Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders (CCBD)

Pauline Allen Gill Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders

As the largest childhood cancer and blood disorders center in North Texas, we treat one in five children in Texas diagnosed with cancer.

The Pauline Allen Gill Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s Health℠ is a world-class pediatric treatment center recognized nationally for exceptional clinical care, leadership in children's cancer research and academic excellence. These strengths have been intentionally cultivated to create a center with the highest commitment to serving both its patients and the mission of the wider pediatric oncology and hematology community. All of our children's cancer and blood disorder specialists are faculty members at UT Southwestern Medical Center and care for more than 1,000 new patients each year. The Pauline Gill Center treats all cancer and blood disorders which includes but is not limited to the conditions listed below.

Our Programs

Treatments and Services

Pediatric metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) for neuroblastoma
Pediatric stem cell transplant
Pediatric CAR T-cell therapy
Pediatric gene therapy for blood disorders
Cancer and Hematology Therapy

Leaders in research

In addition to providing exceptional clinical care, we strive to eradicate childhood cancer and blood disease through our research. Children’s Health's partnership with UT Southwestern enables patients to access some of the latest treatments and clinical trials available. A number of Gill Center staff members are recognized nationally and internationally as leading experts in their fields based on their clinical acumen and their scholarly and research activities. Learn more about our innovative research programs and clinical trials.

Sign up for the HemOnc Happenings Newsletter

Discover what’s new in the Pauline Allen Gill Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders clinic by signing up for our quarterly newsletter. You’ll be the first to get updates on advancements in cancer research, treatments and more.

Supporting our Patients and Families

The Gill Center is committed to serving its patients the highest level of clinical care as well as helping foster connections with the wider pediatric oncology and hematology community.

Our video series offers useful information to help families navigate a recent cancer diagnosis.
The Gill Center organizes a number of summer camps and weekend retreats designed for children with special medical needs.
Our patient programs offer a wide variety of designed specifically to care for the emotional, psychological and spiritual needs of children.

Learn about outside resources available for patients and their families.
Get involved! There are many different ways you can help our patients, from registering for the bone marrow registry, to volunteering, to engaging with our Foundation.
Our collaborative care philosophy means doctors work closely with a highly trained staff of nurses and advanced practice providers.

Research

Groundbreaking study analyzes causes of post-pulmonary embolism syndrome to enhance care

Sign up for the HemOnc Happenings Newsletter

Supporting our Patients and Families

The Gill Center is committed to serving its patients the highest level of clinical care as well as helping foster connections with the wider pediatric oncology and hematology community.

Our video series offers useful information to help families navigate a recent cancer diagnosis.
The Gill Center organizes a number of summer camps and weekend retreats designed for children with special medical needs.
Our patient programs offer a wide variety of designed specifically to care for the emotional, psychological and spiritual needs of children.

Learn about outside resources available for patients and their families.
Get involved! There are many different ways you can help our patients, from registering for the bone marrow registry, to volunteering, to engaging with our Foundation.
Our collaborative care philosophy means doctors work closely with a highly trained staff of nurses and advanced practice providers.

Research

Groundbreaking study analyzes causes of post-pulmonary embolism syndrome to enhance care

Trinity's story: Coordinated care supports a rising soccer star

Three years ago, Trinity, a teen athlete, began experiencing symptoms of anemia.

Henry's story: World-class cancer treatment, closer to home

Doctors told Lindsay and her husband Craig that some kids walk through leukemia treatment and some crawl. But the important thing is: To simply get through it.

Miguel’s story: Seeing the world, thanks to an innovative treatment

As an infant, Miguel couldn’t tell his parents that he couldn’t see very well. They noticed that he sometimes missed things he was reaching for, but they figured it was just part of his development.

A teen continues to spread hope amidst her cancer battle

In late 2020, Addison began experiencing back pain that made it uncomfortable to breathe and seemed more tired than usual. Her parents took her to her family doctor who suspected she may have sprained a muscle in her back and suggested a series of stretches and gentle exercises to allow it to heal. Over the next few weeks, the pain grew worse and she started to notice abnormalities in the color of her urine. She returned to her doctor's office where a urinalysis identified elevated liver enzymes in her urine, suggesting something may be going on with her liver or gallbladder. Her doctor ordered some routine bloodwork – just to be safe – and explained that Addison would need to see a specialist for an ultrasound of her abdomen.

