Rebecca A Gardner, MD

Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Leukemia and Lymphoma Program, High-Risk Leukemia Program, Apheresis

On staff since July 2009

Children's Title: Medical Director, Immunotherapy

Academic Title: Associate Professor, Hematology/Oncology

Research Title: Interim Chief Medical Officer, Seattle Children's Therapeutics

Research Center: Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research

"I was drawn to the field of pediatric oncology because of the kids. It is an honor to be involved with patients and their families as we work toward curing their cancer."

• Biography

  Rebecca A. Gardner, MD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington, and attending physician at Seattle Children's Hospital.

  Her research focuses on the development of immunotherapy trials for the treatment of pediatric cancers with a specific focus on leukemia and lymphoma. The immune system can be a powerful tool in the treatment and eradication of pediatric malignancies. From advances in the lab, we are now able to genetically modify a person's own T cells to allow the T cells to specifically recognize and kill cancer cells.

  • Related Resources

• Patient Testimonials

  • Alison Bellevue, WA 07.26.17

    A great provider! She helped take care of our 4 year old son when he was very ill in the PICU. We appreciated her knowledge, care, and compassion.

  • Tom Ephrata, WA 03.01.17

    Dr. Gardner is a wonderful doctor. Our son, Trevor, was diagnosed in 2014 with leukemia. Dr. Gardner was on our team and provided excellent care during chemo and radiation treatment. She took extra time to answer our questions and allay our concerns about the radiation treatments. When Trevor relapsed last year, she went through all the options, helping us to ultimately settle on a Bone Marrow Transplant as the best course of treatment. She patiently answered all of our questions and made us feel included in his treatment plan. We feel very blessed to have had this amazing doctor guide Trevor's treatment.

  Recommend Rebecca A Gardner, MD

• Awards and Honors

  Award Name	Award Description	Awarded By	Award Date
  SEATTLE TOP DOCTOR - 2022		Seattle Magazine	2022

• Publications

  Published Abstracts

  • Rebecca A. Gardner, MD, Gardner, RA, Reik, A, Berger, C, Terakura, S, Gregory, PD, Jensen, MC, Holmes, MC, Riddell, SR
    Disruption of Glucocorticoid Regulation in Therapeutic Human T Cells with Zinc Finger Nucleases
    Molecular Thearpy, 2010 : 18(S1)s240

