The 20 Best Hemoglobinopathy Doctors in Maryland, US

Dr. Lydia H. Pecker is a pediatric hematologist and Director of the Young Adult Clinic at the Sickle Cell Center for Adults at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Pecker received her undergraduate degree in Africana studies from Brown University and earned her M.D. at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She completed residency training at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore and completed a fellowship at Children’s National Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute before joining the Hopkins faculty in 2016. Dr. Pecker's NIH and foundation-funded research focuses on reproductive health in people with ovaries and sickle cell disease. Dr. Pecker is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. Her top areas of expertise are Sickle Cell Disease, Congenital Hemolytic Anemia, Hemoglobinopathy, Tubal Ligation, and Bone Marrow Transplant.

"Dr. James Casella is a professor of pediatrics and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. As the Johns Hopkins’ Rainey Professor of Pediatric Hematology, Dr. Casella is chief of the Division of Pediatric Hematology at Johns Hopkins Children's and director of the Basic and Translational Research Program in Sickle Cell Disease, Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center and the Maryland Hemophilia Treatment Center at Johns Hopkins. He supervises several labs investigating the cellular and molecular basis of pediatric blood-borne diseases. He is seeking to develop better treatments for sickle cell disease and the prevention of central nervous system complications of this disorder, including stroke. Dr. Casella received his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Union College. He earned his M.D. from SUNY of Syracuse and completed a residency in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he was subsequently a fellow in hematology/oncology. He has been a member of the Johns Hopkins’ faculty since 1983. A research scientist as well as a clinician, he co-directs the hematology/oncology fellowship program at Johns Hopkins Hospital and is an adjunct senior investigator (Pediatric Oncology Branch) in the Division of Clinical Sciences, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health. He is also director of the NHLBI-funded K12 in benign hematology program at Johns Hopkins that trains young clinician/investigators in benign hematology and transfusion medicine. Dr. Casella has served on numerous university, hospital, and advisory committees, many geared toward hematology, pediatrics and transfusion. He has received many awards from the Johns Hopkins Hospital, including the Alexander ""Buck"" Schaffer Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Teaching of House Officers. He and a colleague created the Johns Hopkins/St. Agnes Comprehensive Hemophilia Clinic to improve care for patients with the disease.". Dr. Casella is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. His top areas of expertise are Sickle Cell Disease, Congenital Hemolytic Anemia, Hemoglobinopathy, and Hemolytic Anemia.

John Tisdale is a primary care provider, practicing in Internal Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Tisdale is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. His top areas of expertise are Sickle Cell Disease, Hemoglobinopathy, Congenital Hemolytic Anemia, and Anemia.

Courtney Fitzhugh is a Hematologist in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Fitzhugh is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. Her top areas of expertise are Sickle Cell Disease, Congenital Hemolytic Anemia, Hemoglobinopathy, Hemolytic Anemia, and Bone Marrow Transplant.

Jennie Law is a Hematologist in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Law is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. Her top areas of expertise are Sickle Cell Disease, Hemoglobinopathy, Hemoglobin SC Disease, Hemoglobin E Disease, and Bone Marrow Aspiration.

Dr. Rakhi P. Naik is the Associate Director for the Division of Hematology at Johns Hopkins University. She also serves as Director of the Fellowship Hematology Track and Director of Organ Systems Foundation of Medicine (OSFM), the largest pre-clerkship course in the medical school. She holds an undergraduate degree in Biomedical & Electrical Engineering from Duke University, an M.D. with. Dr. Naik is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. Her top areas of expertise are Sickle Cell Disease, Hemolytic Anemia, Hemoglobinopathy, and Congenital Hemolytic Anemia.

