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412-692-5055 Phone

412-692-7693 Fax

A. Kim Ritchey, MD

Job Title Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs

Job Title Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Job Title Interim Chief, Division of Pedaitric Rheumatology

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 kim.ritchey@chp.edu

Patient Appointment Information

Profile
Active Research Projects

Education and Training

Medical School:	1972 University of Cincinnati Medical College , Cincinnati, Ohio
Residency:	1975 Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md.
Fellowship:	1980 Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.

Memberships

American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (President 2012-2014)
Children's Oncology Group
American Society of Clinical Oncology

Board Certifications

National Board of Medical Examiners
American Board of Pediatrics, Sub-Board of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology

Awards

2005 Best Doctors in America
2005 "Top Doctors" in Pittsburgh
2005 Professional Research Consultants (PRC) Four Star Customer Service Award

Publications

Shaw PH, Boyiadzis M, Tawbi H, Welsh A, Kemerer A, Davidson NE, Ritchey AK. Improved clinical trial enrollment in adolescent and young adult (AYA) oncology patients after the establishment of an AYA oncology program uniting pediatric and medical oncology divisions. Cancer. 2012 Jul 15;118(14):3614-7.
Bhatia S, Landier W, Shangguan M, Hageman L, Schaible AN, Carter AR, Hanby CL, Leisenring W, Yasui Y, Kornegay NM, Mascarenhas L, Ritchey AK, Casillas JN, Dickens DS, Meza J, Carroll WL, Relling MV, Wong FL. Nonadherence to oral mercaptopurine and risk of relapse in Hispanic and non-Hispanic white children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a report from the children's oncology group. J Clin Oncol. 2012 Jun 10;30(17):2094-101.
Blanco JG, Sun CL, Landier W, Chen L, Esparza-Duran D, Leisenring W, Mays A, Friedman DL, Ginsberg JP, Hudson MM, Neglia JP, Oeffinger KC, Ritchey AK, Villaluna D, Relling MV, Bhatia S. Anthracycline-related cardiomyopathy after childhood cancer: role of polymorphisms in carbonyl reductase genes--a report from the Children's Oncology Group. J Clin Oncol. 2012 May 1;30(13):1415-21.

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

Biography Summary

Treatment for childhood cancer has come a long way in the last 50 years. A. Kim Ritchey, MD, is doing his part to ensure that Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh maintains its position as a leader of that progress. Dr. Ritchey is chief of the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Children's Hospital, professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and president of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.

Dr. Ritchey also is the principal investigator for the Children's Oncology Group (COG), which is now the only pediatric clinical trials organization funded by the U.S. National Cancer Institute. In his position, he is responsible for overseeing clinical research trials in different types of childhood malignancy. The COG currently has more than 75 active clinical research trials for children with cancer. Children's is one of only 20 select institutions within the COG that has approval to perform experimental studies with new drugs and treatments for children with cancer, also known as Phase I studies.

In the research studies he is overseeing at Children's, Dr. Ritchey is helping to increase the understanding of why some children are difficult to cure- for example, why some tumor cells have the ability to rapidly develop resistance to chemotherapy while others are responsive to therapy.

Dr. Ritchey is experienced in central nervous system leukemia and led a national clinical research trial in this area, which resulted in some of the best therapy published to date. He also is knowledgeable in hematologic disorders and has participated in clinical trials in idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura1, anemia of malignancy, and sickle cell disease. His clinical interests include general cancer management, coagulation and bleeding disorders.

1 "Idiopathic" means that the cause is unknown. "Thrombocytopenic" means the blood doesn't have enough platelets. "Purpura" means a person has excessive bruising. In people with ITP, all of the blood cells are normal except for the blood platelets. A person with too few platelets bruises easily and bleeds for a long time after being injured. Tiny red dots on the skin, called petechiae, might also appear. When the platelet count is very low, the person with ITP might have nosebleeds that are hard to stop, or might have bleeding in the intestines.