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Why Choose Our Program

Children’s National Hospital offers one of the nation’s most established and forward-thinking pediatric blood and marrow transplantation (BMT) fellowship programs. With deep expertise in BMT, gene therapy and CAR-T, and a strong partnership with the NIH, fellows gain unmatched clinical and research experience in the heart of Washington, D.C.

Discover the top eight reasons to apply:

  1. Long-standing pediatric BMT program in nation’s capital: Children’s National has been performing pediatric BMT since 1988. The team members specialize in BMT for various types of cancer and blood disorders ranging from high-risk leukemia, lymphoma, solid tumors, hemoglobinopathies, bone marrow failure syndromes and inborn errors of immunity and metabolism. Our BMT program performs about 50 allogeneic and 20-30 autologous BMTs each year. We also offer cutting edge cellular and gene therapies for cancers and hemoglobinopathies.
  2. Robust sickle cell disease BMT program: With over two decades of BMT experience, Children’s National is one of the largest centers curing sickle cell disease. More than 150 children and adolescents with sickle cell disease have received transplants at our center. The program continues to grow, and we are currently performing more than 30 allogeneic BMTs per year for sickle cell disease. We have participated in several clinical trials offering matched sibling donor and haploidentical BMT for sickle cell disease (eg. SUN, SUN-RAY and BMT CTN 1507).
  3. Outstanding gene therapy program for hemoglobinopathies: Children’s National is one of the few pediatric hospitals in the country that offers all three FDA-approved gene therapies for hemoglobinopathies (sickle cell disease and thalassemia): CASGEVY™ (exagamglogene autotemcel), LYFGENIA™ (lovotibeglogene autotemcel) and Zynteglo™ (betibeglogene autotemcel). Children’s National was the first hospital in the world to collect stem cells for the LYFGENIA™ treatment. Additional cutting-edge experimental gene therapies (ex vivo base editing and in vivo gene therapies) are expected in the near future.
  4. Broad range of cellular therapies for cancer and viral infections: Chimeric Antigen Receptor -T (CAR-T) cell therapy for pediatric leukemia: Children’s National is a qualified treatment center for administration of Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel). We have been providing CAR-T therapy since 2019, with an average of five to 10 CAR-T infusions per year. We have also participated in various experimental CAR-T therapies for pediatric and young adolescent leukemia and lymphoma (eg. bispecific and humanized CAR-T therapy). We also offer experimental CAR-T  therapies for pediatric brain tumors. Plans are underway to bring experimental CAR-T therapies for pediatric autoimmune diseases.
  5. Integrated BMT-Hemoglobinopathy, BMT-Allergy/Immunology (AI) and BMT-Hematology Bone Marrow Failure (BMF) program: These integrated programs provides BMT for over 40 patients each year.
  6. Cutting-edge T-cell depleted (TCD) haploidentical BMT methodologies: Children’s National has a thriving Cell Therapy Lab equipped with ClinicMACS Plus and Prodigy machines with capability to perform TCR alpha beta TCD haploidentical transplants. We perform 15 to 20 TCR alpha beta TCD haploidentical BMTs each year for both malignant and non-malignant blood diseases.
  7. Global pediatric BMT program: Our program has a long history of treating international pediatric patients in urgent need of BMT. These patients come from Middle Eastern (UAE, Kuwait and Qatar) and South American countries.
  8. Training at a top ranked pediatric research hospital for inborn errors of immunity (IEI), gene therapy and CAR-T therapy: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the nation's premier medical research agency performing ground-breaking research. The combined NIH/Children's National BMT Fellowship program provides a plethora of opportunities for fellows to do research under world-renowned experts in the field of pediatric BMT, gene and cellular therapy for inborn errors of immunity and pediatric cancers. Fellows will get ample exposure to experimental protocols and take care of patients on clinical trials.