Laboratory neighbors Rosalind Segal, MD, PhD, and David E. Fisher, MD, PhD, benefit from collaboration, using similar approaches to study different systems.
Leader in research
The Perini Clinic also conducts research to support current and future cancer patients, including studies on the benefits of genetic counseling and the prevention of late complications for Hodgkin's lymphoma survivors. Its work represents some of the many studies under way in the Pediatric Oncology Department that are funded by federal grants, gifts to the Institute, and other sources.
Among the advances making recent headlines is the translational research of Scott Armstrong, MD, PhD, and his colleagues, who announced in December they had used gene profiling to identify a unique type of leukemia that strikes infants (see article, page 20). They hope the finding will lead to treatments targeting the deadly disease.
Another example of such translational research — which applies discoveries from the laboratory and clinic to one another — is the work of pediatric oncologist Eva Guinan, MD, director of DFCI's Stem Cell Transplant Program, whose team found a way to reduce the chance of graft-versus-host disease in some bone marrow transplants.
The department is also at the forefront of clinical research, which tests new therapies in patients through trials, and of basic research that expands knowledge about nature. To remain current, many of the physician-scientists collaborate with colleagues in their department, around the Institute, and at other Harvard-affiliated institutions.
One of the multiple hats donned by the MDs and PhDs in Pediatric Oncology is that of teacher, and the department's fellowship program, run jointly with Children's Hospital Boston, is considered one of the most sought-after in the country.
Volunteer Murray Backer is one of many who help enhance care for young patients like Andrew Beals.
"We have trained leaders in the field for the last 30 years," states Chief of Staff Stephen E. Sallan, MD, a graduate of the program that boasts alumni heading pediatric oncology departments at Stanford University, Johns Hopkins, the University of Chicago, and other prestigious institutions.
Contributing to the program's strength is that graduate fellows hone their clinical and interpersonal skills by caring for patients throughout their three years of training. Each fellow also has a clinical mentor and a panel to help review his or her laboratory progress, and is encouraged to seek further training beyond the Institute's walls.
Samuel E. Lux IV, MD, who co-heads the fellowship program, and department Chair Stuart Orkin "know researchers throughout the Boston area and can help our fellows get a breadth of experience in other laboratories," notes Grier. "That's something you can't find in many other places."
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