Cellular Immunotherapies and Transplant Program

The Cellular Immunotherapies and Transplant Program at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center provides leading-edge, collaborative and comprehensive care for pediatric and adult patients with a variety of blood and bone marrow disorders. We offer the latest FDA-approved CAR-T immunotherapies, clinical trials testing new and promising forms of cellular immunotherapies as well as all forms of stem cell and bone marrow transplantation. We work with referring physicians and carefully evaluate each patient before recommending an individualized treatment plan that will lead to the best possible outcomes and quality of life.

Learn more

Massey was the first in Virginia to offer an FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapy. Find out more in the video.

Overview

VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center is the largest adult and pediatric stem cell and bone marrow transplant provider in Virginia, and we are now leading the way in making the most advanced cellular immunotherapies available to patients in the Commonwealth and beyond. These exciting new treatments modify a patient’s own immune cells to help them fight cancer, and only the best hospitals in the nation have the comprehensive and collaborative clinical infrastructure to provide them.

Every patient is unique, which is why we work closely with referring physicians and conduct in-depth evaluations before recommending a personalized treatment plan. From coordinating medical records and assisting with insurance and transportation to managing side effects and survivorship planning, our cellular immunotherapy and transplant coordinators work to make treatment as easy as possible for patients and their caregivers.

Choose Massey’s Cellular Immunotherapies and Transplant Program because our care is:

Cutting-edge

We offer cutting-edge, FDA-approved cellular immunotherapies, all forms of stem cell and bone marrow transplantation as well as clinical trials testing novel immunotherapies and improved transplantation techniques. Our doctors are experts in managing complex blood disorders and tailor each patient’s care to minimize side effects and improve quality of life. We are continuously working to improve donor matching while identifying and removing barriers to transplantation for patients who are not currently eligible.

Comprehensive

Our program provides seamless coordination throughout the arc of a patient’s needed therapy. We offer the full range of available treatments as well as access to clinical trials only available at National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers like Massey. We provide both outpatient and inpatient services in the same facility, and provide a suite of support services that range from helping minimize symptoms and side effects to coping with the cognitive, emotional and psychological effects of cancer.

Collaborative

Collaboration is essential when providing some of the world’s most advanced cancer treatments. The Cellular Immunotherapies and Transplant Program relies on the expertise and coordination of many different clinical teams throughout Massey and VCU Health to provide the complex and individualized care that our patients need.

Compassionate

We understand how difficult cancer care can be, especially when long hospital stays are required. This is especially true for children and young adults, who must put their lives on hold while their friends and loved ones continue to live theirs. We are your partner in long-term health. Through respectful, attentive and compassionate care, our care team builds healing relationships with our patients that focus on recovery and survivorship. We work closely with a large team of supportive care specialists to address the psychological and social impacts of cancer.

Customized

At Massey, we evaluate each patient and recommend a treatment plan that will provide the best possible outcome and quality of life. Some patients may be candidates for FDA-approved CAR-T therapy, while others may benefit from stem cell transplantation or even a combination of the two approaches. We also tailor pre-and post-transplant care to each patient to minimize side effects and improve recovery.
Treatment
At Massey, an entire team of specialists evaluates each patient to recommend a personalized treatment plan. The benefits and risks of each treatment are carefully considered and discussed with the patient. Your medical team will recommend the combination and sequence of care that is most likely to result in the best outcomes and quality of life based on your unique medical, social and emotional needs. Your cellular immunotherapy and transplant coordinator will guide you and your caregivers through each step of the process, and you will have access to comprehensive supportive care.

Treatments may include:

CAR-T therapy

CAR-T therapy is an exciting new type of immunotherapy in which a patient's T-cells, a type of immune system cell, are genetically modified in the laboratory so they will attack cancer cells. T-cells are taken from a patient’s blood through a process called apheresis, in which blood is collected from the vein, filtered and separated by a machine and then returned to the patient. Then, the gene for a special receptor that binds to a certain protein on the patient’s cancer cells is added. The special receptor is called a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR). Large numbers of the CAR-T cells are grown in the laboratory and then given to the patient by infusion.

Providing CAR-T therapies requires extensive coordination of many different clinical teams due to the complex nature and potential side effects of cellular immunotherapies. Patients treated with CAR-T therapies at Massey are required to stay in the hospital for seven days after CAR-T infusion and be within a 30-minute drive to Massey for the following month. During this time, patients are closely monitored for side effects and given exclusive and immediate access to medical care at any time for any reason.

