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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 Clinical Director, Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapies
Job Title Associate 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, Conn. 
 

Fellowship:

Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Mo.

Memberships

  • American Society of Hematology
  • American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation     
  • Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium
  • Children’s Oncology Group
  • American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology 
  • American Academy of Pediatrics

Board Certifications

  • American Board of Pediatrics
  • American Board of Pediatrics, Subspecialty of Hematology/Oncology

Awards

  • Outstanding Achievement in Patient Care Award
  • Top Doctors, Pittsburgh Magazine
  • Best Doctors in America
     

Publications

  • Goyal RK, Han K, Wall DA, Pulsipher MA, Bunin N, Grupp SA, Mada SR, Venkataramanan R. Sirolimus Pharmacokinetics in Early Post Myeloablative Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2012 Dec 20.
  • Adegite EA, Goyal RK, Murray PJ, Marshal M, Sucato GS. The management of menstrual suppression and uterine bleeding: a survey of current practices in the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2012 Sep;59(3):553-7.
  • Goyal RK, Cooper JD. Meta-analyzing the link between MTHFR C677T genotype and susceptibility to childhood ALL. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2012 Apr;58(4):483-4.

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 associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh and clinical director of the Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapies program at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

Active Research Projects / Grants

  • Principal Investigator, "Genome-Wide Association Studies in Unrelated BMT Recipients and Donors"
  • Principal Investigator, "Pharmacokinetics-based MMF Dosing for GVHD Prophylaxis in Pediatric BMT"
  • Site Principal Investigator, "Defibrotide For Patients With Hepatic Veno-Occlusive Disease (VOD): A Treatment IND Study"
  • Site Principal Investigator, "CMX001-202: Preemptive CMX001 for the Prevention of Adenovirus Disease Following HSCT" 
  • Site Principal Investigator, "10-CBA (NMDP): A multicenter access and distribution protocol for unlicensed CBUs"
  • Site Principal Investigator, "A multicenter safety study of unlicensed, investigational cryopreserved cord blood units (CBUs) manufactured by the National Cord Blood Program (NCBP) and provided for unrelated hematopoietic stem cell transplantation of pediatric and adult patients"
Last Update
February 11, 2013
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Last Update
February 11, 2013
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