David Williams, MD, has been appointed chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and director of Translational Research at Children's Hospital Boston

Williams will begin in his new roles on December 1. He comes to Children's from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) where he was director of the Division of Experimental Hematology, attending physician in Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Pediatrics, and associate chair for Translational Research. Prior to his work at CCHMC, Williams was the inaugural director of the Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Williams is an internationally renowned researcher, with major interests in the study of blood stem cell biology, blood formation, leukemia, and the treatment of genetic blood disorders using gene therapy. He has won numerous prestigious awards for his research, including the Dameshek Award for research in hematology and the E. Mead Johnson Award for research in pediatrics. He was an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for 16 years and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine. He has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1986. Williams has multiple patents, several of which have been licensed to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Williams is a graduate of Indiana State University and the Indiana University School of Medicine. He trained in hematology/oncology at Children's Hospital Boston and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. During his fellowship research at the MIT Cancer Center and the Whitehead Institute, he developed techniques for introducing genes into murine and human hematopoietic cells using retroviruses that are still used in research and human gene trials today.

"Children's Hospital Boston is one the finest basic and early translational research centers in the world," Lux commented, "but we need to place more emphasis on the later phases of translational research, moving new therapies from a potential stage to actual clinical trials. David has a great deal of experience is this area and will provide critical leadership. We are extremely fortunate to have him return to Boston to lead our hematology/oncology division and help us continue to train the world's leaders in this field."

Williams' wife Cindy will join the staff at Children's as well, after serving as the senior clinical director for Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant for many years at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. In mid-December, she will assume the role of program director for Nursing Research where she will use her many talents and skills to support clinical research activities within the Nursing Department.

In addition to his roles at Children's, Williams will serve as the Leland Fikes Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

Children's Hospital Boston is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 500 scientists, including eight members of the National Academy of Sciences, 11 members of the Institute of Medicine and 12 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Children's Hospital Boston today is a 377-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care grounded in the values of excellence in patient care and sensitivity to the complex needs and diversity of children and families. Children's also is the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information about the hospital and its research visit: www.childrenshospital.org/newsroom.