Finding New Interventions for Pediatric Cancer | Crystal Mackall

Thanks to strides in oncology research, 80% of children who develop childhood cancer are cured. However, 20% still lose the battle, and the children who are cured often get treatments that take a lasting toll on their lives. “We really need to find more modern, more targeted, and more effective ways to treat our kids who come down with the scariest of all diseases,” Crystal Mackall says.

Dr. Mackall leads an internationally recognized translational research program focused on advancing fundamental immunology and finding new interventions, with a focus on children’s cancers. She is the director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Stanford, the co-director at the Stanford Cancer Institute, and the founding director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy.

She has led numerous first-in-human and first-in-child clinical trials for advanced cancer therapies, and helped pioneer work in treating pediatric leukemias. Her group at Stanford is currently developing next-generation cell therapies for both leukemia and solid cancers.

Dr. Mackall is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2021 Richard V. Smalley Award and Lectureship from the Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer, which is the society’s most prestigious award to a clinician/scientist. She serves in numerous national leadership positions, has published over 220 manuscripts, and is board certified in pediatrics, pediatric hematology-oncology, and internal medicine.