Meet Dr. Mignon Loh: Seattle Children’s New Leader of Cancer and Blood Disorders Care and Research
February 2, 2022
Seattle Children’s recently named Mignon Loh, MD, the new leader of Cancer and Blood Disorders Care and Research
Meet Dr. Mignon Loh
Seattle Children’s is thrilled to introduce Dr. Mignon Loh as our new leader of Cancer and Blood Disorders Care and Research. Dr. Loh joins us from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Benioff Children’s Hospitals, where her titles included Chief of Pediatric Oncology. Her vision: Keep Seattle Children’s at the leading edge of pediatric cancer and blood disorders care, while building on our research progress to make Seattle Children’s a driving force behind more advances that cure children worldwide.
Dr. Loh’s new role combines clinical leadership at Seattle Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, and research leadership as Director of the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research (BTCCCR) at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. Dr. Loh is also division chief of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, Bone Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy in the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine, as well as head of the Section of Pediatric Oncology at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Fred Hutch).
Advancing Care Via Research and Innovation
Seattle Children’s is home to renowned pediatric cancer and blood disorder physicians and researchers, and we have made pivotal advances in CAR T-cell therapy and other areas. Dr. Loh intends to continue breaking down walls between the clinic and the lab, to facilitate even more advances.
One of her many goals is to dedicate more research to health equity issues. For example, hemoglobinopathies such as sickle cell anemia and thalassemia disproportionately affect Black and Asian populations.
“We hope to add researchers and collaborate with other institutions to understand these disorders and bring better therapies to patients,” Dr. Loh says. “It’s an example of how we can think bigger, in ways that could help children around the world.”
Dr. Loh also plans for the BTCCCR to:
- Continue advancing our research on applying CAR T-cell therapies to high-risk tumors
- Expand our emphasis on exploring potential treatments for rare leukemias
- Establish a xenograft core
- Expand research on genomics and epigenomics
A Closer Integration with Fred Hutch and the UW School of Medicine
Dr. Loh joins us at a key moment. All Seattle Children’s cancer and blood diseases research now fall under the BTCCCR, adding to its ongoing immunotherapy and cancer biology work. This enables closer teamwork across research areas and is enhanced by our expanded collaboration with Fred Hutch and the University of Washington.
“This will enable us to together pursue bigger and more impactful research projects and grants, and will shorten the bridge between translating research to a clinical setting,” Dr. Loh says.
Providing world-class, family-centered care.
Dr. Loh will continue seeing patients and our innovative care will take another leap forward with Building Care, a new patient facility that opens later this year.
The Cancer and Blood Disorders Center outpatient clinic will be located there. The Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinic for pediatric outpatient services will also move to Building Care from its current home at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
“Patients will receive all the care they need in the same room, instead of shuttling to different appointments in different places,” Dr. Loh says. “It’s a new paradigm and it shows how Seattle Children’s is at the forefront of improving the patient experience.”
Unraveling longstanding leukemia mysteries.
Dr. Loh also leads a lab that translates genomic and biochemical discoveries into tests and therapies for juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). She also serves as the ALL committee chair for the Children’s Oncology Group. She has published more than 230 peer-reviewed papers and her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and other key organizations.
Decades of experience, earned at world-renowned medical institutions.
Dr. Loh received her medical degree at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, did her pediatric internship at UCSF, residency at Boston Children’s Hospital and her fellowship in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Boston Children’s Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute. At UCSF, she was a Benioff Chair of Children’s Health and the Deborah and Arthur Ablin Endowed Chair in Pediatric Molecular Oncology. She also co-led the Pediatric Malignancies Program in the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
To learn more about our Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, please contact us at 206-987-2106 or on our refer-a-patient page. For more information about our research at the BCCCTR, email us at info.BTCCCR@seattlechildrens.org.