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Alice Bertaina MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Stanford University
USA
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Dr. Bertaina is a renowned expert in allogeneic hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell transplant (HSCT) for the treatment of pediatric patients affected by hematological malignancies or non-malignant disorders. Prior to coming Stanford School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH), Dr. Bertaina was the Head of the Stem Cell Transplant Unit of the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Italy; the Center that performs HSC transplants on the largest number of children in Europe (around 150-170 patients/year). Currently, Dr. Bertaina is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, and serves as Inpatient Medical Director, Chief of the Pediatric Stem Cell Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine Section, and Co-Director of the Bass Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disease. At Stanford and LPCH, Dr. Bertaina is applying her innovative approach of graft manipulation based on the physical elimination of T cells and CD19+ B cells to treat pediatric patients with malignant and non-malignant blood disorders in several ongoing clinical trials. In addition, she is developing this strategy as a means of inducing functional immune tolerance for solid organ transplantation. In her research lab she is focused on understanding the complex relationship between the graft and patient, with the goal of teasing out the key cellular and molecular features that can lead to a successful long-term outcome.