Early Sickle Mortality Prevention

The Laboratory of Early Sickle Mortality Prevention, led by Dr. Courtney Fitzhugh, is exploring new avenues of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for sickle cell disease.

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Courtney Fitzhugh, M.D.

Clinical Trials and Studies

Repeat Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation for Patients With Sickle Cell Disease and Falling Donor Myeloid Chimerism Levels

Recruiting
All Ages
All Genders
Accepting Healthy Volunteers
Do you or your child have sickle cell disease and a relative willing to donate stem cells? This study is giving a second blood stem cell transplant to people with sickle cell disease who have had their disease return after one stem cell transplant. To participate in this study, you must be 4 years old or older, have sickle cell disease, and have had your disease return after receiving a blood stem cell transplant. You must also have a relative who is older than 2 years and can donate stem cells via a blood draw. This study takes place in Bethesda, Maryland.

Observational Study to Deeply Phenotype Major Organs in Sickle Cell Disease After Curative Therapies

Recruiting
Adult, Older Adult
All Genders
Not Accepting Healthy Volunteers
Are you at least 18 years old and have sickle cell disease? People with sickle cell disease often have problems with their heart, brain, kidneys, liver, and lungs as they age. These problems may improve after transplant. Researchers in this study are trying to learn how and why this happens. To participate in this study, you must be at least 18 years old and have sickle cell disease. You must also have a history of problems with your heart, lungs, or other criteria that the study doctor will discuss with you. This study is taking place at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Featured Publications

Increased incidence of hematologic malignancies in SCD after HCT in adults with graft failure and mixed chimerism

Authors: Lawal RA, Mukherjee D, Limerick EM, Coles W, Hsieh MM, Dillon LW, Hourigan CS, Fitzhugh CD.
Blood. 2022 Dec 08;140(23):2514-2518
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Baseline TP53 mutations in adults with SCD developing myeloid malignancy following hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Authors: Ghannam JY, Xu X, Maric I, Dillon L, Li Y, Hsieh MM, Hourigan CS, Fitzhugh CD.
Blood 2020 Apr 02;135(14):1185-1188
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Clonal Hematopoiesis and the Risk of Hematologic Malignancies after Curative Therapies for Sickle Cell Disease

Authors: Lukasz P Gondek, Vivien A Sheehan, Courtney D Fitzhugh
J Clin Med 2022 Jun 02;11(11):3160
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Cardiac effects 2 years after successful non-myeloablative human leukocyte antigen-matched related donor hematopoietic cell transplants in sickle cell disease

Authors: Sachdev V, Limerick E, Nguyen ML, Li W, Jeffries N, Ramachandra S, Tofovic D, Rondelli D, Al Zahrani M, Aljizeeri A, Saraf S, Hsieh M, Fitzhugh CD
Am J Hematol. 2023 Aug 01;98(8):E219-E221
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Cyclophosphamide improves engraftment in patients with SCD and severe organ damage who undergo haploidentical PBSCT.

Authors: Fitzhugh CD, Hsieh MM, Taylor T, Coles W, Roskom K, Wilson D, Wright E, Jeffries N, Gamper CJ, Powell J, Luznik L, Tisdale JF
Blood Adv 2017 Apr 19;1(11):652-61
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Meet the Team

Courtney Fitzhugh, M.D.

Courtney Fitzhugh, M.D.

Lasker Clinical Research Scholar

Courtney Fitzhugh received her B.S. magna cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1996, and her M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco in 2001. During medical school, Dr. Fitzhugh participated in the NIH Clinical Research Training Program, where she studied with Dr. John Tisdale in NIDDK/NHLBI. After receiving her M.D., Dr. Fitzhugh completed a joint residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at Duke University Medical Center, and in 2005 she did a combined adult hematology and pediatric hematology-oncology fellowship at the NIH and Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Fitzhugh returned to the NHLBI in 2007 and was appointed as Assistant Clinical Investigator in 2012 and Lasker Clinical Research Scholar as a Clinical Tenure Track Investigator in 2016. She is a member of the American Society of Hematology and the American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy.

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