Elizabeth J. Shpall, M.D.
Department of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, Division of Cancer Medicine
About Dr. Shpall
Elizabeth Shpall, MD, is a nationally recognized expert in stem cell transplantation. She currently is the Director of the Cell Therapy Laboratory and Director of the Cord Blood Bank at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She also serves as Professor and Chair ad interim of the Department of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy and holds the Howard and Lee Smith Chair in Cancer Research. Dr. Shpall's research covers a range of applications, among them: leukemia, lymphoma treatment, anti-tumor immunity enhancement and tissue repair. Many of her studies address the safety and efficacy of stem cell transplantation for patients.
Dr. Shpall has provided unparalleled leadership in the area of umbilical cord blood collection, banking and transplantation. Under her watch, the Cord Blood Bank at MD Anderson has collected over 140,000 cord blood units from voluntary donations since its establishment in April 2005, coordinating these efforts with several hospitals in Houston. The Stem Cell Transplant Program has transplanted more than 400 patients with cord blood using novel strategies such as ex vivo expansion of the cord blood cells before infusion, to make it work better in patients.
Dr. Shpall’s influence is felt beyond the Texas Medical Center. She was the founding president and current Board member of the Foundation Accreditation of Cell Therapy (FACT) established in an organization that accredits stem cell transplantation programs and ensures quality management plans and standard operating procedures. She is a past president of the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT).
Dr. Shpall's academic career started with an undergraduate degree from Brown University in 1976. She completed her medical degree at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1980 before becoming a resident at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York for three years. From 1983 through 1985, she was a fellow in the Department of Neoplastic Diseases at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, serving as chief fellow in her final year.
Before coming to MD Anderson in 2002, she was an associate professor and director of the Cord Blood Bank at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, a program she started. From 1986 to 1990, she was an assistant professor at the Duke University Medical Center.
She has authored or co-authored nearly 700 research articles, abstracts, editorials and book chapters during her career in addition to speaking throughout the world at conferences and symposia. She holds two patents resulting from her research efforts.
Dr. Shpall has been honored with numerous awards for her academic and research work at MD Anderson. These include the R. Lee Clark prize for Excellence-Clinical Faculty, the President’s Recognition for Faculty Excellence Award and the Otis W. and Pearl L. Walters Faculty Achievement Award in Clinical Research.
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Professor, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Howard and Lee Smith Chair in Cancer Research, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Director, Cord Blood Bank, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, Division of Cancer Medicine, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Department Chair ad interim, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Research Interests
Hematopoietic progenitor cell transplantation patients with hematologic malignancies.
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 1980 | University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA, MD, Medicine |
| 1976 | Brown University, Providence, RI, USA, BA Equivalent, Biology and French |
Postgraduate Training
| 1984-1985 | Clinical Fellowship, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY |
| 1980-1983 | Clinical Residency, Beth Israel Hospital, New York, NY |
Board Certifications
| 1987 | American Board of Medical Oncology (Recertification grandfathered and not required) |
| 1983 | American Board of Internal Medicine (Recertification grandfathered and not required) |
Experience & Service
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Director, Cell Therapy Laboratory, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2016 - Present
Deputy Department Chair, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2010 - 2020
Institutional Committee Activities
Member, Faculty Senate, 2004 - 2007
Endowed Positions
Ashbel Smith Professor, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2008 - 2013
Honors & Awards
| 2018 | Association of American Physicians |
| 2016 | The R. Lee Clark Prize for Excellence-Clinical Faculty, MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2007 | Clinical Physician, Texas Federation of Business and Professional Women's Club (BPW) |
| 2001 | Best Doctor in America, America's Top Doctor |
| 1989 | ACS Career Development Award |
| 1987 | ACS Institutional Research Grant Award, Institutional Research Grant Award |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Abudayyeh A, Lin H, Abdelrahim M, Rondon G, Andersson BS, Martinez CS, Page VD, Tarrand JJ, Kontoyiannis DP, Marin D, Oran B, Olson A, Jones R, Popat U, Champlin RE, Chemaly RF, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K. Development and Validation of a Risk Assessment Tool for BKPyV Replication in Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients. Transpl Infect Dis 22(5):e13395, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32602954.
