Meet the Cell and Gene Therapy Team

Dr. Clay is the division chief of hematology and director of the sickle cell program in the Johns Hopkins All Children's Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute. She is an assistant professor of pediatrics in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Clay treats children, adolescents and young adults with rare blood disorders such as sickle cell disease and thalassemia. Trained in both pediatrics and internal medicine, she plays the key role of a physician navigator in transitioning adolescents with these diseases to adult care. She has established her research in sickle cell disease where she studies the mechanistic contribution of vitamin D deficiency and its effects of disease manifestation of sickle cell disease as well as bone disease. Her primary professional objective is to translate her clinical research to the field.

Dr. Chellapandian specializes in bone marrow transplant as a hematologist/oncologist and serves as Director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy for Non-Malignant Conditions (CCGNC) in the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute. He joined the hospital staff in 2017. Dr. Chellapandian earned his medical degree from Madurai Medical College and then trained at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, both in India. He completed a residency in pediatrics at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Chellapandian completed a pediatric hematology-oncology and bone marrow transplantation fellowship at Hospital for Sick Children/University of Toronto in Canada and an advanced fellowship on bone marrow transplantation and cellular therapy at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Dr. Walter is the division chief of the University of South Florida (USF) and Johns Hopkins All Children’s Pediatric Allergy & Immunology Programs. She is the Robert A. Good Endowed Chair of the USF Division of Pediatric Allergy & Immunology, and an associate professor of pediatrics, medicine and molecular biology in the USF Morsani College of Medicine. She serves as director of the Jeffrey Modell Diagnostic and Research Center for Primary Immunodeficiencies at Johns Hopkins All Children’s. Her research interests include understanding the (severe) combined immunodeficiencies, and breech in tolerance in primary immune disorders leading to autoimmunity and inflammation. Dr. Walter has specific clinical expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with (severe) combined immunodeficiencies, in particular those with recombination activating gene (RAG) variants. She is focusing on genetic evaluation, mechanism-based treatment therapies for non-infectious complications and involved in the care of patients with definitive therapies such as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and gene therapy protocols.

Dr. Sunkersett specializes in pediatric oncology and bone marrow transplantation in the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute. She also is director of the BMT fellowship program. Her areas of clinical focus and interest include stem cell transplantation, graft-versus-host disease, immunotherapy, T-cell regulation, high-risk leukemia, primary immunodeficiencies, gut microbiota and biomarkers. She has been published in leading journals in her field and invited to national conferences to present her research. Dr. Sunkersett joined Johns Hopkins All Children’s in 2017 after completing a clinical fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at Children’s Medical Center at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas and a subspecialized clinical fellowship in pediatric bone marrow transplantation at the University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital. After earning her medical degree from Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Sunkersett completed her residency in General Pediatrics at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami. Dr. Sunkersett is fluent in Spanish.

Dr. Leiding is an immunologist and allergy specialist for the USF Pediatric Allergy/Immunology Program at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital and the University of South Florida (USF) Morsani College of Medicine, where she is an associate professor of pediatrics. Dr. Leiding's research interests include understanding the etiology of auto-inflammation in chronic granulomatous disease and primary immunodysregulatory disorders. Dr. Leiding has specific clinical expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with chronic granumolmatous disease and primary immunodeficiencies associated with immunodysregulation particularly patients signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)–gain of function (GOF) mutations.

Dr. Chellapandian specializes in bone marrow transplant as a hematologist/oncologist and serves as Director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy for Non-Malignant Conditions (CCGNC) in the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute. He joined the hospital staff in 2017. Dr. Chellapandian earned his medical degree from Madurai Medical College and then trained at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, both in India. He completed a residency in pediatrics at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Chellapandian completed a pediatric hematology-oncology and bone marrow transplantation fellowship at Hospital for Sick Children/University of Toronto in Canada and an advanced fellowship on bone marrow transplantation and cellular therapy at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Dr. Leiding is an immunologist and allergy specialist for the USF Pediatric Allergy/Immunology Program at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital and the University of South Florida (USF) Morsani College of Medicine, where she is an associate professor of pediatrics. Dr. Leiding's research interests include understanding the etiology of auto-inflammation in chronic granulomatous disease and primary immunodysregulatory disorders. Dr. Leiding has specific clinical expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with chronic granumolmatous disease and primary immunodeficiencies associated with immunodysregulation particularly patients signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)–gain of function (GOF) mutations.

Dr. Chellapandian specializes in bone marrow transplant as a hematologist/oncologist and serves as Director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy for Non-Malignant Conditions (CCGNC) in the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute. He joined the hospital staff in 2017. Dr. Chellapandian earned his medical degree from Madurai Medical College and then trained at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, both in India. He completed a residency in pediatrics at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Chellapandian completed a pediatric hematology-oncology and bone marrow transplantation fellowship at Hospital for Sick Children/University of Toronto in Canada and an advanced fellowship on bone marrow transplantation and cellular therapy at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Dr. Chellapandian specializes in bone marrow transplant as a hematologist/oncologist and serves as Director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy for Non-Malignant Conditions (CCGNC) in the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute. He joined the hospital staff in 2017. Dr. Chellapandian earned his medical degree from Madurai Medical College and then trained at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, both in India. He completed a residency in pediatrics at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Chellapandian completed a pediatric hematology-oncology and bone marrow transplantation fellowship at Hospital for Sick Children/University of Toronto in Canada and an advanced fellowship on bone marrow transplantation and cellular therapy at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Dr. Oshrine is the division chief of blood and marrow transplant and specializes in blood and marrow transplants as a pediatric hematologist/oncologist in the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute. His clinical focus is in the treatment of high-risk leukemias with blood and marrow transplantation, and his research focus is in immune recovery after transplant. He joined the hospital in 2014 after completing a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Oshrine earned his medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and completed his residency at Boston Children’s Hospital.