Patient Care

Welcome to Allergy, Immunology, and Bone Marrow Transplantation

Patient Care

The UCSF Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Bone Marrow Transplantation Division provides two clinical services, one for the evaluation and treatment for children and young adults with allergic or immunologic disorders, and a second for treating all diseases needing bone marrow transplant or cellular therapy. Care is provided at Benioff Children’s Hospital at Mission Bay.

To book a new patient appointment, please obtain a referral from your child’s primary pediatrician or other specialist.

Our Pediatric Clinics

Allergy Clinic

The UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Pediatric Allergy Clinic, under the direction of Dr. Morna Dorsey, provides treatment for allergic disruptions to the immune system. These include food allergy, atopic dermatitis, drug allergies, allergic rhinitis, asthma, and anaphylaxis. The clinic is performing food and medication challenges in the outpatient Treatment Center, and is studying oral immunotherapy for the treatment of food allergy. The program has been designated as a Food Allergy Research and Education Center of Excellence (FARE). In collaboration with the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Gastroenterology Program, the Allergy program runs an Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders Clinic.

The UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Pediatric Allergy Clinic, under the direction of Dr. Morna Dorsey, provides treatment for allergic disruptions to the immune system. These include food allergy, atopic dermatitis, drug allergies, allergic rhinitis, asthma, and anaphylaxis. The clinic is performing food and medication challenges in the outpatient Treatment Center, and is conducting investigations in immunotherapy for the treatment of food allergy. The program has been designated as a Food Allergy Research and Education Center of Excellence (FARE). In collaboration with the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Gastroenterology Program, the Allergy program runs an Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders Clinic.

The Clinical Team Includes:

  • Morna Dorsey, MD, MMSc
  • Jasmeen Dara, MD
  • Angela Chang, MD
  • Lauren Sanchez, MD
  • Abby Sobejana, RN

The Clinic is located at:

Ron Conway Family Gateway Medical Building
1825 Fourth St., Sixth Floor
San Francisco, CA 94158
Phone: (415) 353-3466

Immunology Clinic

The UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Pediatric Immunology Center, under the direction of Dr. Morna Dorsey and Dr. Jennifer Puck, is a designated Jeffrey Modell Diagnostic and Research Center for Primary Immunodeficiency and offers comprehensive consultation to patients with identified and suspected primary immunodeficiency conditions, disorders thought to arise from defects in the immune system carried by genes. These conditions are often characterized by infections that can be recurring, persistent, and debilitating. Immune defects can also produce overactive, unregulated immune reactions leading to autoimmune diseases. Our outpatient infusion center provides therapy with intravenous immune globulin and other parenteral agents.

The Center is integrated with the research laboratory of Dr. Jennifer Puck, and our clinical and scientific collaborations is aimed at obtaining advanced diagnostic evaluation. The center is designated by the California Department of Public Health as a SCID Newborn Screening Pediatric Immunology Consultant and can rapidly evaluate patients identified with abnormal screening test results. The UCSF Benioff Immunology Center has the largest experience in the world caring for children diagnosed with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) by newborn screening and is a designated Center of Excellence in Immunology in State of California.

The Clinical Team Includes:

  • Jennifer Puck, MD
  • Morna Dorsey, MD, MMSc
  • Jasmeen Dara, MD
  • Lauren Sanchez, MD
  • Alice Chan, MD, PhD
  • Mica Muskat, PNP
  • Xin-Hua Chen, LCSW, Social Worker

The Clinic is located at:

Ron Conway Family Gateway Medical Building
1825 Fourth St., Sixth Floor
San Francisco, CA 94158
Phone: (415) 353-3466

Immune Dysregulation Clinic

The UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Pediatric Immune Dysregulation Clinic, under the direction of Dr. Alice Chan, cares for patients with complex immunologic problems. The clinic evaluates and treats patients with an immune system that is both over-active and under-active (or weakened). Patients can have a combination of autoimmune diseases, autoinflammatory diseases, recurrent or unusual infections, and severe allergies. Oftentimes, the diagnosis is unknown, and the clinic focuses on identifying the immune system imbalance and directing treatment at the underlying cause.

