obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBCh) degree from Mansoura University in Egypt in 2005. In 2014, he completed a Masters of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies from the University of Strasburg in France, a Clinical Research Diploma from Harvard Medical School, and a PhD in the Economics of Manufacturing Clinical-Grade Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products from Charité Medical University in Berlin. He obtained an MPH from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Master in Manufacturing of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products from the University of Granada in Spain in 2020.

Abou-el-Enein most recently served as Head of the Clinical Development Platform and Head of Translational Research Unit at the BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies and Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies, respectively, both at the Charité Medical University in Berlin. Abou-el- Enein is one of the inaugural Lawrence Goldstein Policy Fellows of the ISSCR, associate Editor-in- Chief of Molecular Therapy – Methods and Clinical Development, served as regional secretary of the International Society of cell and gene therapy as well as on several other organizations and committees.

He has been recognized with multiple honors and awards, including the Max-Rubner Prize for Innovation and the Global Eisenhower Fellowship. His publications reflect global leadership in translational development of cell and gene therapy products in top-tier journals such as Cell Stem Cell, BMJ, Lancet Oncology, Molecular Therapy, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology.