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MUSC Medical Links Charleston Links Archives Catalyst Advertisers Seminars and Events Research Studies Public Relations Research Grants MUSC home page Community Happenings Campus News Applause

 


Pediatric BMT ‘make it happen’


by Dawn Brazell
Public Relations
Michelle Hudspeth, M.D., figures her pediatric blood and marrow transplant division is doing something right.
 
Since 2007, it has more than tripled the number of pediatric transplants, with four pediatric transplants being done in 2006 as compared to 23 in 2007. The program is within the top third of programs within the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium in terms of volume, and the search time for unrelated donors through the National Marrow Donor Program is well below the national average.
 
Hudspeth said her goal when she came to MUSC in 2007 was to build the program and offer the best care for children in the state and the Southeast.
 
“This has been possible because the program motto has become ‘make it happen.’ Every single patient is a top priority, and we work hand-in-hand with the families and referring physicians.  Referring physicians have my cell phone for easy access and receive weekly e-mails with patient updates.”
 
Hudspeth, who is division director of pediatric hematology/oncology, said that she chose her specialty because she loves working with children.
 
“I always knew I wanted to do pediatric oncology, but early on in residency I fell in love with the immunology, the complexity, and the challenge of blood and marrow transplantation.  Blood and marrow transplantation is about making the impossible possible.”
 
She sees the field continuing to expand with the increased use of unrelated donor transplantation to cure sickle cell disease; the increased use of cellular therapies after transplant for residual disease; and the combination of haploidentical bone marrow transplant with solid organ transplant to eliminate the need for life-long immunosuppressive medications.
 
Beyond the research and medical advances that help drive the success of the program, the other important piece of why MUSC’s program is doing so well is the bone marrow transplant coordinators and data managers, who are the best in the country and are the heart and soul of the program, she said.
 
“If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes several villages to get a child to transplant.  We have a tremendous commitment from across the institution—radiation oncology, hematopathology, blood bank and cryopreservation, HLA lab, PICU just to name a few—who make sure the focus is always where it should be, on the patient.”





Friday, June 11, 2010



The Catalyst Online is published weekly by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. The Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to The Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.