- Popat U, Mehta RS, Bassett R, Kongtim P, Chen J, Alousi AM, Anderlini P, Ciurea S, Hosing C, Jones R, Kebriaei P, Khouri I, Lindsay R, Nieto Y, Olson A, Oran B, Qazilbash MH, Rondon G, Shpall EJ, Verstovsek S, Andersson BS, Champlin RE. Optimizing the Conditioning Regimen for HCT in Myelofibrosis: Long-term Results of a Prospective Phase II Clinical Trial. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 26(8):1439-1445, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32438043.
- Kohorst MA, Nunez CA, Tewari P, Petropoulos D, Mahadeo KM, Neelapu SS, Shpall EJ, Khazal S. Primary mediastinal large B‐cell lymphoma in paediatric and adolescent patients: emerging questions in the era of immunotherapy. Br J Haematol 190(2):e114-e117, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32469086.
- Srour S, Singh H, McCarty J, de Groot E, Huls H, Rondon G, Qazilbash MH, Ciurea SO, Bardelli G, Buck J, Alousi A, Nieto Y, Rezvani K, Marin D, Popat U, Hosing C, Shpall EJ, Wierda WG, Kantargian H, Champlin R, Cooper L, Kebriaei P. Long-term outcomes of Sleeping Beauty generated CD19specific CAR T-cell therapy for relapsed-refractory B-cell lymphomas. Blood 135(11):862-865, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 31961918.
- Scaradavou A, Brunstein CG, Eapen M, Le-Rademacher J, Barker JN, Chao N, Cutler C, Delaney C, Kan F, Isola L, Karanes C, Laughlin MJ, Wagner JE, Shpall EJ. Double Unit Grafts Successfully Extend the Application of Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation in Adults with Acute Leukemia. Blood 121(5):752-8, 2013. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 23223509.
- de Lima M, McNiece I, Robinson SN, Munsell M, Eapen M, Horowitz M, Alousi A, Saliba R, McMannis JD, Kaur I, Kebriaei P, Parmar S, Popat U, Hosing C, Champlin R, Bollard C, Molldrem JJ, Jones RB, Nieto Y, Andersson BS, Shah N, Oran B, Cooper LJ, Worth L, Qazilbash MH, Korbling M, Rondon G, Ciurea S, Bosque D, Maewal I, Simmons PJ, Shpall EJ. Cord Blood Engraftment With Ex-vivo Mesenchymal Cell Co- Culture. N Engl J Med 367(24):2305-15, 2012. PMID: 23234514.
- Hanley PJ, Cruz CR, Savoldo B, Leen AM, Stanojevic M, Khalil M, Decker W, Molldrem JJ, Liu H, Gee AP, Rooney CM, Heslop HE, Dotti G, Brenner MK, Shpall EJ, Bollard CM. Functionally active virus-specific T-cells that target CMV, adenovirus and EBV can be expanded from naive T-cell populations in cord blood and will target a range of viral epitopes. Blood 114(9):1958-67, 2009. e-Pub 2009. PMID: 19443656.
- Popat U, Saliba R, Thandi R, Hosing C, Qazilbash M, Anderlini P, Shpall E, McMannis J, Körbling M, Alousi A, Andersson B, Nieto Y, Kebriaei P, Khouri I, de Lima M, Weber D, Thomas S, Wang M, Jones R, Champlin R, Giralt S. Impairment of filgrastim-induced stem cell mobilization after prior lenalidomide in patients with multiple myeloma. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 15(6):718-23, 2009. e-Pub 2009. PMID: 19450756.
- Decker WK, Xing D, Li S, Robinson SN, Yang H, Steiner D, Komanduri KV, Shpall EJ. Th-1 polarization is regulated by dendritic cell comparison of MHC class I and class II antigens. Blood 113(18):4213-23, 2009. e-Pub 2009. PMID: 19171878.
