Mitchell Cairo, MD

Dr. Cairo received his M.D. degree from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), trained in pediatrics at UCLA/Harbor General Hospital, was chief resident in pediatrics at UCSF, and completed a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at Indiana University. He joined the hematology/oncology faculty of Children’s Hospital of Orange County in 1982 and in 1985 established the Blood and Marrow/Stem Cell Transplant Program. From December 1997 to February 2000 at Georgetown University, he was a professor of pediatrics, medicine, and pathology; chief of the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Cellular and Gene Therapy; director of Adult and Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation at the Lombardi Cancer Center; and medical director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Cord Blood Collection Center at Georgetown University Medical Center. He relocated to Columbia University in March 2000, where he was the chief of the Division of Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation; professor of pediatrics, medicine and pathology; and director of the Phase I Pediatric Cancer Therapeutics Program and Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Training Programs. In February 2011, Dr. Cairo relocated to the New York Medical College where he is the chief of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation; director of the Childhood and Adolescent Cancer and Blood Disease Center; medical and scientific director of the Cellular and Tissue Engineering Laboratory; and professor of pediatrics, medicine, pathology, microbiology and immunology; and cell biology and anatomy. Dr. Cairo has over 300 peer-reviewed publications and over 850 national and international presentations. He is an international leader in childhood lymphomas and leukemias, stem cell transplantation, developmental therapeutics, experimental hematopoiesis and immunology, and stem cell biology and regenerative therapy. He is a pioneer in the use of cord blood stem cells for treating pediatric malignant and non-malignant diseases and the use of cord blood stem cells for potential regenerative therapy.