Michael Bishop, MD, to head stem cell transplant program at University of Chicago Medicine

Michael Bishop, MD, to head stem cell transplant program at University of Chicago Medicine

November 13, 2012

Michael R. Bishop, MD, an authority on the use of stem cell transplantation as a treatment for lymphoma, leukemia and multiple myeloma, has been appointed professor of medicine and director of the hematopoietic stem cell transplant program at the University of Chicago Medicine, effective November 15, 2012.

Bishop is nationally known for his clinical commitment to patients with difficult to treat disease, those with advanced lymphoma, patients who do not respond to standard therapies, and those who relapse after transplantation. He is also interested in making stem cell transplantation more available to older patients, already a strength at the medical center.

His laboratory research focuses on B-cell malignancies, such as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the manipulation of T cells to accentuate graft-versus-tumor effects, and the development of new approaches for recurrent disease.

"Michael Bishop brings a reputation as a leader in his specialty of stem cell transplants and as a skilled and committed physician," said Richard L. Schilsky, MD, professor of medicine, section chief of hematology/oncology at the University of Chicago Medicine, and past president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. "He understands the connections, in both directions, between laboratory and clinical research, he has a strong track record in innovative patient care and testing new therapies, and he recognizes the importance of treating not just the disease but also the patient and the entire family."

"The University of Chicago already has an outstanding bone marrow transplant program," Bishop said. "They pride themselves on outstanding and compassionate care of patients. They have cutting-edge research and they excel at education in all forms, not just for medical students and residents but also for patients and their families. I'm excited that I've been given the opportunity and resources to make this excellent transplant program even better."

Bishop comes to the University of Chicago from the Medical College of Wisconsin/Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, where he was a professor of medicine and head of the adult hematologic malignancies section. Prior to that he spent 12 years, from 1999 to 2011, at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, where he served as clinical head of the experimental transplantation and immunology branch of the NCI's Center for Cancer Research.

Born in Eldorado, Illinois, Bishop, 53, earned his medical degree in 1985 from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital in 1988, followed by a three-year fellowship in hematology/oncology at Loyola University Medical Center, in Maywood, Illinois.

He was an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Kentucky Medical Center from 1991 to 1992 and an associate professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he served as director of the leukemia and allogeneic stem cell transplantation programs, from 1992 to 1999.

Bishop has received many honors and awards for patient care, teaching and research, and has been routinely listed in the national edition of The Best Doctors in America. He has edited two books and co-authored nearly 160 peer-reviewed articles and more than 30 book chapters related to hematologic malignancies and stem cell transplantation.

He serves as a reviewer on the editorial boards of more than 25 scientific journals including the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Blood, Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Experimental Biology and Medicine, and Cancer. He is co-chair of the solid tumor working committee of the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research, and a member of the Food and Drug Administration's cellular, tissue and gene therapies advisory committee. He was formerly a member and vice chair of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network's data and safety and monitoring board. He holds one patent, on "B-cell surface-reactive antibodies."