The new head of the Bone Marrow Transplant section of Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is Michael Allen Pulsipher, MD. Like most CHLA physicians, he also joins the Keck School of Medicine of USC as a professor of pediatric medicine and a member of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The pediatric BMT Program at CHLA is one of the largest in the world, having performed more than 1,300 transplants since 1983 for a wide variety of pediatric disorders. In directing the pediatric BMT program’s clinical care and clinical research activities, Pulsipher will closely collaborate in the further development of a leading research program that integrates laboratory and clinical science toward the delivery of innovative cell-based therapies.

Pulsipher’s appointment in the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Blood and Marrow Transplantation as head of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BMT) took effect July 1.

Pulsipher most recently served at Primary Children’s Hospital and the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City. He earned his medical degree at Stanford, followed by residency training in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and pediatric hematology-oncology fellowship training at Boston Children’s Hospital/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Among his many leadership roles, Pulsipher is group chair of the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium — an 80-member international clinical trials group recognized as a leading influence in the field of pediatric BMT.

Pulsipher is a highly accomplished NIH-funded investigator whose research focus includes innovative approaches for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and bone marrow failure conditions, reduced toxicity regimens and donor safety. He is currently principal or co-principal investigator on six national, multi-center studies and a co-investigator on multiple additional clinical trials.

— Debra Kain