In a news release Tuesday, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital announced that it has named Dr. Cassandra Josephson director of the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida. She is also a Professor (PAR) in Oncology in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Dr. Josephson’s brother was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease just before she attended medical school, creating a sudden focus for her on cancer and blood disorders. Now, she specializes in blood banking/transfusion medicine and hematology-oncology and is recognized internationally as a leader in pediatric transfusion medicine, making significant contributions to medical education, clinical knowledge, clinical/translational research and patient care. Most recently, she worked as a Professor of Pathology/Laboratory Medicine and Pediatrics and was the director of Clinical Research and associate director of the Emory Center for Transfusion and Cellular Therapies at the Emory University School of Medicine and at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
“This is a critically important time in the field of pediatric hematology/oncology and blood and marrow transplantation. There are many new and innovative medical technologies/treatments. I’m excited to lead an institute where all the right ingredients exist to take it to the next level’, says Josephson.
She has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and received multiple NIH-funded and Centers for Disease Control grant awards. Her research is focused on transfusion medicine issues related to pediatric hematology and hemostasis, with a focus on sickle cell disease, neonatology, coagulation in pediatric trauma, and platelet transfusion in various disease states.
In 2019, the NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) honored Dr. Josephson’s work as one of its Celebrated Women Scientists. They highlighted some of her important research findings, including that anemia — and not transfusions — is associated with increased risk for necrotizing enterocolitis in neonatal intensive care patients, and her work to decrease complications from red blood cell and platelet transfusions by elucidating how these complications arise in infants and children.
Dr. Josephson earned her medical degree from the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine. She completed a pediatric residency at the University of Colorado and Children’s Hospital Colorado, followed by clinical fellowships in pediatric hematology/oncology and blood bank/transfusion medicine at Emory University School of Medicine.
