Lab Leadership

Catherine Bollard

Catherine Bollard, MD, MBChB
Professor

Dr. Catherine Bollard is a Tenured Professor of Pediatrics & Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine at GW. She is the director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research in the Children’s Research Institute at the Children’s National Health System in Washington D.C. At Children’s, Dr. Bollard is a member of the Division of the Blood and Marrow Transplantation, and the Principal Investigator and Co-Director of the Immunology Initiative of the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation.

Dr. Bollard is the current President of the International Society of Cellular Therapy, with an interest in stem cell and cord blood transplantation, and methods to improve patient outcomes and prevent relapse. Her lab focuses on targeting viral infections in the immune suppressed population with virus-specific T cells, including individuals living with HIV.

Dr. Bollard joined GW and Children’s National from the Baylor College of Medicine where she was a tenured Professor in the Department of Pediatrics. She served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Texas Children’s Hospital and received her medical degree from Otago University Medical School in New Zealand.

Email: cbollard@cnmc.org

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Rohan Fernandes

Rohan Fernandes, PhD
Associate Professor

Dr. Rohan Fernandes is a tenured Associate Professor of Medicine in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and a PI in the Cancer Center at the George Washington University (GW). His research interests involve immunoengineering approaches for cancer and infectious diseases. A key focus area is synthesizing nanoparticles that can be used to elicit robust immune responses against diseases, particularly cancer and HIV. Dr. Fernandes joined the CETI team in 2014 while a PI in the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children's National Hospital. Since 2018, he has led the preclinical and translational research program of the GW CETI Program. 

Email: rfernandes@gwu.edu

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Eric Yvon

Eric Yvon, PhD
Associate Professor

Dr. Eric Yvon is a scientist engaged in Stem Cell Transplantation and translational research for the past 28 years. His original work in cell and gene therapy was in the development of the initial gene transfer studies for patient with X-linked SCID. Currently, Dr. Yvon is Associate professor in the Department of Medicine andDirector of the Stem Cell Transplantation and Cell Therapy Laboratories at The George Washington University in Washington D.C. He leads the Stem Cell transplantation and the CAR gene-modified T-cell and NK-cell programs that are developing innovative strategies to enhance T and NK cells survival, proliferation, and tumor targeting within the immunosuppressive tumor micro-environment. Prior to joining GW in 2017, Dr. Yvon was an Assistant professor at MD Anderson Cancer Center where he led a group researching adoptive NK-cell therapies as well as overseeing the activity of the Stem Cell Transplantation laboratory. In addition to his academic career, Dr. Yvon was Director of the CAR program at Bellicum Pharmaceuticals where he leads the effort in developing systems for controlling in vivo T-cell behavior using molecular switches. Dr. Yvon received his BS in Biology, MS and PhD in Immunology from the University of Paris, France.

Email: eyvon@mfa.gwu.edu.

Conrad Cruz

Conrad Russell Cruz, MD, PhD
Associate Professor

Dr. Conrad Russell Y. Cruz is developing novel cell-based immunotherapies for both HIV and cancer.  He is an Assistant Professor who received his MD from the University of the Philippines and his PhD from Baylor College of Medicine. He has more than ten years laboratory experience in the area of T cell therapy and translational research. He is the director of the MIMETIC Translational Research Laboratory at George Washington University/Children's National Medical Center, which works under the auspices of the Program for Cell Enhancement and Technologies for Immunotherapy (CETI).

Email: crcruz@email.gwu.edu

 

Lab Alumni

Shabnum Patel, PhD - Associate Director for Process Development and Manufacturing, Stanford University Center for Cancer Cell Therapy

Stacey Van Pelt, BS - PhD student, Baylor College of Medicine

Rachel Burga, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Allison Powell, PhD - Scientist, TCR² Therapeutics Inc.