  Other Publications

  • Walti CS, Krantz EM, Maalouf J, Boonyaratanakornkit J, Keane-Candib J, Joncas-Schronce L, Stevens-Ayers T, Dasgupta S, Taylor JJ, Hirayama AV, Bar M, Gardner RA, Cowan AJ, Green DJ, Boeckh MJ, Maloney DG, Turtle CJ, Hill JA
    Antibodies to vaccine-preventable infections after CAR-T-cell therapy for B-cell malignancies.
    33914708 JCI insight, 2021 April 29
  • Aredo JV, Luo SJ, Gardner RM, Sanyal N, Choi E, Hickey TP, Riley TL, Huang WY, Kurian AW, Leung AN, Wilkens LR, Robbins HA, Riboli E, Kaaks R, Tjønneland A, Vermeulen RCH, Panico S, Le Marchand L, Amos CI, Hung RJ, Freedman ND, Johansson M, Cheng I, Wakelee HA, Han SS
    Tobacco Smoking and Risk of Second Primary Lung Cancer.
    33722709 Journal of thoracic oncology : official publication of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, 2021 March 17
  • Gust J, Annesley CE, Gardner RA, Bozarth X
    EEG Correlates of Delirium in Children and Young Adults With CD19-Directed CAR T Cell Treatment-Related Neurotoxicity.
    31851018 Journal of clinical neurophysiology : official publication of the American Electroencephalographic Society, 2021 March 1 : 38(2)135-142 PMCID:PMC7292745
  • Shalabi H, Gust J, Taraseviciute A, Wolters PL, Leahy AB, Sandi C, Laetsch TW, Wiener L, Gardner RA, Nussenblatt V, Hill JA, Curran KJ, Olson TS, Annesley C, Wang HW, Khan J, Pasquini MC, Duncan CN, Grupp SA, Pulsipher MA, Shah NN
    Beyond the storm - subacute toxicities and late effects in children receiving CAR T cells.
    33495553 Nature reviews. Clinical oncology, 2021 Jan. 25
  • Lamble AJ, Gardner R
    CAR T cells for other pediatric non-B-cell hematologic malignancies.
    33275678 Hematology. American Society of Hematology. Education Program, 2020 Dec. 4 : 2020(1)494-500 PMCID:PMC7727568
  • Mo G, Wang HW, Talleur AC, Shahani SA, Yates B, Shalabi H, Douvas MG, Calvo KR, Shern JF, Chaganti S, Patrick K, Song Y, Fry TJ, Wu X, Triplett BM, Khan J, Gardner RA, Shah NN
    Diagnostic approach to the evaluation of myeloid malignancies following CAR T-cell therapy in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
    33246985 Journal for immunotherapy of cancer, 2020 Nov. : 8(2) PMCID:PMC7703409
  • Davies K, Barth M, Armenian S, Audino AN, Barnette P, Cuglievan B, Ding H, Ford JB, Galardy PJ, Gardner R, Hanna R, Hayashi R, Kovach AE, Machnitz AJ, Maloney KW, Marks L, Page K, Reilly AF, Weinstein JL, Xavier AC, McMillian NR, Freedman-Cass DA
    Pediatric Aggressive Mature B-Cell Lymphomas, Version 2.2020, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology.
    32755986 Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network : JNCCN, 2020 Aug. : 18(8)1105-1123
  • Denton CC, Gange WS, Abdel-Azim H, Jodele S, Kapoor N, Oberley MJ, Wong K, Kim J, Vercio A, Moghaddampour P, Chalam KV, Sierpina D, Gardner RA, Pulsipher MA, Jensen MC, Nagiel A
    Bilateral retinal detachment after chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy.
    32428218 Blood advances, 2020 May 26 : 4(10)2158-2162 PMCID:PMC7252550
  • Vora SB, Waghmare A, Englund JA, Qu P, Gardner RA, Hill JA
    Infectious Complications Following CD19 Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Therapy for Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults.
    32432149 Open forum infectious diseases, 2020 May : 7(5)ofaa121 PMCID:PMC7221263
  • Gardner RA, Ceppi F, Rivers J, Annesley C, Summers C, Taraseviciute A, Gust J, Leger KJ, Tarlock K, Cooper TM, Finney OC, Brakke H, Li DH, Park JR, Jensen MC
    Preemptive mitigation of CD19 CAR T-cell cytokine release syndrome without attenuation of antileukemic efficacy.
    31697826 Blood, 2019 Dec. 12 : 134(24)2149-2158 PMCID:PMC6908832
  • Pieters R, De Lorenzo P, Ancliffe P, Aversa LA, Brethon B, Biondi A, Campbell M, Escherich G, Ferster A, Gardner RA, Kotecha RS, Lausen B, Li CK, Locatelli F, Attarbaschi A, Peters C, Rubnitz JE, Silverman LB, Stary J, Szczepanski T, Vora A, Schrappe M, Valsecchi MG
    Outcome of Infants Younger Than 1 Year With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Treated With the Interfant-06 Protocol: Results From an International Phase III Randomized Study.
    31283407 Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2019 Sept. 1 : 37(25)2246-2256
  • Gust J, Finney OC, Li D, Brakke HM, Hicks RM, Futrell RB, Gamble DN, Rawlings-Rhea SD, Khalatbari HK, Ishak GE, Duncan VE, Hevner RF, Jensen MC, Park JR, Gardner RA
    Glial injury in neurotoxicity after pediatric CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy.
    31074527 Annals of neurology, 2019 July : 86(1)42-54
  • Lucero OM, Parker K, Funk T, Dunlap J, Press R, Gardner RA, Chang BH
    Phenotype switch in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia associated with 3 years of persistent CAR T cell directed-CD19 selective pressure.
    30810217 British journal of haematology, 2019 July : 186(2)333-336
  • Finney OC, Brakke HM, Rawlings-Rhea S, Hicks R, Doolittle D, Lopez M, Futrell RB, Orentas RJ, Li D, Gardner RA, Jensen MC
    CD19 CAR T cell product and disease attributes predict leukemia remission durability.
    30860496 The Journal of clinical investigation, 2019 May 1 : 129(5)2123-2132 PMCID:PMC6486329
  • Ceppi F, Gardner RA
    Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells for B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
    31135526 Cancer journal (Sudbury, Mass.), 2019 May : 25(3)191-198
  • Sun W, Malvar J, Sposto R, Verma A, Wilkes JJ, Dennis R, Heym K, Laetsch TW, Widener M, Rheingold SR, Oesterheld J, Hijiya N, Sulis ML, Huynh V, Place AE, Bittencourt H, Hutchinson R, Messinger Y, Chang B, Matloub Y, Ziegler DS, Gardner R, Cooper T, Ceppi F, Hermiston M, Dalla-Pozza L, Schultz KR, Gaynon P, Wayne AS, Whitlock JA
