About Soligenix

Scientific Advisors

European GVHD Medical Advisory Board

George B. McDonald, MD

Chair, Soligenix European Medical Advisory Board
Professor of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine and Head, Gastroenterology/Hepatology Section Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.

Dr. McDonald is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a Member at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where he is head of the Gastroenterology/Hepatology Section. He also serves as the head of the Program in Complications of Cancer Treatment that has as its goals the reduction of morbidity from cancer treatment, improved survival, and prevention of late sequelae of cancer treatment. Dr. McDonald's research is focused on gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary complications of hematopoietic cell transplantation, specifically problems involving the toxicity of high-dose myeloablative regimens that are used to prepare patients for transplantation and acute and chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease involving the gastrointestinal tract and liver. He has recently developed and validated a new method of assessing the severity of acute GVHD, called the acute GVHD Activity Index, an accurate predictor of transplant-related mortality. He was the lead investigator on the clinical trials that pioneered the use of topical corticosteroid therapy with oral beclomethasone dipropionate for GI GVHD.

Jane Apperley, MD

Chair, Department of Hematology, Imperial College
London, United Kingdom

Dr. Apperley is the Chair of the Department of Hematology at the Imperial College and the Chief of Service for Clinical Hematology at the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London, England. She qualified in Medicine from the University of Birmingham and after initial specialization in internal medicine she completed specialist training in hematology in Birmingham, London, Cambridge and Boston. Her particular interests are the biology and management of chronic myeloid leukemia, which has led naturally to an extensive experience in SCT and more recently to the use of signal transduction inhibitors in this disease. Professor Apperley is the past-President of both the EBMT and the British Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and serves on the Advisory Board of the CIBMTR CLINT (Facilitating International Prospective Clinical Trials in Stem Cell Transplantation).

Andrea Bacigalupo, MD

Head, Department of Hematology, Ospedale San Martino
Genoa, Italy

Dr. Bacigalupo is the Head of the Department of Hematology at Ospedale San Martino in Genoa, Italy, where he has served in various capacities since 1974. Dr. Bacigalupo's BMT work began in 1976 in Genoa on allogeneic BMT. He has worked for many years within the EBMT since 1983, and has served as President. He is a member of the International Society for Experimental Hematology and the Societa' Italiana Ematologia. Dr. Bacigalupo has published more than 300 articles in peer-reviewed journals. His research interests lie in bone marrow transplantation, leukemia, graft versus leukemia, aplastic anemia, in vitro growth of progenitor cells, growth factors, CMV, data management, and patient oriented computer-based monitoring.

Hans Hägglund, MD, PhD

Associate Professor, Hematology, and Internal Medicine Specialist, Department of Hematology, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, Sweden

Dr. Hägglund is an Associate Professor of Hematology and Internal Medicine Specialist in the Department of Hematology at the Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge, Sweden. Dr Hägglund completed a post-doc position at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He has multiple peer-review publications in the field of SCT, lymphoma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He is a committee member of the Swedish Hematology Association and the national acute lymphoblastic leukemia group.

Dietger Niederwieser, MD

Head, Department of Hematology and Oncology, University of Leipzig
Leipzig, Germany

Dr. Niederwieser is the Head of the Department of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Leipzig in Leipzig, Germany. Professor Niederwieser is the current President of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT). He has been active with EBMT for the past 20 years, previously serving as the Chairman of the Chronic Leukemia Working Party. He has published more than 300 papers focusing on topics such as the immunology of stem cell transplantation (SCT), minor histocompatibility antigens, graft-versus-tumor reactions, reduced-intensity conditioning SCT, standardization of procedures and donor-transmitted diseases. Prof. Niederwieser was trained in Internal Medicine and Haematology at Innsbruck in Austria, and received specialized training on clinical SCT and pathophysiology of GVHD in Basel, Switzerland and Seattle, Washington, USA. He has received a number of awards including the doctor honoris causa of the University of Thessaloniki and the title of Cavaliere della Repubblica Italiana from the Presidente della Repubblica Italiana Napolitano.

José Antonio Pérez Simón, MD, PhD

Head, Cellular Therapy Laboratory of the Department of Hematology,
Immunology of Bone Marrow Transplantation, University Hospital
Salamanca, Spain

Dr. Pérez Simón is an Attending Physician in the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit in the University Hospital in Salamanca, Spain, and leads the Cellular Therapy Laboratory of the Department of Hematology in the area of Immunology of Bone Marrow Transplantation. He completed his clinical training in BMT at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and his laboratory training at the Karolinska Institute. He has multiple peer-review publications and his major contributions have been in the field of GVHD both in the clinical setting as well as in the basic research.