Dr. Robert Brodsky is a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His area of clinical expertise is classical hematology and haploidentical bone marrow transplant for sickle cell disease and aplastic anemia. Dr. Brodsky serves as the director of the Division of Hematology and the T32 Training Program. He is the Johns Hopkins Family Professor of Medicine and Oncology. He received his M.D. from Hahnemann University. He completed his residency at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He performed a fellowship in hematology at the National Institutes of Health and a fellowship in oncology at Johns Hopkins. He joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1997. From 2017 to 2022 he served as Associate Editor to The Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI) and Secretary to American Society of Hematology (ASH). He serves as President of The American Society of Hematology (ASH) in 2023. Dr. Brodsky is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. His top areas of expertise are Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH), Paroxysmal Cold Hemoglobinuria, Anemia, Bone Marrow Transplant, and Splenectomy.

Dr. Shruti Chaturvedi is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins. She received her medical degree from Maulana Azad Medical College, University of Delhi, India. She then completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, and a fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. She has additionally obtained a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) degree from Vanderbilt University. Dr. Chaturvedi specializes in the care of adults with non-malignant hematologic disorders including thrombocytopenic purpura, atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, antiphospholpiid syndrome, immune thrombocytopenia, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, thrombotic, other bleeding and clotting disorders, and anemias. Her research is focused on improving the care of patients with thrombotic microangiopathies with a focus on long term sequelae, and the role of complement in thrombotic disorders such as the antiphospholipid syndrome. Dr. Chaturvedi is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. Her top areas of expertise are Blood Clots, Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (aHUS), Anemia, Splenectomy, and Bone Marrow Aspiration.

Swee Thein is a Hematologist in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Thein is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. Her top areas of expertise are Hemoglobinopathy, Congenital Hemolytic Anemia, Hemolytic Anemia, and Anemia.

Matthew Hsieh is a Hematologist in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Hsieh is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. His top areas of expertise are Sickle Cell Disease, Hemoglobinopathy, Hemolytic Anemia, Anemia, and Bone Marrow Transplant.

Michael Streiff is a Hematologist in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Streiff is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. His top areas of expertise are Venous Thromboembolism (VTE), Deep Vein Thrombosis, Pulmonary Embolism, Pancreaticoduodenectomy, and Bone Marrow Aspiration.

Joseph Zebley is a primary care provider, practicing in Family Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Zebley is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. His top areas of expertise are Hemoglobinopathy, Hemoglobin E Disease, Hemoglobin C Disease, and Hemoglobin SC Disease.

Jennifer Webb is a Hematologist and an Oncologist in Silver Spring, Maryland. Dr. Webb is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. Her top areas of expertise are Sickle Cell Disease, Hemolytic Anemia, Anemia, Bone Marrow Transplant, and Splenectomy.

Jeffery Miller is an Internal Medicine provider in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Miller is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. His top areas of expertise are Hemoglobinopathy, Congenital Hemolytic Anemia, Anemia, and Hemolytic Anemia.

Dr. Cooke is Director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center’s Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation Program. Prior to his appointment at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Cooke headed the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, and University Hospitals Case Medical Center, in Cleveland, Ohio. He also co-directed the Hematologic Disorders Program of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University. A nationally recognized transplantation immunology expert, Dr. Cooke focuses primarily on new strategies to prevent and treat graft-vs-host disease and lung complications following blood and bone marrow transplantation. His research efforts have been recognized by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the American Society of Clinical Investigation. In addition to his younger patients, Dr. Cooke also cares for adolescents and young adults. Dr. Cooke is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. His top areas of expertise are Graft Versus Host Disease (GvHD), Chronic Graft Versus Host Disease (cGvHD), Anemia, Aplastic Anemia, and Bone Marrow Transplant.

Gayatri Nimmagadda is a Hematologist and a Hematologist Oncology provider in Columbia, Maryland. Dr. Nimmagadda is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. Her top areas of expertise are Breast Cancer, Paget Disease of the Breast, Iron Deficiency Anemia, and Pleuropulmonary Blastoma.