Current CAR-T therapies
- Yescarta™ by Kite Pharmaceutical - Massey was among the first cancer care providers in the nation to offer Yescarta™ (axicabtagene ciloleucel) for adult patients with large B-cell lymphoma subtypes including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, high grade B-cell lymphoma, primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma, and transformed follicular lymphoma. To be eligible, patients must have received two or more other forms of cancer treatment which did not successfully treat their cancer.
- KYMRIAH™ by Novartis - KYMRIAH™ is approved by the FDA for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children and young adults up to 25 years old whose cancer has returned after previous treatments or has not responded to previous therapies.
- TECARTUS™ by Kite Pharmaceutical - TECARTUS™ is approved for adults with mantle cell lymphoma whose disease continues to progress despite prior treatments.
Because Massey is one of the few cancer care providers with the clinical expertise and resources to provide CAR-T therapies, we are also able to participate in clinical trials testing new and promising forms of cellular immunotherapies.

Transplantation

Massey has been providing bone marrow and stem cell transplantation options continuously since 1988. Now the largest and most comprehensive transplant provider in Virginia, our patients can receive any available transplant source and option without being referred elsewhere, including related, unrelated, autologous (self) and umbilical cord blood transplants. Good patient outcomes have helped place Massey’s Cellular Immunotherapies and Transplant program among the largest and fastest-growing programs in the nation.

During bone marrow or stem cell transplantation, a patient’s immune system is replaced with the healthy immune system of a related or unrelated donor, or with stem cells collected and stored from umbilical cord blood. First, the patient’s own blood-producing stem cells are eliminated through high-dose chemotherapy so that the new, healthy immune system can be transplanted. In autologous transplants, a patient’s own stem cells are collected before their cancer cells and blood producing stem cells are destroyed with chemotherapy. The stem cells are then given back to the patient to regrow their blood cells.

Candidates for transplantation often have various forms of blood cancers, such as leukemias, as well as sickle cell anemia and other hematologic malignancies and immune disorders. In particular, candidates are patients who have relapsed or recurrent cancer, patients whose cancer did not fully respond to standard-dose therapy and patients at a high risk for relapse with standard-dose therapy.

Our inpatient treatment unit and outpatient clinic are specifically designed for the treatment needs of transplant patients and their families, and are conveniently located in downtown Richmond on the VCU Medical Center campus with free valet parking for outpatient appointments.

A critical component of our program is our Cellular Therapeutics Lab, which allows physicians to perform procedures more specifically tailored to individual cancer patients’ needs as opposed to broadly supporting intensive, high-dose chemotherapy treatments used in bone marrow transplantation. The lab allows specific cellular elements of the patient’s or donor’s immune system to be isolated or adapted to work as a focused therapy for cancer or immune-mediated disorders, providing new hope for patients with a myriad of disease.
Research

Life-saving discoveries

The field of cellular immunotherapies and stem cell transplantation is advancing rapidly as scientists discover new and better ways to harness the power of the immune system to fight cancer. These exciting new immunotherapies and transplant techniques are first available in clinical trials, which are research studies testing new treatments before they are commercially approved. These types of studies are typically only available at NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers like Massey.

Learn more about clinical trials at Massey CLICK HERE
Resources
Support services

Your cellular immunotherapies and transplant coordinator is your access to a plethora of resources available through Massey and VCU Health as well as national and local organizations. In addition to helping you navigate your medical care, they also work with referring providers and primary care physicians, help with insurance claims and lodging needs, and they connect patients and caregivers with other resources such as social workers, pain and symptom management experts, nutritionists, legal and financial assistance resources, support groups and more.

More information about resources available to our patients can be found in our Patient Education Manuals:
Caregiver resources

Massey offers a class designed for caregivers of bone marrow, stem cell or cord blood transplant patients who are in the pre-transplant phase or are currently admitted for transplant. These classes are in a video format below. This preparation is critical to the recovery process and will help reduce stress on the patient and caregiver. Topics covered are dietary advice, important information for emergency situations, medication information, financial information, long-term follow-up (LTFU) information, how to care for the caregiver and more. Please download the Patient Education Manual from above to follow along.

