Celebrating More Tomorrows: City of Hope’s BMT Program 50th Anniversary
For 50 years, City of Hope has stood on a single promise to patients facing blood cancers: never stop advancing the science of cure, making it safer, more effective and within reach for all who need it.
That promise has guided more than 20,000 bone marrow/stem cell transplants, transformed patients into survivors and sparked discoveries that helped shape modern cellular therapy. It is the foundation of a program that helped change what was once impossible and established City of Hope as a national leader in blood cancer treatment.
“Early on in the BMT program,” said Stephen J. Forman, M.D., director, Hematologic Malignancies Research Institute and the T Cell Therapeutics Research Laboratories, “We made a promise to keep pushing the science forward so that curing blood cancers would become safer, smarter and available to more patients. That commitment continues to guide us today.”
Watch the 2026 Recap Videos
See how City of Hope’s bone marrow and stem cell transplant program has evolved over five decades, advancing donor access, safety, supportive care and outcomes for patients across the nation.
Afternoon Program
Press Conference
Our Program at a Glance
- 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of City of Hope’s first bone marrow transplant, performed on May 18, 1976, marking the beginning of City of Hope’s bone marrow and stem cell transplant program.
- More than 20,000+ transplants performed since 1976, making City of Hope one of the longest-running and highest-volume bone marrow and stem cell transplant programs in the United States.
- Making transplant safer and more accessible through advances in donor options, conditioning approaches and supportive care.
- Care that supports the whole person, with supportive services integrated across specialties and directly into patients’ clinical care.
- A scientific foundation that helped shape cellular therapy, informing today’s CAR T cell therapy and other immunotherapy advances.
- Care closer to home, expanding transplant access beyond the Duarte campus across Los Angeles, Orange County, Atlanta, Phoenix and Chicago.
50 Years of Momentum: Honoring Our Patients
Back in 1976, Mushtaque Jivani, a college student from Indiana, came to City of Hope looking for a miracle after an acute myeloid leukemia (AML) diagnosis. His transplant — the first at City of Hope — worked, and he lived another 35 years. Two years later, Rodrigo Nunez, a teenager stricken with aplastic anemia, underwent a procedure that still carried a 50% failure rate. “Back then,” he remembered, “If you had told me I had just a one percent chance, I would have said, ‘Okay, so I’ll be the first one!’”
In March 2025, City of Hope performed its 20,000th bone marrow and stem cell transplant. Today, nearly 800 patients undergo bone marrow or stem cell transplants at City of Hope each year, and the program is expanding transplant access across Los Angeles, Orange County, Atlanta, Phoenix and Chicago.
That progress has opened doors for patients who once would not have been considered candidates. Clarice Moore underwent her transplant in 2023 at the age of 80. “All the other doctors in the area where I live had given up on me, but not Dr. Al Malki,” said Moore. “He and his team at City of Hope gave me another chance at life and the incomparable joy of watching my nine grandchildren grow and succeed!”
At City of Hope’s annual BMT Reunion on May 1, 2026, leukemia survivors meet the unrelated donors who made their survival possible — moments that bring five decades of progress into focus.
History of City of Hope’s BMT Program
Since 1976, the program has grown from one of six in the country into a leading bone marrow transplant program in the United States.
Learn More About Bone Marrow Transplant at City of Hope
Whether you are exploring treatment options, referring a patient or learning more about transplant care, City of Hope is here to help: