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Folashade Otegbeye, MBChB, MPH

Provider

Folashade Otegbeye, MBChB, MPH

Physician, Fred Hutch
Facility Director, Therapeutic Products Program, Fred Hutch
Associate Professor, Translational Science and Therapeutics, Fred Hutch
Associate Professor, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of Washington School of Medicine

Specialty:

Hematology-Oncology

South Lake Union Clinic

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“In blood cancer transplantation, we have a lot of ongoing, frequent interactions with patients and their family members or caregivers. I’ve always been inspired and touched by those relationships.”

— Dr. Otegbeye

What fueled your interest in studying blood cancers and transplant medicine?

During my medical training and practice in Nigeria, I was frustrated by a lack of access to care. Though there were therapies in wealthier countries for cancers like Burkitt lymphoma, in Nigeria, our physicians understood the theory of the disease but often were unable to treat it. This interest brought me to the Harvard School of Public Health. Following that, I pursued a blood cancer fellowship in Cleveland, which led me into my career in transplant medicine.

What inspired your interest in medicine?

I have always been a scientist, studying and growing living things. It started with growing plants. My father was a plant geneticist who worked on breeding trees. When I was a child, my siblings and I all had our own private plots of land, just to grow things. With my father's encouragement, I grew corn, soybeans, rice and tomatoes in my garden.

Provider Background

Area of Clinical Practice
Blood stem cell transplantation

I am a clinical researcher specializing in blood stem cell transplantation for blood cancers and other diseases of the blood and marrow. In the lab, I study the immunology of transplant and immune cell therapy for a variety of cancers. As facility director of the Hutch’s Therapeutic Products shared resource, which develops and manufactures biologic and cellular therapeutic products for Phase 1/2 clinical trials, I work with the Hutch’s cellular immunotherapy labs to translate research ideas into clinical products. My research in the clinic is aimed at improving transplant care for people with bone marrow failure syndromes and myeloproliferative disorders, in which blood cells grow abnormally in the marrow.

Diseases Treated

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Languages

English

Education, Experience and Certifications

Medical Degree
Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife

Master's Degree
Harvard School of Public Health

Residency
Bridgeport Hospital Yale New Haven Health, Internal Medicine

Fellowship
Case Western Reserve, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Hematology and Oncology

We make promising new treatments available to you through studies called clinical trials led by Fred Hutch physicians. Many of these trials at Fred Hutch have led to FDA-approved treatments and have improved standards of care globally. Together, you and your physician can decide if a study is right for you.

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Many of our Fred Hutch physicians conduct ongoing research to improve standards of patient care. Their work is evaluated by other physicians and selected for publication to the United States National Library of Medicine, the largest medical library in the world. See scientific papers this Fred Hutch physician has written.

View Dr. Otegbeye's Publications

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