Sickle cell disease doesn't keep Reagan off the field

For Reagan, life revolves around the baseball diamond. He went to his first Texas Rangers game when he was just 1 month old, and his parents, Jaimee and Leo, have run a youth sports organization for the past several years. He’s often the first one out on the field and the last one to leave, so it can come as a surprise to new friends that Reagan was born with a disease that can cause crippling pain and organ damage.

Darian finds relief through a multi-modal approach to pain management

Darian was diagnosed with sickle cell disease when he was just 10 days old after a routine newborn screening, and has been on an almost decade-long struggle to manage the pain and serious complications that come with his disease ever since. He has been closely monitored by the Pediatric Sickle Cell Disease program in the Pauline Allen Gill Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children's Health℠, one of the largest pediatric programs for patients with sickle cell disease in the nation, and he and his family have worked with a multi-disciplinary team of specialists to address the many health challenges he has faced over the years.

Miles faces a rare cancer diagnosis with perseverance

In May 2016 while at school, a daycare teacher noticed that Miles' ear was bleeding. Miles' mom, Stephanie, brought him to the pediatrician, who suspected Miles had ruptured his ear drum and prescribed a round of antibiotics. But after Miles continued experiencing unusual symptoms, his pediatrician referred him to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist. The specialist believed there was excess tissue in Miles' ear canal that would need to be surgically removed.

Bryson bravely manages sickle cell disease with support from Children's Health

When Melissa was pregnant with her son, Bryson, a routine blood test determined that she was a carrier for sickle cell disease. Because Bryson's father had sickle cell disease, Melissa faced the realization that there was a chance that her son may be born with the disease. However, all she could do at that time was wait.

A young child shows his strength after surviving cancer

Shortly after Andrew started crawling in 2015, he stopped using his arms and legs. His parents, Lisa and Thomas, didn't think much of it, but brought him to his pediatrician's office for a check-up, just in case. After examining Andrew, his pediatrician couldn't determine what was wrong. He suggested Lisa and Thomas bring Andrew to the emergency room to rule out any serious issues.

A multidisciplinary care team helps Carson overcome critical health challenges

When Carson was born, nearly everything he ate made him sick. His mom, Stephanie, tried 10 different baby formulas before she finally found one that worked. His pediatrician suspected he was suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and a blood test soon determined Carson was also allergic to five different foods.

A football player captures his cancer experience in an inspiring music video

Davion is a high school student who enjoys spending time with family and friends. He loves sports, especially football, which he has played since he was 4 years old. As a junior, Davion played middle linebacker and was varsity captain. But a few months after the season ended, the talented athlete got unexpected news: He had cancer.

An anonymous donor gets a young patient back in the game after his battles with cancer

When Jude was just 5 years old, his parents, Keith and Boots, noticed that he started to develop a lot of bruises on his legs and was getting sick more than they thought was normal. They brought it up to his pediatrician who just attributed it to, "boys always having bruises," and told them there was nothing to worry about. It wasn't until shortly thereafter when Jude was taken to the Emergency Room at Children's Medical Center Plano with a 105-degree fever and red spots on his face that his family was given news no parents wants to hear: Jude had leukemia.

One boy's battle against cancer encourages others to do the same

When Evan was just nine years old, he came down with a persistent high fever that doctors originally suspected was just a virus running its course after initial tests showed nothing abnormal. His parents were traveling at the time, but his aunt, a nurse, was taking care of him and keeping a close eye on his symptoms. When his fever still hadn't gone away three days later, Evan's aunt brought him to the Emergency Department at Children's Medical Center Plano telling the care team that she, "was not leaving until [they] did every possible test to figure out what was going on."

Luis' story: Cancer survivor, writer and budding scientist

Luis was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the retina, when he was just 7 months old. It’s a day his mother, Crissty, will never forget for two reasons. First, the obvious: It was the day the terms cancer, chemotherapy, survival rate and prognosis entered their vocabulary. But even more than that, it was also the first time Luis called her mama. Understandably, Crissty likes to focus on the latter milestone.

A young girl shows strength as she battles cancer before her first birthday

Her daughter, Zoe, had been dealing with a bout of what her gastroenterologist diagnosed as traveler’s diarrhea for about two months and wasn’t getting better, despite trying multiple antibiotics to treat it. The doctor assured Linda that it just took time for it to run its course, but her mother’s intuition told her that something wasn’t quite right. Linda finally decided enough was enough, and on February 14, she headed to the Emergency Department at Children’s Medical Center Plano for answers.

