Investigator receives award from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

MILWAUKEE (5/11/09) - Mary Eapen, MBBS, MS, has been awarded a Scholar in Clinical Research Award from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Dr. Eapen is a pediatric blood and marrow transplant specialist at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin and an associate professor of Pediatrics at The Medical College of Wisconsin.

The award will help fund several projects Dr. Eapen is working on. Scholars in Clinical Research are highly qualified investigators who conduct original, independent applied research that advances the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of hematologic malignancies.

Through the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research at the Medical College and Children's Research Institute, Dr. Eapen's research aims to identify the optimal unrelated donor and graft for leukemia patients who may benefit from a transplant but lack a suitable matched sibling. Currently, choosing an unrelated donor and graft type are subjective and vary by institution.

"The goal of this research is to create guidelines for unrelated donors that can be used nationally," said Dr. Eapen. "By designing a more evidence-based practice for unrelated marrow donations, we can provide the optimal choice for patients regardless of where they are located."