Team members with the Malignant Hematology and Transplant (MHT) Program at Baptist Cancer Center-Memphis held a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, April 24 for the new Baptist Cellular Therapy Lab, located on the campus of Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis. The lab is the first dedicated space at Baptist for preparing immunotherapy treatments that help the body’s cells fight cancer.
The MHT Program began offering transplant and cellular therapy in 2010 using a small area within the hospital’s blood bank. The program has grown from an average volume of 30 cellular therapy procedures a year to approximately 80 cellular therapy procedures a year.
Dr. Brion Randolph, who specializes in hematology, oncology and internal medicine at Baptist Medical Group, said this larger, dedicated space allows Baptist’s lab professionals to safely prepare more of these therapies for the growing number of patients who need them.
“Some of the newest and most advanced forms of immunotherapy use stem cells or blood cells to treat cancer and other serious diseases,” said Dr. Randolph. “These cell-based treatments include stem cell transplants, gene therapy and specialized T-cell therapies. They are especially important because they can offer new hope for cures — not only for certain cancers, but also for such diseases as sickle cell disease.”
The Baptist Cellular Therapy Lab meets the strict safety and quality standards required to prepare and handle these powerful therapies and was built to give patients in the Mid-South more access to leading-edge treatments.
“The MHT Program at Baptist supports patients with blood cancers every step of the way — from diagnosis through survival,” noted Dr. Randolph. “As a regional leader in transplant and cellular therapies, we offer a wide range of treatment options that include both FDA-approved therapies and experimental treatments through clinical trials.”