    Outcome of children with multiply relapsed B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a therapeutic advances in childhood leukemia & lymphoma study.
    29728694 Leukemia, 2018 Nov. : 32(11)2316-2325 PMCID:PMC6224404
  • Ogba N, Arwood NM, Bartlett NL, Bloom M, Brown P, Brown C, Budde EL, Carlson R, Farnia S, Fry TJ, Garber M, Gardner RA, Gurschick L, Kropf P, Reitan JJ, Sauter C, Shah B, Shpall EJ, Rosen ST
    Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy.
    30181421 Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network : JNCCN, 2018 Sept. : 16(9)1092-1106
  • Oberley MJ, Gaynon PS, Bhojwani D, Pulsipher MA, Gardner RA, Hiemenz MC, Ji J, Han J, O'Gorman MRG, Wayne AS, Raca G
    Myeloid lineage switch following chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy in a patient with TCF3-ZNF384 fusion-positive B-lymphoblastic leukemia.
    29797659 Pediatric blood & cancer, 2018 Sept. : 65(9)e27265 PMCID:PMC7469918
  • Chow EJ, Antal Z, Constine LS, Gardner R, Wallace WH, Weil BR, Yeh JM, Fox E
    New Agents, Emerging Late Effects, and the Development of Precision Survivorship.
    29874142 Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2018 July 20 : 36(21)2231-2240 PMCID:PMC6053298
  • Taraseviciute A, Tkachev V, Ponce R, Turtle CJ, Snyder JM, Liggitt HD, Myerson D, Gonzalez-Cuyar L, Baldessari A, English C, Yu A, Zheng H, Furlan SN, Hunt DJ, Hoglund V, Finney O, Brakke H, Blazar BR, Berger C, Riddell SR, Gardner R, Kean LS, Jensen MC
    Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell-Mediated Neurotoxicity in Nonhuman Primates.
    29563103 Cancer discovery, 2018 June : 8(6)750-763 PMCID:PMC6058704
  • Ceppi F, Rivers J, Annesley C, Pinto N, Park JR, Lindgren C, Mgebroff S, Linn N, Delaney M, Gardner RA
    Lymphocyte apheresis for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell manufacturing in children and young adults with leukemia and neuroblastoma.
    29536556 Transfusion, 2018 June : 58(6)1414-1420
  • Annesley CE, Summers C, Ceppi F, Gardner RA
    The Evolution and Future of CAR T Cells for B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
    29171004 Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, 2018 April : 103(4)591-598
  • Gardner RA, Finney O, Annesley C, Brakke H, Summers C, Leger K, Bleakley M, Brown C, Mgebroff S, Kelly-Spratt KS, Hoglund V, Lindgren C, Oron AP, Li D, Riddell SR, Park JR, Jensen MC
    Intent-to-treat leukemia remission by CD19 CAR T cells of defined formulation and dose in children and young adults.
    28408462 Blood, 2017 June 22 : 129(25)3322-3331 PMCID:PMC5482103
  • Sun W, Orgel E, Malvar J, Sposto R, Wilkes JJ, Gardner R, Tolbert VP, Smith A, Hur M, Hoffman J, Rheingold SR, Burke MJ, Wayne AS
    Treatment-related adverse events associated with a modified UK ALLR3 induction chemotherapy backbone for childhood relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
    27437864 Pediatric blood & cancer, 2016 Nov. : 63(11)1943-8 PMCID:PMC7451261
  • Jacoby E, Nguyen SM, Fountaine TJ, Welp K, Gryder B, Qin H, Yang Y, Chien CD, Seif AE, Lei H, Song YK, Khan J, Lee DW, Mackall CL, Gardner RA, Jensen MC, Shern JF, Fry TJ
    CD19 CAR immune pressure induces B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia lineage switch exposing inherent leukaemic plasticity.
    27460500 Nature communications, 2016 July 27 : 712320 PMCID:PMC4974466
  • Gardner R, Wu D, Cherian S, Fang M, Hanafi LA, Finney O, Smithers H, Jensen MC, Riddell SR, Maloney DG, Turtle CJ
    Acquisition of a CD19-negative myeloid phenotype allows immune escape of MLL-rearranged B-ALL from CD19 CAR-T-cell therapy.
    26907630 Blood, 2016 May 19 : 127(20)2406-10 PMCID:PMC4874221
  • Tasian SK, Gardner RA
    CD19-redirected chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cells: a promising immunotherapy for children and adults with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
    26425336 Therapeutic advances in hematology, 2015 Oct. : 6(5)228-41 PMCID:PMC4556967
  • Lee DW, Gardner R, Porter DL, Louis CU, Ahmed N, Jensen M, Grupp SA, Mackall CL
    Current concepts in the diagnosis and management of cytokine release syndrome.
    24876563 Blood, 2014 July 10 : 124(2)188-95 PMCID:PMC4093680
  • Gardner RA, Thomson B, Hawkins DS
    Substitution with doxorubicin for daunorubicin during induction for high risk pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia results in increased toxicity.
    23015453 Pediatric blood & cancer, 2012 Sept. 26
  • Terakura S, Yamamoto TN, Gardner RA, Turtle CJ, Jensen MC, Riddell SR
    Generation of CD19-chimeric antigen receptor modified CD8+ T cells derived from virus-specific central memory T cells.
    22031866 Blood, 2012 Jan. 5 : 119(1)72-82 PMCID:PMC3251238
  • Losick VP, Schlax PE, Emmons RA, Lawson TG
    Signals in hepatitis A virus P3 region proteins recognized by the ubiquitin-mediated proteolytic system.
    12758177 Virology, 2003 May 10 : 309(2)306-19
  • Azzam HS, DeJarnette JB, Huang K, Emmons R, Park CS, Sommers CL, El-Khoury D, Shores EW, Love PE
    Fine tuning of TCR signaling by CD5.
    11313384 Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950), 2001 May 1 : 166(9)5464-72
  • DeJarnette JB, Sommers CL, Huang K, Woodside KJ, Emmons R, Katz K, Shores EW, Love PE
    Specific requirement for CD3epsilon in T cell development.
    9843989 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1998 Dec. 8 : 95(25)14909-14 PMCID:PMC24549

