Director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy Dr. Helen Heslop was recently recognized with the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation Lifetime Achievement Award at the Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Meetings of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT) and the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research.
The ASBMT Lifetime Achievement Award is presented annually and recognizes an individual who has made continuing contributions to the field of blood and marrow transplantation.
Heslop is Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine and Director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital and Texas Children’s Hospital. In addition, she is the Dan L. Duncan Chair and the Associate Director for Clinical Research at the Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Heslop is a key player in translational research focusing on adoptive T-cell immunotherapy to improve hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and cancer therapy. She was a Doris Duke distinguished clinical research scientist and is an elected member of the American Association of Physicians. She serves as Principal Investigator on several peer-reviewed research programs, including an NCI-funded program project grant (Enhancing T-Cell Therapy of Cancer) a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) award (Immunotherapy of Lymphoma) and a SPORE in lymphoma from the NCI. She is a past President of the Foundation for Accreditation of Cell Therapy, American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy and the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation.
Heslop’s research interests focus on adoptive immunotherapy for malignancy and viral infections. She has extensive experience in mentoring both clinical and laboratory trainees and is the principal investigator on an NHLBI-funded training grant in Cell and Gene Therapy.
Heslop’s clinical interests include immunotherapy of malignancies with antigen specific T-cells and immunotherapy with antigen specific T-cells to prevent and treat viral infections post transplant. She therefore has extensive experience in developing and conducting transplant studies and cell and gene therapy studies and currently, along with Malcolm Brenner and Bambi Grilley, holds over 20 Investigational New Drug Applications (INDs).