1976

City of Hope bone marrow transplant program established; six patients receive transplants.

1981

The National Cancer Institute awards a Program Project Grant for research in transfusion and transplantation.

1986

First autologous stem cell transplant at City of Hope. In this procedure, patients receive a transplant of their own healthy blood stem cells after chemotherapy or radiation kills abnormal cells.

1988

First peripheral blood stem cell transplant at City of Hope. This transplant uses stem cells circulating in a patient or donor’s blood. Today, most transplants use peripheral blood stem cells.

City of Hope’s first transplant using cells from a matched unrelated donor, which are flown in from England with the help of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.

1991

City of Hope performs its first transplant using umbilical cord blood.

In a case that makes the cover of TIME magazine, leukemia patient Anissa Ayala, 19, receives a bone marrow transplant. The donor is her infant sister, Marissa.

Stephen J. Forman, M.D., co-edits “Bone Marrow Transplantation,” the first textbook on the subject.

1998

City of Hope performs its first successful transplant for AIDS-related lymphoma.

Scientists at City of Hope develop follow-up program for transplant patients to understand and minimize side effects long after transplant.

First “mini” transplant, offering an option to older patients unable to withstand traditional transplantation.

Southern California Kaiser Permanente’s transplant program establishes partnership with City of Hope’s transplant program.

City of Hope scientists show patients’ T cells can be isolated, engineered and reinfused to attack lymphoma and other cancer cells.

2004

The National Cancer Institute awards City of Hope a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant in lymphoma to focus on new and better treatments for the disease.

2007

Los Angeles Dodgers’ partnership creates ThinkCure, a nonprofit funding collaborative research, including transplant-related studies, at City of Hope and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

City of Hope’s 10,000th transplant

Sources: City of Hope Archives and Department of Hematology & HCT