Meet the Cell and Gene Therapy Team
The Center for Cell and Gene Therapy for Non-malignant Conditions is comprised of several treatment teams, with specialists in immunology, hematology, oncology and bone marrow transplant.
Deepak Chellapandian, M.D.
Director
Michelle Cooper, R.N.
Coordinator
Treatment Teams
Deepakbabu Chellapandian, M.D.
Treatment Teams: Hemoglobinopathies, Non-SCID primary immunodeficiencies, Immune dysregulation disorders, Bone marrow failure disorders
Dr. Chellapandian is the division chief of blood and marrow transplant and specializes in bone marrow transplant as a hematologist-oncologist and serves as director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy for Non-Malignant Conditions (CCGNC) in the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute. He joined the hospital staff in 2017. Dr. Chellapandian earned his medical degree from Madurai Medical College and then trained at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, both in India. He completed a residency in pediatrics at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Chellapandian completed a pediatric hematology-oncology and bone marrow transplantation fellowship at Hospital for Sick Children/University of Toronto in Canada and an advanced fellowship on bone marrow transplantation and cellular therapy at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
Jolan Walter, M.D. Ph.D.
Treatment Team: Severe combined immunodeficiency
Dr. Walter is the division chief of the University of South Florida (USF) and Johns Hopkins All Children’s Pediatric Allergy & Immunology Programs. She is the Robert A. Good Endowed Chair of the USF Division of Pediatric Allergy & Immunology, and an associate professor of pediatrics, medicine and molecular biology in the USF Morsani College of Medicine. She serves as director of the Jeffrey Modell Diagnostic and Research Center for Primary Immunodeficiencies at Johns Hopkins All Children’s. Her research interests include understanding the (severe) combined immunodeficiencies, and breech in tolerance in primary immune disorders leading to autoimmunity and inflammation. Dr. Walter has specific clinical expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with (severe) combined immunodeficiencies, in particular those with recombination activating gene (RAG) variants. She is focusing on genetic evaluation, mechanism-based treatment therapies for non-infectious complications and involved in the care of patients with definitive therapies such as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and gene therapy protocols.
Benjamin Oshrine, M.D.
Treatment Team: Bone marrow failure disorders
Dr. Oshrine specializes in blood and marrow transplants as a pediatric hematologist/oncologist in the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute. His clinical focus is in the treatment of high-risk leukemias with blood and marrow transplantation, and his research focus is in immune recovery after transplant. He joined the hospital in 2014 after completing a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Oshrine earned his medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and completed his residency at Boston Children’s Hospital.
