Dr. Stephen Grupp, MD, PhD, is a pediatric oncologist and is currently the Chief of the Cellular Therapy and Transplant Section, Director of the Susan and Steven Kelly Center for Cancer Immunotherapy, and Medical Director of the Cell and Gene Therapy Lab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

Dr. Grupp is a recognized world leader in the development and clinical application of cellular therapies. In 2012, he performed the first pediatric chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) trial for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and delivered CAR T-cell therapy to the first pediatric patient in the world. This novel treatment harnesses the patients’ own immune system cells (T cells) to fight cancer by programming them in the lab so they can find and destroy cancer cells. His work has been foundational to the development of a number of cellular therapies in both children and adults.

In this week's core session of Grand Rounds, Dr. Grupp journeys through his 20-year research of the use of CAR T and other engineered cell therapies in pediatric cancers and other life-threatening disorders such as sickle cell disease.