The 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to Donald Kohn, MD.
Dr. Donald Kohn is the tenth recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC). Dr. Kohn is being recognized for a career that exemplifies the mission of the PBMTC to support research and education to improve the availability, safety and efficacy of hematopoietic cell transplantation and other cellular therapeutics for children and adolescents.
Dr. Kohn is the director of the Human Gene Medicine Program at UCLA and is a member of UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Kohn focuses on the development of new methods to treat genetic diseases of blood cells, such as sickle cell and “bubble baby” disease, as well as using genetic modification of blood stem cells to treat cancer and leukemia. Kohn’s lab studies methods for effective gene transfer and expression and has translated those findings from the lab into clinical trials of gene therapy for congenital immune deficiencies and pediatric AIDS. A major element of his work has been the study of the basic biology of blood stem cells in order to understand how to isolate, genetically modify and re-transplant them back into people.
In addition to being a world-class researcher, physician, author and advisor, Dr. Kohn has made tremendous contributions to medical research by mentoring scientists and physicians who have become leaders in the field.