Neena Kapoor, MD

Director, Blood and Marrow Transplant Laboratory

Attending Physician; Hematology, Oncology and Blood and Marrow Transplantation

Investigator, Hematology-Oncology

Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine of USC

Clinical Interests

Immunological reconstitution post transplant, infection in immune-suppressed patients, transplantation for genetic and autoimmune diseases, decreasing transplant-related toxicity, management of immuno-compromised patients and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).

Education

Medical School

Himachal Pradesh Medical College

Internship

Rhode Island Hospital, Brown University: Pediatrics

Residency

Rhode Island Hospital, Brown University: Pediatrics

Fellowship

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Cornell University: Immunology

Accomplishments

Certifications

Pediatrics, American Board of Pediatrics; Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, American Board of Hematology/Oncology

Professional Memberships

American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ABMT), American Society of Hematology (ASH), Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR), Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC), American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI), Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium (PIDTC), Robert A. Good Immunology Society (RAGIS), Indian Society for Primary Immune Deficiency (ISPID) and Foundation for Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases (FPID).

Awards

Academy of Pediatrics, American Society of Hematology, International Society of Transplantation and International Society for Experimental Hematology

Publications

Transplantation outcomes for severe combined immunodeficiency, 2000-2009. Pai SY, Logan BR, Griffith LM, Buckley RH, Parrott RE, Dvorak CC, Kapoor N, Hanson IC, Filipovich AH, Jyonouchi S, Sullivan KE, Small TN, Burroughs L, Skoda-Smith S, Haight AE, Grizzle A, Pulsipher MA, Chan KW, Fuleihan RL, Haddad E, Loechelt B, Aquino VM, Gillio A, Davis J, Knutsen A, Smith AR, Moore TB, Schroeder ML, Goldman FD, Connelly JA, Porteus MH, Xiang Q, Shearer WT, Fleisher TA, Kohn DB, Puck JM, Notarangelo LD, Cowan MJ, O'Reilly RJ. New England Journal of Medicine. 2014 Jul 31 371(5):434-46. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1401177.

Association between medical school radiology curricula and application rates to US radiology residency programs. Kapoor N, Smith SE. J Am Coll Radiol. 2014 Jul 10. pii: S1546-1440(14)00249-X. doi: 10.1016/j.jacr.2014.05.002. [Epub ahead of print]

Immunologic Resolution of Human Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease. Mahadeo KM, Masinsin B, Kapoor N, Shah AJ, Abdel-Azim H, Parkman R. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2014 Jun 27. pii: S1083-8791(14)00397-8. doi: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2014.06.030. [Epub ahead of print]

Overcoming Psychosocial and Developmental Barriers to Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BMT) in an Adolescent/Young Adult (AYA) Transgender Patient with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. Khazal S, Abdel-Azim H, Kapoor N, Mahadeo KM. Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2014 May 22. [Epub ahead of print]

Human lymphoid development in the absence of common ?-chain receptor signaling. Kohn LA, Seet CS, Scholes J, Codrea F, Chan R, Zaidi-Merchant S, Zhu Y, De Oliveira S, Kapoor N, Shah A, Abdel-Azim H, Kohn DB, Crooks GM. J Immunol. 2014 Jun 1192(11):5050-8. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1303496. Epub 2014 Apr 25.

PubMed Link

Publications on PubMed

Research

Dr. Kapoor’s research focuses on patients with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) -- a genetic disorder characterized by the disturbed development of functional T cells and B cells caused by numerous genetic mutations that result in heterogeneous clinical presentations. SCID involves defective antibody response due to either direct involvement with B lymphocytes or through improper B lymphocyte activation due to non-functional T-helper cells. Consequently, both the B cells and T cells of the adaptive immune system are impaired due to a defect in one of several possible genes. SCID is the most severe form of primary immunodeficiency, and there are now at least nine different known genes in which mutations lead to a form of SCID. It is also known as the bubble baby disease and bubble boy disease because its victims are extremely vulnerable to infectious diseases.

These infections are usually serious, and may even be life threatening, they may include pneumonia, meningitis or bloodstream infections. Children affected by SCID can also become ill from live viruses present in some vaccines. These vaccines (such as Chickenpox, Measles, Rotavirus, oral polio and BCG, etc.) contain viruses and bacteria that are weakened and don’t harm children with a healthy immune system. In patients with SCID however, these viruses and bacteria may cause severe, life-threatening infections.

For additional information, vist the Kapoor Laboratory.