Dr. Jean Sanders to receive lifetime achievement award

Dr. Jean Sanders of the Center's Clinical Research Division will become the first recipient of the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium's Lifetime Achievement Award. The consortium is recognizing Sanders for a career that exemplifies its mission "To support research and education to improve the availability, safety and efficacy of hematopoietic cell transplantation and other cellular therapeutics for children and adolescents." Sanders will receive the award during the 2009 Tandem bone marrow transplant meetings of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation and the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research Thursday, Feb. 12 in Tampa, Fla.

Sanders is also director of the Pediatric Hematopoietic Transplant Program at Seattle Children's Hospital and a professor of Pediatrics and the Gerald and Gloria Swanson Family Endowed Chair in Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation Research at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

For almost 35 years, Sanders has served the clinical teaching and research missions of pediatric bone marrow transplantation. Thousands of children have benefited from her medical expertise and research. “I've trained a lot of the pediatric transplant doctors during the years. I’m very touched that they would do something like this for me,” said Sanders, who has, in fact, trained more than 90 specialists in her field.

Sanders has also authored more than 300 scientific publications. She has chaired multiple cooperative research groups and served as adviser for many medical and scientific organizations including the Children's Oncology Group, the National Childhood Cancer Foundation, the American Academy of Pediatrics and National Institutes of Health. Her pioneer clinical research in pediatric bone marrow transplantation has advanced this field and improved the survival and quality of life of many children undergoing this lifesaving procedure.

The Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium is comprised of more than 100 pediatric bone marrow transplantation centers in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Europe.

[Adapted from a news release from the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium.]