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412-692-5055 Phone
412-692-7693 Fax

Rakesh K. Goyal, MD

Rakesh K. Goyal, MD, Blood and Marrow Transplant Director
Job Title Director, Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program
Job Title Medical Director, Blood and Marrow Processing Laboratory
Job Title Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Blood and Marrow Transplantation
4401 Penn Avenue, Suite Floor 9
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
412-692-5055 Phone
412-692-7693 Fax
Email rakesh.goyal@chp.edu
Patient Appointment Information

Education and Training

Medical School:

1983 University of Delhi, India
 

Residency:

University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT
 

Fellowship:

Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO

Memberships

  • American Society of Hematology
  • American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation
  • International Society for Cellular Therapy

Board Certifications

  • American Board of Pediatrics
  • American Board of Pediatrics, Subspecialty of Hematology/Oncology
  • State Board of Medical Examiners

Awards

  • Outstanding Achievement in Patient Care Award

Publications

  • Goyal RK, Lin Y, Schultz KR, Ferrell RE, Hee Y, Fairfull L, Livote E, Yanik G, Atlas M. Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha Gene Polymorphisms Are Associated with Severity of Acute GVHD Following Matched Unrelated Donor BMT in Children: A Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC) Study. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2010 Jan 22.
  • Pulsipher MA, Horwitz EM, Haight AE, Kadota R, Chen AR, Frangoul H, Cooper LJ, Jacobsohn DA, Goyal RK, Mitchell D, Nieder ML, Yanik G, Cowan MJ, Soni S, Gardner S, Shenoy S, Taylor D, Cairo M, Schultz KR. Advancement of Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Research in North America: Priorities of the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2010 Jan 13.
  • Pulsipher MA, Wall DA, Grimley M, Goyal RK, Boucher KM, Hankins P, Grupp SA, Bunin N. A phase I/II study of the safety and efficacy of the addition of sirolimus to tacrolimus/methotrexate graft versus host disease prophylaxis after allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation in paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Br J Haematol. 2009 Dec;147(5):691-9.

    View Dr. Goyal's full list of publications from PubMed.


 

Research Interests

Dr. Goyal's clinical research is focused on understanding the relationship between individual genetic variability and outcome of transplant therapy. He and his team are studying ways by which we may be able to predict the risk of serious complications such as GVHD how that might lead to individualized therapy.

Certain gene products called cytokines play an important role in GVHD, rejection and other complications associated with BMT. Some cytokines cause more inflammation and damage to body tissues, leading to more severe GVHD; whereas others may suppress local inflammation and tissue damage, thus helping to prevent rejection. Individuals differ in their capacity to make specific cytokines. These differences between "high" and "low" producers of cytokine molecules may not matter as much in healthy children.

However, Dr. Goyal’s group speculates that individual variation in making cytokines and other key regulatory molecules may influence a child’s outcome after transplantation. They are investigating this theory on children undergoing allogeneic transplantation in an international multi-institutional study.

His team is dedicated to developing novel regimens in reducing toxicities of transplant and exploring the use of alternative sources of stem cells such as umbilical cord blood for transplantation in children.

Biography Summary

Dr. Goyal received his medical degree from the University of Delhi, India. After his residency in Pediatrics at the University of Connecticut Health Center, he completed clinical fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the St. Louis Children's Hospital. He also conducted research in molecular mechanisms of blood formation during embryonic development at the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. He is board certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. He is assistant professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh and director of the Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BMT) program at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. He is principal investigator for the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium and serves on the national committee for graft-versus host disease (GVHD).

Active Research Projects / Grants

  • Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium/Clinical Trials Network
  • Cellular and Molecular Studies in Bone Marrow Transplantation
Last Update
August 10, 2011
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Last Update
August 10, 2011
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