Filippo Milano receives inaugural Endowed Chair in Cord Blood Research

Dr. Filippo Milano, associate professor (Hematology and Oncology) was just awarded an Endowed Chair in Cord Blood Research by an anonymous donor. This funding will help grow Fred Hutch’s Cord Blood Transplant Program so that every patient has a donor.

Bone or stem cell transplants require a genetically compatible donor, a daunting task for those with mixed ethnic heritage due to a lower number of available matches on national donor registries.

“Cord blood transplants are perfect for patients who don’t have a conventional donor — a matched sibling or a relative,” said Milano, who now serves as the director of the Fred Hutch Cord Blood Transplant Program. “We use stem cells from the umbilical cord, which is considered medical waste once a child is born. These stem cells are naïve — they haven’t yet adapted in response to their environment — so we don’t need to match them as we do with other transplants. Cord blood definitely expands the pool of donors for our patients.”

Now, a donor and devotee of this innovative transplantation method has stepped up to help expand the program even more by establishing an Endowed Chair in Cord Blood Research with Milano as the first recipient.