Noted immunologist Jerome Ritz, M.D., will deliver this year’s Gerhard Schmidt Memorial Lecture in Transplantation Biology and Medicine on April 29 in Cooper Auditorium at 4 p.m.
 Jerome Ritz (Photo courtesy of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) |
Ritz, a professor in the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, will be discussing “T and B Cell Immunity in Chronic Graft Versus Host Disease.”
“Recent studies in our laboratory have examined immune recovery after stem cell transplant and have identified new targets of this response that contribute to the development of graft versus host disease [GVHD],” said Ritz. “These new insights have led to new approaches for prevention of GVHD and may improve patient outcomes following transplant.”
Stephen J. Forman M.D., the Francis and Kathleen McNamara Distinguished Chair in Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation and chair of the Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation hosts the lecture each year.
“Dr. Ritz is a well-known and respected immunologist who has made many contributions to the field,” Forman said. “We’re looking forward to his presentation.”
The event — a popular prelude to City of Hope’s annual “Celebration of Life” Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Reunion — is both an homage to its namesake, Gerhard Schmidt, and a chance for transplantation leaders to share their expertise and advances with colleagues.
Schmidt, a gifted physician and researcher who joined City of Hope’s transplantation program in 1977, established the autologous stem cell transplant and histocompatibility laboratory programs and eventually became the associate director. He died of cancer in 1993.
Ritz received his medical degree from Chicago Medical School in 1972 and undertook his residency in internal medicine at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Madison. He completed a clinical fellowship in hematology and oncology at Beth Israel Hospital and a research fellowship at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he joined the staff in 1980. Since 1996, he has been director of the Connell and O’Reilly Families Cell Manipulation Core.