- Komanduri KV, St John LS, de Lima M, McMannis J, Rosinski S, McNiece I, Bryan SG, Kaur I, Martin S, Wieder ED, Worth L, Cooper LJ, Petropoulos D, Molldrem JJ, Champlin RE, Shpall EJ. Delayed immune reconstitution after cord blood transplantation is characterized by impaired thymopoiesis and late memory T cell skewing. Blood 110(13):4543-51, 2007. e-Pub 2007. PMID: 17671230.
- Safdar A, Rodriguez GH, De Lima MJ, Petropoulos D, Chemaly RF, Worth LL, Shpall EJ, Rolston KV, Raad II, Chan KW, Champlin RE. Infections in 100 cord blood transplantations: spectrum of early and late posttransplant infections in adult and pediatric patients 1996-2005. Medicine 86(6):324-333, 2007. PMID: 18004177.
- Decker WK, Xing D, Li S, Robinson SN, Yang H, Yao X, Segall H, McMannis JD, Komanduri KV, Champlin RE, Shpall EJ. Double loading of dendritic cell MHC class I and MHC class II with an AML antigen repertoire enhances correlates of T-cell immunity in vitro via amplification of T-cell help. Vaccine 24(16):3203-16, 2006. e-Pub 2006. PMID: 16480795.
- Thall PF, Wooten LH, Shpall EJ. A Geometric Approach to Comparing Treatments for Rapidly Fatal Diseases. Biometrics 62:193-201, 2006. PMID: 16542246.
- Robinson SN, Ng J, Niu T, Yang H, McMannis JD, Karandish S, Kaur I, Fu P, Del Angel M, Messinger R, Flagge F, de Lima M, Decker W, Xing D, Champlin R, Shpall EJ. Superior ex vivo cord blood expansion following co-culture with bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Bone Marrow Transplant 37(4):359-66, 2006. PMID: 16400333.
- Weinberg A, Enomoto L, Li S, Shen D, Coll J, Shpall EJ. Risk of transmission of herpesviruses through cord blood transplantation. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 11(1):35-8, 2005. PMID: 15625542.
- McNiece IK, Almeida-Porada G, Shpall EJ, Zanjani E. Ex vivo expanded cord blood cells provide rapid engraftment in fetal sheep but lack long-term engrafting potential. Exp Hematol 30(6):612-6, 2002. PMID: 12063029.
- Hogan CJ, Shpall EJ, Keller G. Differential long-term and multilineage engraftment potential from subfractions of human CD34+ cord blood cells transplanted into NOD/SCID mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 99(1):413-8, 2002. PMID: 11782553.
- Shpall EJ, Quinones R, Giller R, Zeng C, Baron AE, Jones RB, Bearman SI, Nieto Y, Freed B, Madinger N, Hogan CJ, Slat-Vasquez V, Russell P, Blunk B, Schissel D, Hild E, Malcolm J, Ward W, McNiece IK. Transplantation of ex vivo expanded cord blood. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 8(7):368-76, 2002. PMID: 12171483.
- McNiece I, Jones R, Bearman SI, Cagnoni P, Nieto Y, Franklin W, Ryder J, Steele A, Stoltz J, Russell P, McDermitt J, Hogan C, Murphy J, Shpall EJ. Ex vivo expanded peripheral blood progenitor cells provide rapid neutrophil recovery after high-dose chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer. Blood 96(9):3001-7, 2000. PMID: 11049977.
Letters to the Editor
- Kongtim P, Bittencourt M, Srour SA, Ramdial J, Rondon G, Chen J, Khouri I, Betul O, Popat U, Olson A, Bashir Q, Shpall EJ, Kebriaei P, Champlin RE, Ciurea SO. Haploidentical transplants for patients with relapse after the first allograft. Am J Hematol 95: E267-E269, 2020.
Grant & Contract Support
| Title: | Extracorporeal Thermo-ablation of Circulating Cancer Cells/Stem Cells Using Targe |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Strategic Alliance- Cytomx CAR NK Cells-Project 1 |
| Funding Source: | CYTOMX |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | CMV Adoptive T cell Therapy for GBM patients |
| Funding Source: | The GBM Moonshot |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Cancer Center Support Grant |
| Funding Source: | NCI |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified August 29, 2024