Roswell Park’s Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant Program Again Designated by Optum as Center of Excellence

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Health services leader Optum has once again recognized Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center as a Center of Excellence (COE) for its pediatric stem cell transplant program. Offered through the collaborative Roswell Park Oishei Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Program, with inpatient care at Oishei Children’s Hospital and outpatient care at Roswell Park, this service brings a potentially curative cancer treatment to eligible patients from infancy up to age 25.

To become designated, a center must undergo a rigorous evaluation process conducted by Optum’s Clinical Sciences Institute to ensure it meets specific criteria. The evaluation includes assessing factors like clinical expertise, patient outcomes and quality of care. 

“Receiving the certification of excellence again is a meaningful recognition of the exceptional work being done by our pediatric bone marrow and transplant stem cell team,” says Kara Kelly, MD, an internationally recognized pediatric hematologist-oncologist, the Waldemar J. Kaminski Endowed Chair of Pediatrics at Roswell Park and Chair of the Roswell Park Oishei Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Program. “This recognition highlights our commitment to clinical excellence, innovation in cellular therapies, and most importantly, to the children and families who place their trust in us every day.”

The program has consistently recorded superior clinical outcomes for pediatric patients undergoing transplant. Most often incorporated into the care of children with blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, transplant can alse be used to treat rarer cancers like neuroblastoma, brain tumors, and lymphoma. Critically for families in and around Buffalo Niagara, the Roswell Park Oishei program brings together dozens of specially trained medical professionals along with state-of-the-art resources for inpatient, outpatient and critical care for our region’s youngest patients.

This is the third Optum COE designation Roswell Park has received this year. It was one of only 37 institutions in the nation recognized this year as an Optum Center of Excellence for adult and pediatric cancer treatment. Roswell Park’s adult stem cell transplant program was also recognized as an Optum COE after reporting a remarkable 100% six-month survival rate for all patients who underwent allogenic hematopoietic cell transplantation in 2024. 

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From the world’s first chemotherapy research to the PSA prostate cancer biomarker, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center generates innovations that shape how cancer is detected, treated and prevented worldwide. The Roswell Park team of 4,000+ makes compassionate, patient-centered cancer care and services accessible across New York State and beyond. Rated "Exceptional" by the National Cancer Institute, Roswell Park, founded in 1898, was one of the first NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the country and remains the only one in Upstate New York. To learn more about Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Roswell Park Care Network, visit www.roswellpark.org, call 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or email ASKRoswell@RoswellPark.org.