A young girl shows her strength as she battles Leukemia

Tatum had just returned from a fun weekend in San Antonio celebrating her grandmother’s 65th birthday when she started to run a fever. It didn’t go down by the next morning and she began having trouble walking so her mom, Whitney, took her to her pediatrician’s office to figure out what was going on. She tested negative for strep, but her blood work came back abnormal so her doctor urged them to go directly to the emergency room at Children’s Medical Center Plano.

An innovative, advanced therapy gives hope to a young cancer patient

When Conner began complaining about back and leg pain last summer, his parents took him to his pediatrician in Tyler, Texas, to try to determine what was wrong. After his blood work came back normal, he was referred to his local hospital for an MRI and x-ray. The MRI revealed spots indicative of leukemia, and Conner was immediately referred to Children’s Health for further testing and evaluation. Shortly after, he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma and was admitted to the Pauline Allen Gill Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s Health to begin treatment.

Victor Aquino, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Daniel Bowers, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Margaret Boyden, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Kenneth Chen, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Mary Dang, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Kathryn E. Dickerson, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Jessica Garcia, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Samuel John, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Laura Klesse, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Andrew Koh, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Patrick Leavey, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Kathleen Ludwig, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Olufunke Martin, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Mithra Lakshmi Narasimhan, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Sandra Ngo, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Gabriella Nguyen, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Zoe O'Connor, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
An Pham, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Arhanti Sadanand, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Lauren Sanchez, MDPediatric Neurologist
Avanthi Shah, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Ruchika Sharma, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Ksenya Shliakhtsitsava, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Tiffany Simms-Waldrip, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Tamra Slone, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Caroline Smith, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Puja Umaretiya, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Richard Voit, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Tanya Watt, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Jonathan Wickiser, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Naomi Winick, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Samer Zaid Kaylani, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Sisi Zheng, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
Ayesha Zia, MDPediatric Hematologist/Oncologist
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Abir Asad, PA-CPhysician Assistant - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Madison Clifford, PA-CPhysician Assistant - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Timothy Darmstedter, PA-CPhysician Assistant - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Emma Engelland, PA-CPhysician Assistant - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Hannah Joseph, PA-CPhysician Assistant - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Devon Knotts, PA-CPhysician Assistant - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Gabriela Palombo, PA-CPhysician Assistant - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Jesse Scanlon, PA-CPhysician Assistant - Cancer and Blood Disorders
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Rachael Watts, PA-CPhysician Assistant - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Maya Weintraub, PA-CPhysician Assistant - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Jane Zepeda, PA-CPhysician Assistant - Cancer and Blood Disorders
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Ranya Alnatour, PsyDPediatric Psychologist - Cancer and Blood Disorders
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Megan Braun, APRN, PNP-ACNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Deborah Echtenkamp, APRN, CNSClinical Nurse Specialist - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Sarah Farkash, APRN, PNP-ACNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Julie Germann, PhD, ABPPPediatric Psychologist
Cailey Gilbert, APRN, PNP-ACNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Marlen Gonzalez, APRN, PNP-ACNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
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Lauren Hart, APRN, PNP-ACNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Ruth Herring, APRN, PNP-AC/PCNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Gia Hoang, APRN, PNP-ACNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Suzanne Holm, PhDPediatric Psychologist
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Elizabeth House, APRN, PNP-AC/PCNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Annabeth Huff, APRN, PNP-AC/PCNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Robert Humphreys, APRN, PNP-ACNurse Practitioner - Palliative Care
Teresa Jones, APRN, PNP-ACNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Tamrah Moore, APRN, PNP-PCNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Maria Bisceglia, APRN, PNP-PCNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Cynthia Cochran, APRN, PNP-PCNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
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Megan Dallas, APRN, PNP-PCNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Melissa DeMasi, APRN, PNP-PCNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Stacy Ettinger, APRN, PNP-AC/PCNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
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Jennifer Evans, APRN, PNP-PCNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Kara Kelly, APRN, PNP-ACNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Alexis Kennedy, APRN, PNP-PCNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Mary Nivens, APRN, PNP-ACNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Paul Perez, APRN, PNP-ACNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Mary Rachfal, APRN, PNP-ACNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
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Jessica Riddle, APRN, PNP-ACNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Cara Zbylut, APRN, PNP-AC/PCNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
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Alexandra Dunn, PA-CPhysician Assistant - Cancer and Blood Disorders
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Sanjana Nelluri, PA-CPhysician Assistant - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Amanda Carlough, APRN, PNP-ACNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
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Alexandra Gonzalez, APRN, PNP-ACNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders
Jordan Roberts, APRN, PNP-ACNurse Practitioner - Cancer and Blood Disorders