Background
Dr. Sandmaier cares for patients with blood cancer including leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma. In addition to providing patient care, she conducts clinical trials and translational research focused on blood stem cell transplantation, also known as hematopoietic cell transplantation.
Her driving goal is to improve outcomes for patients who undergo transplantation and to extend the benefit of this treatment to a broader range of people — particularly patients who are older, have additional medical complications or do not have donors who are complete genetic matches. To support this goal, Dr. Sandmaier has developed less‑toxic conditioning regimens, which are the preparatory treatments given before transplant. She helped establish the curative potential of these reduced‑intensity regimens in patients with blood cancers and related disorders, and her lab continues to investigate how these approaches can be applied safely and effectively.
Another major area of interest for Dr. Sandmaier is radioimmunotherapy (RIT). This treatment approach, pioneered at Fred Hutch, uses immune system molecules called antibodies to deliver radiation directly to blood cells, including cancer cells, while limiting damage to healthy tissue. While first‑generation RIT approaches are being tested in clinical trials, Dr. Sandmaier’s lab is refining next‑generation therapies to be even more precise. First‑in‑human clinical trials based directly on her lab’s work are currently underway. Her lab is also exploring the use of this strategy to eradicate the HIV reservoir.
Dr. Sandmaier has also developed numerous clinical trials to prevent graft‑versus‑host disease (GVHD), a serious complication in which donor cells attack the patient’s body after transplant. These trials include novel GVHD‑prevention strategies combined with reduced‑intensity conditioning regimens developed at Fred Hutch and are conducted through multi‑institutional collaborations enrolling patients in Seattle and around the world.
Area of Clinical Practice
Adult blood and marrow transplantation, malignant blood disorders