Additional resources

At VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, we believe that treating the whole person, not just the disease, is the best way to care for patients and family members coping with cancer. We take a holistic approach to address not just your medical and physical needs, but also your psychological, emotional and social needs. We offer comprehensive cancer support services to care for you throughout your cancer journey that range from helping minimize symptoms and side effects to helping evaluate and cope with the emotional and psychological effects of cancer. These services include:
- Communication assistance
- Integrative health resources, including acupressure, art therapy, music therapy, pet therapy and tobacco cessation counseling. Complementary therapies are not substitutes for medical care but are used together with medical treatments to help patients alleviate stress and anxiety, reduce pain, manage symptoms and promote a feeling of well-being.
- Financial assistance for qualifying patients in need
- Genetic counseling by board-certified genetic counselors in Richmond’s only Familial Cancer Clinic
- Healing garden
- Legal assistance for qualifying patients in need
- Lodging for qualifying patients in need
- Nutritionists
- Palliative care by an international award-winning team for the management of pain and symptoms, including an outpatient Supportive Care Clinic
- Patient education, including libraries and health programming geared to cancer patients and their caregivers
- Pharmacy services, including in-hospital oncology pharmacies
- Psychological counseling
- Rehabilitation by one of the nation’s longest-running cancer rehabilitation programs with physical, occupational and speech therapy especially geared for cancer patients
- Spiritual counseling
- Social work for patients in need
- Support groups
- Transportation assistance for qualifying patients in need – ask your social worker for more information
- Wig salons that provide free hats, scarves and wigs as well as private head-wear consultation services
Click below for a full list of our patient support services:

Click here for
PATIENT RESOURCES

Click here for
INTEGRATIVE HEALTH

VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center is the largest adult and pediatric stem cell and bone marrow transplant provider in Virginia, and we are now leading the way in making the most advanced cellular immunotherapies available to patients in the Commonwealth and beyond. These exciting new treatments modify a patient’s own immune cells to help them fight cancer, and only the best hospitals in the nation have the comprehensive and collaborative clinical infrastructure to provide them.

Every patient is unique, which is why we work closely with referring physicians and conduct in-depth evaluations before recommending a personalized treatment plan. From coordinating medical records and assisting with insurance and transportation to managing side effects and survivorship planning, our cellular immunotherapy and transplant coordinators work to make treatment as easy as possible for patients and their caregivers.

Choose Massey’s Cellular Immunotherapies and Transplant Program because our care is:

Cutting-edge

We offer cutting-edge, FDA-approved cellular immunotherapies, all forms of stem cell and bone marrow transplantation as well as clinical trials testing novel immunotherapies and improved transplantation techniques. Our doctors are experts in managing complex blood disorders and tailor each patient’s care to minimize side effects and improve quality of life. We are continuously working to improve donor matching while identifying and removing barriers to transplantation for patients who are not currently eligible.

Comprehensive

Our program provides seamless coordination throughout the arc of a patient’s needed therapy. We offer the full range of available treatments as well as access to clinical trials only available at National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers like Massey. We provide both outpatient and inpatient services in the same facility, and provide a suite of support services that range from helping minimize symptoms and side effects to coping with the cognitive, emotional and psychological effects of cancer.

Collaborative

Collaboration is essential when providing some of the world’s most advanced cancer treatments. The Cellular Immunotherapies and Transplant Program relies on the expertise and coordination of many different clinical teams throughout Massey and VCU Health to provide the complex and individualized care that our patients need.

Compassionate

We understand how difficult cancer care can be, especially when long hospital stays are required. This is especially true for children and young adults, who must put their lives on hold while their friends and loved ones continue to live theirs. We are your partner in long-term health. Through respectful, attentive and compassionate care, our care team builds healing relationships with our patients that focus on recovery and survivorship. We work closely with a large team of supportive care specialists to address the psychological and social impacts of cancer.

Customized

At Massey, we evaluate each patient and recommend a treatment plan that will provide the best possible outcome and quality of life. Some patients may be candidates for FDA-approved CAR-T therapy, while others may benefit from stem cell transplantation or even a combination of the two approaches. We also tailor pre-and post-transplant care to each patient to minimize side effects and improve recovery.

