Donna Wall

Dr. Wall joined The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and University of Toronto in the fall of 2016 as Section Head of the Blood and Marrow Transplant/Cellular Therapy program. After completing paediatric and paediatric hematology/oncology training in New York and Boston she went on to establish BMT and public cord blood banks in St. Louis and San Antonio. Most recently she has led the Manitoba Blood and Marrow Transplant program including the Manitoba Center for Advanced Cell and Tissue Therapy.

Research

Dr. Wall is no longer accepting applications for any new positions. 

Clinical Research

Dr. Wall is involved in collaborative multicenter trials including Children's Oncology Group (COG) (vice-chair of the Cellular Therapy discipline), Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC), Cell Therapy Transplant Canada (formerly Canadian Blood and Marrow Transplant Group (president 2018-2020), and the Pediatric Immunodeficiency Disorder network (PIDTC).

She is the Institutional Principal Investigator for gene therapy trials utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 editing of hematopoietic stem cells to correct/ameliorate thalassemia and sickle cell disease

She is also actively involved in trials in chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapies and strategies to make transplant/cell therapy more effective and less toxic.

Translational Research

Dr. Wall has two main areas of research:

1. Better understanding of the role of inflammation in the early hematopoiesis peri-transplant and
2. Understanding the ontogeny of myeloid-derived suppressor cells. A transplant/cell therapy biobank to support current and future studies is in development.

Education and experience

• 1981: MD/B.Sc. Med, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• 1981–1982: Intern, Paediatrics, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, New York, United States
• 1982–1984: Resident, Paediatrics, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, United States
• 1984–1987: Fellowship, Paediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and The Children’s Hospital, Boston, United States

Achievements

• 2019: Lifetime Achievement award, Canadian Blood Services
• 2018: Chair, Garron Family/Hats off to Kidz Chair in Pediatric Leukemia research

See a full list of Donna Wall's publications