I am a practicing hematologist/oncologist and the Gerald and Darlene Jordan Professor of Medicine at Harvard University.

My laboratory focuses on the regulation of blood-making stem cells by their microenvironment, or niche. Using a combination of genetics, imaging and pharmacology, my lab has defined key components of this niche and described how these hematopoietic stem cells reach and settle down in the bone marrow. We have demonstrated the primary role the microenvironment can play in the emergence of malignancy. We have also shown how such niche interactions can be manipulated and altered, studies that have resulted in two clinical trials in the use of stem cells to treat blood cancers.

I am particularly interested in applying my laboratory work to the treatment of cancer and am the founding Director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital, I also co-founded and Co-Direct the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the Harvard University Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology. I am a Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science, the Board of External Experts for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and a former member of the National Cancer Institute’s Board of Scientific Counselors. I am the recipient of multiple honorary degrees, awards and memberships in honorary societies.