City of Hope Sets Institute to Fight Blood Diseases

October 29, 2014  by in Community / Charitable Support, Industry   

Duarte, Calif.-based City of Hope is creating an institute focused on treating people with lymphoma, leukemia and myeloma, as well as other serious blood and bone marrow diseases.

Through the Hematologic Malignancies and Stem Cell Transplantation Institution, City of Hope medical and laboratory teams will expand their work and develop new treatments and possible cures for cancers.

The new institute is built on the foundation created by Dr. Stephen Forman, City of Hope's chair in hematology and hematopoietic cell transplantation, and Dr. Steven Rosen, provost and chief scientific officer at City of Hope.

Both physicians are known worldwide for their vision, discipline and compassion used in tackling complex diseases impacting people.

“Over the years we have seen the development of therapies that, had we known then what we know now, could have saved more lives. The institute will create a collaborative culture of research and individualized care that will accelerate our research breakthroughs for the patients and families who come to us for help,” Forman said.

The institute will feature six centers. Three will be committed to conducting research that lead to improved treatments for lymphoma, myeloma and leukemia. A fourth will focus on T cell immunotherapy, with its potential to harness the power of the immune system to treat cancer. A fifth will be on stem cell transplantation, and the sixth will be dedicated to gene therapy.

Two of the centers have already been named: The Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center, named by Emmet and Toni Stephenson and their daughter, Tessa Stephenson Brand, and the Gehr Family Center for Leukemia Research, named by the Gehr Family Foundation, including Norbert Gehr and his children, Crystal Gehr, Robert Gehr, Max Gehr and Andrew Gehr.

“City of Hope has already developed a number of new treatment approaches that are now followed by cancer specialists worldwide,” Rosen said. “We are known for being the only center to achieve superior survival outcomes for our transplant patients for nine consecutive years. With the institute, we will be able to do even more for those patients.”