Rutgers Cancer Institute adds new director to Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapies Program

Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and RWJBarnabas Health announced the recent appointment of Dr. Adrienne Phillips as director of cell therapy and bone marrow transplantation for the northern region at New Jersey’s leading cancer program and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Phillips is also an associate professor of medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She was most recently an associate professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and associate attending physician at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Phillips joins the Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapies Program at the Rutgers Cancer Institute and will lead the cell therapy program in the northern region, which includes Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Clara Maass Medical Center, Trinitas Regional Medical Center, RWJUH Rahway and Jersey City Medical Center.

The program offers blood and marrow transplants for patients with acute and chronic leukemias, myelodysplasia, various types of lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, multiple myeloma, amyloidosis and related diseases.

The program is the only such program in New Jersey that is part of a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center and is one of the only programs in the state certified to perform autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplants.

Phillips specializes in treating a rare, but very fast-growing and aggressive cancer caused by a virus called the human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 or HTLV-1.

This cancer, HTLV-Related Adult T-Cell Leukemia Lymphoma, disproportionally impacts Latino and Caribbean Americans, including immigrants and people whose families have come to the U.S. from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti.

“At Rutgers Cancer Institute and RWJBarnabas Health, our nationally recognized experts exemplify collaboration and are fueled by an unwavering focus on our patients and our mission,” Rutgers Cancer Institute Director Dr.  Steven Libutti, who is also the senior vice president of oncology services at RWJBarnabas Health, said. “We are pleased to have Dr. Phillips join our team, whose expertise will not only strengthen our BMT and cellular therapy program and make these lifesaving treatments more accessible to people closer to home, but will reflect our mission through her deeply compassionate and comprehensive care.”