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Faculty, UW School of Medicine and Public Health

Christian Capitini, MD

  • Pediatric Hematology and Oncology
Christian M. Capitini, MD

About

Dr. Christian Capitini is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He is presently the Director of Clinical Innovation for the UW Forward BIO Institute. He is an American Cancer Society Research Scholar and a Young Investigator on a Pediatric Cancer Dream Team sponsored by the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and Stand up to Cancer. 

Dr. Capitini leads an NIH and NSF-supported laboratory focusing on development of cell-based therapies, including NK cells and CAR T-cells, for the treatment of childhood cancers like neuroblastoma and osteosarcoma. The laboratory also manufactures alternatively activated macrophages for complications of bone marrow transplant, like graft-versus-host-disease and acute radiation syndrome. In the clinic, Dr. Capitini was a site Principal Investigator for the first multi-center CAR T-cell trial, which led to FDA approval of tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) for the treatment of recurrent/refractory B cell leukemia in children. He remains a site PI for trials testing Kymriah as upfront therapy for high risk B cell leukemias and for treatment of relapsed non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Languages spoken
  • English
  • Spanish
University affiliation

Practice locations

Education & credentials

Board certifications
  • Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
Medical School
  • University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY
Fellowships

Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD and National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD

Residencies
  • University of Minnesota Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN

Specialties

Additional conditions and treatments
  • Bone Marrow Biopsy
  • Chemotherapy
  • Immunotherapy
  • Lumbar Puncture
  • Pediatric Bleeding Disorders
  • Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant

Research and publications

Dr. Capitini focuses his research on using allogeneic bone marrow transplant to cure pediatric cancers. The goal of this research is two-fold: to improve graft-vs.-tumor effects using immunotherapies that have potential to be translated into the clinic, and to reduce or eliminate graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) through modulation of antigen presenting cells. Ongoing laboratory work is combining NK cells expanded with costimulatory molecules and gamma (c) cytokines with antibodies to stimulate NK cell proliferation and activation against several pediatric tumors in the alloBMT setting. He is also developing MRI techniques to monitor NK cells in vivo. Clinically, Dr. Capitini is a site investigator for clinical trials studying chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cells for relapsed leukemia. Learn more about Dr. Capitini's research at http://www.pediatrics.wisc.edu/research/research-groups/capitini.