RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the state’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, in collaboration with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, are marking the 30th anniversary of the Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program, which began in 1995.
The program’s first bone marrow transplant patient, Munson McLeod, was diagnosed in 1994 with relapsed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After undergoing an autologous stem cell transplant, he is alive today.
“The easiest thing in the world would have been to give up,” he recalls. “But I intended to go through the worst to get better. I’m here today because of the expertise and compassion of my doctors and nurses.”
The program offers treatment options for blood cancers, including autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplantation, CAR T-cell therapy and gene therapy for sickle cell anemia and beta-thalassemia. It is located at the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center, the only such center at an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the state, which is accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy and the National Marrow Donor Program.
It is also a certified Gene Therapy Treatment Center for adults and children with sickle cell anemia and beta-thalassemia. Transplants are done at the center in New Brunswick; however care is coordinated with oncologists across RWJBarnabas Health, the region and beyond.
“Since we treated our first patient 30 years ago, we continue to see advancements in the treatment of hematologic malignancies,” said Dr. Mathew Matasar, chief of blood disorders at Rutgers Cancer Institute and RWJBarnabas Health. “Our optimism is fueled by both science and the strength of our patients. Their courage inspires us daily.”
Rutgers Cancer Institute and The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital also offer stem cell transplantation to children, adolescents and young adults with cancers and blood disorders through the Pediatric Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapies Program.
Present-day photo of Munson McLeod (right) first bone marrow transplant patient at Rutgers Cancer Institute, with his family.,