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• Presentations

  Presentations Title	Event	Location	Date
  Beyond CD19 CAR T cells for B-ALL	3rd European CAR T-Cell Meeting	Virtual	2021
  CAR T cells for Other Pediatric Non-B-cell Hematologic Malignancies	ASH Annual Meeting	Virtual	Dec. 2020
  Next Generation CAR T cell Therapy for B-ALL	Pediatric Malignancies Program – Updates on Immunotherapy	UCSF	Oct. 2020
  Novel CAR T cell approaches for B-ALL	International Workshop on CAR-T	Virtual	Oct. 2020
  CAR T cells for Infant B-ALL: The Seattle Children’s Experience	6th New Agents in Leukemia/Lymphoma Symposium	Virtual	Oct. 2020
  One Size Does Not Fit ALL: Modifiers of Response and Toxicity	Poster Discussant. ASCO Annual Meeting	Virtual	May 2020
  Optimization of CRS management” and “CAR-T cells in pediatric ALL	International Workshop on CAR-T	Miami, FL	Oct. 2019
  The Development of CAR T cells for B-ALL: The Seattle Children’s Experience		Lausanne Switzerland	Jan. 2019

• Research Funding

  Grant Title	Grantor	Amount	Award Date
  Humoral Immunity after CAR-T cell Therapy for B Cell Malignancies: The HICAR Study	NIH/NCI		2020 - 2024
  Accelerate cellular immunotherapy development for treatment of life-threatening childhood disorders	NIH/NCATS		2018 - 2023
  Accelerating Access to Cellular Therapies for the Treatment of Childhood Malignancies	Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation		2014 - 2023
  Immunogenomics to Create New Therapies for High-Risk Childhood Cancers	CHOP/St. Baldricks Foundation		July 1, 2013 - June 30, 2018
  Autologous T cells genetically modified to express a CD19 specific chimeric antigen receptor to treat pediatric relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia.	Conquer Cancer Foundation		July 1, 2013 - June 30, 2016