Session Chair: Timothy P. Cripe, MD, PhD, FAAP

Timothy P. Cripe, MD, PhD, FAAP, is chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and Blood & Marrow Transplant (BMT) at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, a Gordon Teter Endowed Chair in Pediatric Cancer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. A Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Cripe’s research interests include immunotherapies and oncolytic viruses for cancer treatment. He received his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Princeton University and his MD and PhD in Genetics from the University of Iowa. He completed his pediatric residency training at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital and his subspecialty fellowship training in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Children’s Hospital, Boston, and the University of Colorado/Children’s Hospital, Denver. He was on faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital prior to coming to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in 2012. 

Rolla F. Abu-Arja, MD

Rolla F. Abu-Arja, MD, is the clinical director of the Blood & Marrow Transplant (BMT) clinical team and program director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Fellowship at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She is also associate professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Abu-Arja’s clinical interests are in blood and marrow transplant for malignant and non-malignant disorders with a focus on transplant for immune and metabolic disorders. She obtained her Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery at University of Jordan in Amman. She completed her pediatric residency at the Jersey City Medical Center/Mount Sinai School of Medicine program where she later became the Pediatric Chief Resident. Dr. Abu-Arja completed her pediatric hematology and oncology fellowship at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital and a year as a fellow associate in Immunology and Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT). She was the Clinical Director for the Pediatric Blood and Bone Marrow Transplant unit and an assistant professor at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland before joining Nationwide Children’s Hospital in 2013. 

Hemalatha G. Rangarajan, MD

Hemalatha G. Rangarajan, MD, is a physician on the Hematology/Oncology and Blood & Marrow Transplant (BMT) teams at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She is also assistant professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Rangarajan’s research interests include stem cell transplant in acute myeloid leukemia and hemoglobinopathies, chronic graft verssus host disease and photopheresis for the treatment of graft versus host disease. She received her medical degree from Coimbatore Medical College, India. She then trained in Pediatrics at Madurai Medical College in India and subsequently was appointed as a specialist registrar in Pediatrics and Pediatric Specialties at the National Health Services in the United Kingdom. She then completed her pediatric residency at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria and during that period also served as a chief resident. Dr. Rangarajan completed her fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and BMT at the Medical College of Wisconsin, before joining Nationwide Children’s Hospital in 2012.