Dr. Patrick Stiff Named Chair of SWOG Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation Committee

Newswise MAYWOOD, Il. - Dr. Patrick Stiff of Loyola University Medical Center has been named chair of a nationwide committee of cancer researchers who design and conduct clinical trials involving bone marrow and stem cell transplants.

Such transplants treat blood and lymph cancers, including leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma.

The SWOG Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation Committee includes 86 investigators from many of the nations top cancer centers.

SWOG, formerly known as the Southwest Oncology Group, is a network of more than 4,000 cancer researchers and at more than 500 institutions across the country and internationally. Primarily supported by the Nation Cancer Institute, SWOG designs and conducts multidisciplinary clinical trials to improve the practice of medicine in preventing, detecting and treating cancer, and to enhance the quality of life for cancer survivors.

Stiff has served as vice chair of the Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation Committee since 2000. He is eminently qualified to now become its overall leader, said Dr. Charles D. Blanke, SWOG chair. He is also SWOG principal investigator for Loyola University, and hence knows our group well.

Stiff is division director of Hematology/Oncology and medical director of Loyolas Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center. He is a professor in the departments of Hematology/Oncology and Pathology of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

Loyola has treated more blood cancer patients with stem cell transplants than any other center in Illinois, and has one of the largest unrelated donor transplant programs in the world. Loyola physicians have performed more than 2,700 stem cell transplants, including about 150 cord blood transplants. Loyola has a particular expertise in treating patients who cannot find matching donors from either their families or the National Marrow Donor Program. Loyola receives referrals from throughout the Midwest, including other academic medical centers in Chicago. Loyola is among the first centers to use umbilical cord donations for the treatment of certain adult cancers.

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Dr. Patrick Stiff Named Chair of SWOG Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation Committee