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MATTEL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL UCLA

DIVISION OF PEDIATRIC HEMATOLOGY-ONCOLOGY
DEPT. OF PEDIATRICS, DAVID GEFFEN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

“UCLA has a wonderful group of physicians and staff that are here to care for the patients. It is a collegial environment and a mixture of excellence in both clinical care, and the research that facilitates future clinical care.”

— Rick Harrison, M.D., Medical Director, Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA

Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA is the highest ranked children’s hospital in Southern California, and is a vital part of the UCLA Medical Center, which has been ranked “Best in the West” year after year in the U.S. News & World Report “America’s Best Hospitals” survey.

Soon (in 2008) Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA will move into the new, state-of-the-art facilities of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center that is nearing completion. It will be the most modern medical facility in the entire world. There its young patients will be treated in a comfortable, convenient and light-filled environment conducive to healing, where each patient room is ‘wired’ for instant conversion into an ICU and/or medical testing room if need be, and there are overnight accommodations for loved ones.

The Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology:

For over 40 years the Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology has been a pioneer in the treatment of childhood cancers, giving patients the best of care while also making significant contributions to improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of children with leukemia, aplastic anemia, solid tumors, blood diseases, and more. The Division has a long history of success in bringing hope to children with cancer through such programs as its Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, which has been in continuous operation since 1973. It was the first bone marrow transplant unit in California and one of the first in the U.S.

The Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division is a component of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, which is well known for its new and innovative ways of treatment.

A Team Approach to Treatment

With each new patient, a multi-disciplinary team is assembled, tailored to the patient’s diagnosis in order to individualize the treatment needed. This team is composed of doctors and nurses in various specialties, whose interaction serves to maximize the child’s chances for survival and minimize potential harms to the child’s growth and development from the toxic effects of radiation and chemotherapy. These dedicated members of the treatment team are constantly seeking new ways to improve survival rates and reduce complications in children undergoing bone marrow transplantation, chemotherapy and radiation therapy in all types of blood diseases and cancer. Their tireless efforts continue to improve the quality of life and care for children with cancer, now and in the future.

“Despite the successes of current therapy, childhood cancers will not disappear. We need to look toward the future and train doctors who will continue to advance the field of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and seek to find new cures. The UCLA campus provides fantastic opportunities to collaborate with top scientists to further our understanding of childhood cancer. There are also many cancer researchers, including adult oncologists, neurosurgeons, and pathologists, on campus who are part of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and also participate in translational research. The prospect of doing such creative and innovative research is so exciting, and I couldn’t imagine doing this type of research anywhere else.”

— Kathleen M. Sakamoto, M.D., Ph.D.,
Chief, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA

Caring for Future Needs

The Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology does not sever its ties with a patient simply because he or she has become an adult and the disease has been cured or is in remission. In one of only a handful of such programs in the entire country, the Division has a follow-up program that is designed to maintain contact with former patients in order to anticipate and address the healthcare needs of long term survivors of childhood cancer.

Physician Training

The Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology has a growing and increasingly prominent training program, producing graduating fellows trained both in basic research and in clinical care who are recruited by leading universities and hospitals across the U. S. to fill faculty positions and engage in productive research.

International Outreach

Over the years, the Division has regularly hosted visiting doctors and researchers from other countries who seek to learn the latest state-of-the-art treatment protocols for application in the treatment of children in their home countries. In 2006, a physician from the Division was invited to address the Albanian Health Fund Annual Medical Symposium on advances in bone marrow transplantation, and to provide an assessment and make recommendations to the Albanian Ministry of Health, to assist that nation in the development of a national transplant program. In recognition of the critical importance of sharing the latest diagnostic and therapeutic tools with other countries, the Division is actively seeking additional resources to expand their outreach within a more formal structure that will facilitate collaborative clinical trials with foreign institutions and will enable Division staff to conduct seminars and on-site visits to share their expertise with pediatric hematologists and oncologists worldwide.

Clinical Trials

The Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology is currently involved in more than 50 institutional and collaborative group clinical trials in pediatric oncology. These trials include bone marrow transplant protocols, cancer vaccine trials, and participation in the Children’s Oncology Group, Pediatric Blood & Marrow Transplant Consortium, the Pediatric Research Foundation Consortium, the Glaser Pediatric Research Consortium, and others.

Leadership: Kathleen M. Sakamoto, M.D., Ph.D

In her role as Division Chief, Dr. Sakamoto is a remarkable physician-scientist tirelessly leading the dynamic growth of the Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA.

She earned her M.D. at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and her Ph.D. in Biology from the California Institute of Technology. She completed her residency and fellowship in pediatric hematology-oncology at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Dr. Sakamoto has been on the faculty of the UCLA School of Medicine since 1993.

Dr. Sakamoto’s research interest focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of leukemogenisis and in identifying novel approaches to treating leukemia. Her research to date has demonstrated that an overabundance of a specific protein occurs in acute leukemia and contributes to the development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Her team has developed an animal model of pre-leukemia, and under her direction is also studying new targeted therapies in hopes of translating those findings into clinical practice for pediatric patients with various forms of cancer.

From 2000 to date, Dr. Sakamoto has published more than two dozen scholarly articles in leading scientific and medical journals, reporting research findings relating to molecular genetics and metabolism in the disease process and design of therapeutic responses.