Hematology and Sickle Cell Experts Take Top Children’s National Hospital Posts

The Children’s National Health System hospital in Washington has recruited two of the country’s leading hematology and sickle cell disease experts to lead its cutting-edge blood disorders program.

Dr Suvankar Majumdar will head the hospital’s Division of Hematology, one of the country’s largest and most comprehensive blood disorders programs. It is treating more than 1,400 children and young adults with sickle cell diseases.

Dr. Andrew Campbell will direct the hospital’s Comprehensive Sickle Cell Disease Program.

Together, the two are expected to strengthen the hospital’s already highly regarded leadership in hematology and sickle cell research and care.

Before accepting the Children’s National position, Majumdar directed the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Comprehensive Pediatric Sickle Cell Program and the Mississippi Hemophilia Treatment Center.

In addition to his management experience, Majumdar brings to National Children’s a wealth of treatment and research experience. His research work includes being principal investigator of National Institutes of Health-funded clinical trials.

Campbell, who is also a nationally known sickle cell disease expert, was director of the University of Michigan’s Pediatric Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center for a decade.

One area of his sickle cell research is silent infarcts — or tissue death stemming from obstructed blood supply — and neurocognitive functioning. Another is the use of the sickle disease treatment hydroxyurea. A third is acute chest syndrome and pain management.

Others include switching of the blood component hemoglobin to treat mice with sickle cell disease, sickle cell-associated kidney complications, and phenotype and genotype relationships — or how genetic patterns relate to a disease’s characteristics.

“We are thrilled that Drs. Majumdar and Campbell have joined our distinguished team of pediatric blood disorder experts,” Dr. Jeffrey Dome, vice president of Children’s National’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, said in a press release. “From bench to bedside, Children’s National is proud to offer the most comprehensive sickle cell and blood disorders care in the Washington, D.C., area and beyond. With the expertise and leadership of Dr. Majumdar and Dr. Campbell, we are excited to take pediatric hematology to the next level.”