Mitchell Cairo, MD

About Dr. Mitchell Cairo, MD

Mitchell Cairo, MD is the director of the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation Laboratory at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at New York Medical College. Additionally, at NYMC, Dr. Cairo serves as a professor of pediatrics, medicine, pathology, microbiology, immunology, cell biology, and anatomy and is the vice chair of the Department of Pediatrics. He is also the chief of pediatric hematology, oncology and stem cell transplantation at Westchester Medical Center and Director of the Westchester Medical Center Cancer Center.

Dr. Cairo’s special interests and areas of expertise include childhood hematological malignancy (leukemia and lymphoma), stem cell transplantation, immunodeficiencies, tumor immunology, developmental immunology, molecular genetics of childhood hematological malignancies, and more. 

About Dr. Cairo’s Research

Stretching back to 1982, the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation’s affiliation with Dr. Cairo represents one of our longest-lasting and most fruitful collaborations. We have supported his work through Basic Science Grants and Translational Research Grants for more than 40 years.

As director of the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation Laboratory, Dr. Cairo’s team has been focused on six overarching areas of research. These state-of-the-art research initiatives include: 

• Cancer genetics and treatment of childhood and adolescent hematological malignancies and solid tumors
• Genetically re-engineering immune cells to enhance targeted adoptive cellular cancer immunotherapy
• Tumor immunology and identifying targets for humoral targeted immunotherapy
• Stem cell biology, cancer stem cells, and regenerative therapy
• Developing targeted therapy for childhood, adolescent and young adult hematological malignancies and solid tumors and brain tumors
• Translational therapeutic consortiums for childhood and adolescent cancer therapy

Over the course of the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation’s decades-long partnership with Dr. Cairo, childhood cancer survival rates have improved significantly for certain types of cancers from 20% to 90%.