At Massey, an entire team of specialists evaluates each patient to recommend a personalized treatment plan. The benefits and risks of each treatment are carefully considered and discussed with the patient. Your medical team will recommend the combination and sequence of care that is most likely to result in the best outcomes and quality of life based on your unique medical, social and emotional needs. Your cellular immunotherapy and transplant coordinator will guide you and your caregivers through each step of the process, and you will have access to comprehensive supportive care.

Treatments may include:

CAR-T therapy

CAR-T therapy is an exciting new type of immunotherapy in which a patient's T-cells, a type of immune system cell, are genetically modified in the laboratory so they will attack cancer cells. T-cells are taken from a patient’s blood through a process called apheresis, in which blood is collected from the vein, filtered and separated by a machine and then returned to the patient. Then, the gene for a special receptor that binds to a certain protein on the patient’s cancer cells is added. The special receptor is called a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR). Large numbers of the CAR-T cells are grown in the laboratory and then given to the patient by infusion.

Providing CAR-T therapies requires extensive coordination of many different clinical teams due to the complex nature and potential side effects of cellular immunotherapies. Patients treated with CAR-T therapies at Massey are required to stay in the hospital for seven days after CAR-T infusion and be within a 30-minute drive to Massey for the following month. During this time, patients are closely monitored for side effects and given exclusive and immediate access to medical care at any time for any reason.

Current CAR-T therapies

Yescarta™ by Kite Pharmaceutical - Massey was among the first cancer care providers in the nation to offer Yescarta™ (axicabtagene ciloleucel) for adult patients with large B-cell lymphoma subtypes including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, high grade B-cell lymphoma, primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma, and transformed follicular lymphoma. To be eligible, patients must have received two or more other forms of cancer treatment which did not successfully treat their cancer.
KYMRIAH™ by Novartis - KYMRIAH™ is approved by the FDA for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children and young adults up to 25 years old whose cancer has returned after previous treatments or has not responded to previous therapies.
TECARTUS™ by Kite Pharmaceutical - TECARTUS™ is approved for adults with mantle cell lymphoma whose disease continues to progress despite prior treatments.

Because Massey is one of the few cancer care providers with the clinical expertise and resources to provide CAR-T therapies, we are also able to participate in clinical trials testing new and promising forms of cellular immunotherapies.

Transplantation

Massey has been providing bone marrow and stem cell transplantation options continuously since 1988. Now the largest and most comprehensive transplant provider in Virginia, our patients can receive any available transplant source and option without being referred elsewhere, including related, unrelated, autologous (self) and umbilical cord blood transplants. Good patient outcomes have helped place Massey’s Cellular Immunotherapies and Transplant program among the largest and fastest-growing programs in the nation.

During bone marrow or stem cell transplantation, a patient’s immune system is replaced with the healthy immune system of a related or unrelated donor, or with stem cells collected and stored from umbilical cord blood. First, the patient’s own blood-producing stem cells are eliminated through high-dose chemotherapy so that the new, healthy immune system can be transplanted. In autologous transplants, a patient’s own stem cells are collected before their cancer cells and blood producing stem cells are destroyed with chemotherapy. The stem cells are then given back to the patient to regrow their blood cells.

Candidates for transplantation often have various forms of blood cancers, such as leukemias, as well as sickle cell anemia and other hematologic malignancies and immune disorders. In particular, candidates are patients who have relapsed or recurrent cancer, patients whose cancer did not fully respond to standard-dose therapy and patients at a high risk for relapse with standard-dose therapy.

Our inpatient treatment unit and outpatient clinic are specifically designed for the treatment needs of transplant patients and their families, and are conveniently located in downtown Richmond on the VCU Medical Center campus with free valet parking for outpatient appointments.

A critical component of our program is our Cellular Therapeutics Lab, which allows physicians to perform procedures more specifically tailored to individual cancer patients’ needs as opposed to broadly supporting intensive, high-dose chemotherapy treatments used in bone marrow transplantation. The lab allows specific cellular elements of the patient’s or donor’s immune system to be isolated or adapted to work as a focused therapy for cancer or immune-mediated disorders, providing new hope for patients with a myriad of disease.

Life-saving discoveries

The field of cellular immunotherapies and stem cell transplantation is advancing rapidly as scientists discover new and better ways to harness the power of the immune system to fight cancer. These exciting new immunotherapies and transplant techniques are first available in clinical trials, which are research studies testing new treatments before they are commercially approved. These types of studies are typically only available at NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers like Massey.

