Leadership in Bone Marrow Transplant/Hematologic Malignancy Infectious Diseases at Shadyside
Palash Samanta, MBBS, MD, and Ghady Haidar, MD, have been appointed to formal leadership roles in the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) / Hematologic Malignancy Infectious Diseases Service, in recognition of their excellent work at Shadyside Hospital.
Palash and Ghady are responsible for building a very successful new clinical service at Shadyside. Their clinical expertise, along with passion and dedication, have been keys to the success of this endeavor. In addition to their work on service, Palash and Ghady have created/updated important clinical protocols, including prophylaxis and management of neutropenic fever in BMT, antimicrobial prophylaxis in stem cell transplant and leukemia, and a CAR-T cell therapy antimicrobial prophylaxis protocol. They have worked with the laboratory to streamline ordering of tests, improve turnaround times, and integrate results into clinical practice.
Palash will serve as Clinical Director of Bone Marrow Transplant / Hematologic Malignancy ID. In this role, he will oversee the clinical operations of BMT / Hem malignancy / immunotherapy services, and is the point person for inpatient and outpatient operational issues and coordination with the Hematology-Oncology division. He will continue to develop relationships with the primary services and facilitate its growth. Outside of the busy clinical service, Palash has been productive in publication on fungal infections and is principal investigator of an industry-sponsored Investigator-Initiated research project.
Ghady will serve as Research Director of Bone Marrow Transplant / Hematologic Malignancy ID. He is a recipient of an NIH-sponsored K23 mentored patient-oriented research career development award evaluating the role of gut microbiome in CRE colonization, persistence, and infection after lung and liver transplantation. He also received a Hillman Cancer Center Research Award to develop a Hematological Malignancy Infectious Diseases (HMID) Biorepository and clinical database that will serve as a resource for UPMC researchers.
Palash and Ghady are valuable members of the TID team, and we expect that they will continue to lead the growth of our service and research at Shadyside.
Please join us in congratulating Palash and Ghady for this well-deserved recognition!