Levine Cancer Institute opens adult bone marrow transplant unit at Carolinas Medical Center

Sandy Hirsch was diagnosed with blood cancer in 2009, and a year later, she spent several weeks at Duke University to get a bone marrow transplant that wasnt available in Charlotte.

Today, the 65-year-old multiple myeloma patient is celebrating the opening of an adult bone marrow transplant unit at Carolinas Medical Center. It means patients like her will no longer have to travel hours for treatment and be away from home for weeks at a time.

Its wonderful, Hirsch said last week. What a joy it would have been to have it in Charlotte and to keep my family around me.

The 16-bed, $10.5 million transplant unit the fourth such program in North Carolina opened Jan. 22 at Carolinas Medical Center, the flagship hospital in Carolinas HealthCare System. Until last week, Charlotte was the largest U.S. city without an adult bone marrow transplant program.

Its just a short walk from the hospital systems Levine Cancer Institute, which opened in 2012 and has since hired nine specialists in hematologic oncology, or blood cancer. They come from some of the most prestigious U.S. medical centers, including the Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins University.

Weve recruited a cadre of physicians with expertise in all of the hematologic malignancies and nonmalignant hematologic diseases, said Dr. Belinda Avalos, vice chair of the institutes Department of Hematologic Oncology and Blood Disorders.

Patients should feel very confident that theyre in good hands if they come here for care, she said.

The first nine patients have moved into the unit, and officials say it will be filled soon because demand is great.

We have a waiting list already for transplants, at least a dozen on the list, said Dr. Edward Copelan, the department chair.

Copelan, who previously worked at the Cleveland Clinic, came to Charlotte in 2012 with his wife, Avalos, who previously worked at Ohio State University. They were recruited by Levine Cancer Institutes director, Dr. Derek Raghavan, who came to Charlotte a year earlier, also from the Cleveland Clinic.

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Levine Cancer Institute opens adult bone marrow transplant unit at Carolinas Medical Center