Learn more about clinical trials at Massey CLICK HERE

Support services

Your cellular immunotherapies and transplant coordinator is your access to a plethora of resources available through Massey and VCU Health as well as national and local organizations. In addition to helping you navigate your medical care, they also work with referring providers and primary care physicians, help with insurance claims and lodging needs, and they connect patients and caregivers with other resources such as social workers, pain and symptom management experts, nutritionists, legal and financial assistance resources, support groups and more.

More information about resources available to our patients can be found in our Patient Education Manuals:

Allogenic Transplant Guide to Care | Guía de cuidado para el alotrasplante
Autologous Transplant Guide to Care | Guía para el cuidado del trasplante autólogo
CART-T Therapy Guide to Care (EN) | Guía para el cuidado del tratamiento con CAR-T (SP)

Caregiver resources

Massey offers a class designed for caregivers of bone marrow, stem cell or cord blood transplant patients who are in the pre-transplant phase or are currently admitted for transplant. These classes are in a video format below. This preparation is critical to the recovery process and will help reduce stress on the patient and caregiver. Topics covered are dietary advice, important information for emergency situations, medication information, financial information, long-term follow-up (LTFU) information, how to care for the caregiver and more. Please download the Patient Education Manual from above to follow along.

Additional resources

At VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, we believe that treating the whole person, not just the disease, is the best way to care for patients and family members coping with cancer. We take a holistic approach to address not just your medical and physical needs, but also your psychological, emotional and social needs. We offer comprehensive cancer support services to care for you throughout your cancer journey that range from helping minimize symptoms and side effects to helping evaluate and cope with the emotional and psychological effects of cancer. These services include:

Communication assistance
Integrative health resources, including acupressure, art therapy, music therapy, pet therapy and tobacco cessation counseling. Complementary therapies are not substitutes for medical care but are used together with medical treatments to help patients alleviate stress and anxiety, reduce pain, manage symptoms and promote a feeling of well-being.
Financial assistance for qualifying patients in need
Genetic counseling by board-certified genetic counselors in Richmond’s only Familial Cancer Clinic
Healing garden
Legal assistance for qualifying patients in need
Lodging for qualifying patients in need
Nutritionists
Palliative care by an international award-winning team for the management of pain and symptoms, including an outpatient Supportive Care Clinic
Patient education, including libraries and health programming geared to cancer patients and their caregivers
Pharmacy services, including in-hospital oncology pharmacies
Psychological counseling
Rehabilitation by one of the nation’s longest-running cancer rehabilitation programs with physical, occupational and speech therapy especially geared for cancer patients
Spiritual counseling
Social work for patients in need
Support groups
Transportation assistance for qualifying patients in need – ask your social worker for more information
Wig salons that provide free hats, scarves and wigs as well as private head-wear consultation services

Click below for a full list of our patient support services:

Click here for

PATIENT RESOURCES

Click here for

INTEGRATIVE HEALTH

Meet our team

Additional team members include:

Clinical pharmacists

May Aziz, Pharm.D.
Rebekah Dyer, Pharm.D.
Daniel Tobben, Pharm.D.

Nursing leadership

Jessica Gray, R.N., nursing director
Jennifer Anderson, R.N., outpatient nursing manager
Kristen Ramsey, R.N., outpatient nursing manager

Cellular immunotherapies and transplant coordinators

Adrianne Alexander, R.N.
Angela Buskey, R.N.
Linda Mayhew, R.N.
Dana Broadway, R.N.
Judith Davis, R.N.
Michelle Sherwood,R.N.
Kristina Folks, R.N.

Social workers

Karen Mullin, M.S.W. (patients A-J)
Jennifer Blosser, A.C.S.W., L.C.S.W., C.-S.W.H.C. (patients K-Z)

What can we help you find?

Cellular Immunotherapies and Transplant Program

Learn more

CAR-T therapy

Current CAR-T therapies

Transplantation

Life-saving discoveries

Learn more about clinical trials at Massey CLICK HERE

Click here for

Click here for

Meet our team

Additional team members include:

Clinical pharmacists

Nursing leadership

Cellular immunotherapies and transplant coordinators

Social workers

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