The Clinical Team Includes:

  • Alice Chan, MD, PhD
  • Morna Dorsey, MD, MMSc
  • Emily Von Scheven, MD
  • Mica Muskat, PNP

The Clinic is located at:

Ron Conway Family Gateway Medical Building
1825 Fourth St., Sixth Floor
San Francisco, CA 94158
Phone: (415) 353-7337

Bone Marrow Transplant & Cellular Therapy Program

The UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) and Cellular Therapy Program, under the direction of Dr. Christopher Dvorak, offers transplants and other cellular therapies for both malignant and non-malignant diseases in the state-of-the-art BMT inpatient units at Mission Bay. These units were constructed in 2015 and equipped with the most advanced air (ULPA) and water filtration systems.

Malignant diseases include those of bone marrow itself (leukemias, lymphomas, and pre-leukemic states such as myelodysplastic syndrome), as well as solid tumors (sarcomas, brain tumors, and neuroblastoma--one of the more common solid tumors of childhood and one in which UCSF has particular expertise.) BMT is also used in non-malignant diseases such as primary immunodeficiencies (Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome, Chronic Granulomatous Disease and many others), marrow failure syndromes (Aplastic Anemia, Fanconi Anemia, and other defects of marrow stem cells), hemoglobinopathies (Sickle Cell Disease, Thalassemias), and inborn errors of metabolism (Hurler’s Disease and Adrenoleukodystrophy). Stem cells for a bone marrow transplant may be obtained from the patient (autologous transplant) or, more commonly from a donor (allogeneic transplant). Allogeneic donors may include matched related (e.g. siblings) or unrelated donors. UCSF has a particular expertise in using partially matched related (“haploidentical”) donors when fully matched donors are not available. Stem cells for transplant are processed in the state-of-the-art Pediatric Cellular Therapy Laboratory at Mission Bay. In addition the program offers gene therapy trials for some types of Severe Combined Immune Deficiency disorders.

The BMT Clinic provides new patient evaluations and follow-up care for returning bone marrow transplant patients five days a week, as well as specialized multidisciplinary clinic for patients with Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease. Patients are also seen next door in the Pediatric Treatment Center, a specially designed area where outpatient chemotherapy infusions and procedures are performed in a comfortable environment. The center is staffed by nurses trained in administering chemotherapy and hematological products. There are several private isolation rooms for our immunocompromised patients.

Established in 1982, the UCSF Pediatric BMT program consistently has one of the best overall patient survival rates in the nation for pediatric bone marrow transplants, according to an annual independent review of 156 programs nationwide.

 

The Clinical Team includes:

 

  • Sandhya Kharbanda, MD
  • Christopher Dvorak, MD
  • Kristin Shimano, MD
  • Alexis Melton, MD, PhD
  • Christine Higham, MD
  • Julia Chu, MD
  • Lena Winestone, MD
  • Jasmeen Dara, MD
  • James Huang, MD
  • Michelle Hermiston, MD, PhD
  • Morton Cowan, MD
  • Janel Long-Boyle, PharmD, PhD
  • Mara Bailey-Olson, PNP
  • Janelle Facchino, PNP
  • Sara O’Kane, PNP
  • Callie LoPresti, PNP
  • Stephanie Welty, PNP
  • Kayla Brereton, PNP
  • Shannon Gaines, PNP
  • Ari Man-Willrich, New Patient Coordinator
  • Kelley Johnson, RN, New Patient Coordinator
  • Megann Mucks, RN, New Patient Coordinator
  • Jillian Foley, LCSW, Social Worker
  • Jessica Manning, LCSW, Social Worker
  • Jenny Check, RN, FACT Coordinator
  • Betty Lau-Young, Unrelated Search Coordinator
  • Stacey Crivello, Scheduler
  • Jason Bloom, Financial Coordinator

The BMT Outpatient Clinic is located at:

Ron Conway Family Gateway Medical Building
1825 Fourth St., Sixth Floor
San Francisco, CA 94158
Phone: (415) 353-2584

BMT Survivors Clinic

The UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) Program works in collaboration with The UCSF Survivors of Childhood Cancer Program, under the direction of Dr. Robert Goldsby, to help survivors of pediatric cancer, or those treated with chemotherapy during the bone marrow transplant process, achieve optimal physical and emotional health through medical care, education and research. Many bone marrow transplant treatments are known to carry a risk of causing long-term side effects that occur years and even decades later. It is important that survivors of bone marrow transplant using chemotherapy or radiation receive long-term, follow-up care by heath care professionals knowledgeable about the patient’s medical history.

The BMT Survivors Clinic is located at:

Ron Conway Family Gateway Medical Building
1825 Fourth St., Sixth Floor
San Francisco, CA 94158
Phone: (415) 353-2986

Patient Resources