Dr. Benjamin Bodnar is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He holds appointments as the Director of Quality and Safety for the Division of Hospital Medicine, Department of Medicine, as a Eudowood Scholar of Quality and Safety in the Division of Quality and Safety, Department of Pediatrics, and is affiliate faculty with the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality at Johns Hopkins. He was born and raised in Baltimore and after training in institutions across the country, and working at sites around the world, he has settled back in his hometown. He received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University, his medical degree from Columbia University, and completed his specialty training at Yale New Haven Hospital. He also worked at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA, and held the appointment of an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School prior to joining Johns Hopkins in 2016. His focus on providing world-class clinical care to his patients at Johns Hopkins Hospital, he has a special interest in global health and the application of Quality Improvement techniques to the often poorly functional systems at work in resource-limited and developing health care environments. He has worked internationally at sites including Nepal, Mongolia, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda, and has worked with development groups including Partners in Health and The Millennium Villages Project. He is a faculty member of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global NCD Research and Training. As part of the Johns Hopkins Medicine COVID-19 response, he led the creation of standardized patient care guidelines for non-ICU COVID-19 patients across the health system. He also played a key role in the implementation of these guidelines via an Electronic Medical Record-integrated Clinical Decision Support platform, thus ensuring the evolving guidance is available to all providers at the point of care. Dr. Bodnar is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. His top areas of expertise are Sickle Cell Disease, Hemoglobin C Disease, Hemoglobinopathy, Endoscopy, and Gastrostomy.

Dr. Alexander J. Ambinder is an instructor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is active in the Division of Hematology Malignancies, Leukemia Program at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Ambinder has expertise in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and bone marrow transplantation. Dr. Ambinder received his B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis. He earned his M.D. from Emory University School of Medicine and his M.P.H. from Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. He completed the Osler Medical Residency Training Program in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins and subsequently served as an Assistant Chief of Service (Chief Resident). He completed his fellowships in Hematology and Oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins and also served as a Chief Fellow. Dr. Ambinder is a member of the American Society of Hematology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Ambinder’s principle research interest is in designing and conducting clinical trials inspired by laboratory insights to improve the management of acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome. He also has an interest in building large databases that will yield insights that allow for more personalized approaches to the care and treatment of patients with blood cancers. Dr. Ambinder is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. His top areas of expertise are Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia without Maturation, Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), Bone Marrow Aspiration, and Bone Marrow Transplant.

"In her first decade as a pediatric oncologist, Dr. Symons already has shown an impressive ability to juggle multiple research projects, in addition to caring for patients. One of Dr. Symons' research pursuits focuses on using a novel immunotherapy approach to treating both solid tumors and hematologic (blood-borne) malignancies. The basis of her work stems from the theory that cancer patients' immune systems should recognize tumor cells as foreign and destroy them. This doesn't happen, theorizes Dr. Symons, because the immune system attacks only those cells it perceives as dangerous—not cancer cells, which it sees simply as foreign. That's where her research comes into play. Evaluating an experimental therapy, Dr. Symons is pairing donor lymphocytes (white blood cells that activate the body's immune system) with chemotherapy to determine if this combination will ""awaken"" patients' immune systems to the danger of existing cancer cells and, in turn, elicit an immune response. In a separate yet equally compelling research endeavor, Dr. Symons is working to increase the availability of donors for children whose cancer requires bone marrow transplants (BMTs) as a potentially lifesaving treatment. ""It can be challenging to find a 'matched' donor,"" says Dr. Symons, who explains that only about 40 percent of patients who require a BMT find a matched donor. ""Sometimes, we don't have the benefit of time, because remissions can be short-lived. But almost all patients have a half-matched donor: a parent, sibling, or child,"" adds Dr. Symons, who is examining ways to reduce BMT-related complications ordinarily associated with half-matched donors after ablative (high dose) chemotherapy. ""Like anything else that's new, it will take some time to prove that this is a feasible option that's safe,"" she says. But she's optimistic. ""It has the potential to revolutionize BMT."" Dr. Symons knows it's worth the wait. ""Seeing the research I do in the lab translate into clinical trials, then seeing patients in these trials survive long term, is incredibly rewarding,"" she says.". Dr. Symons is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. Her top areas of expertise are Graft Versus Host Disease (GvHD), Aplastic Anemia, Anemia, Leukemia, and Bone Marrow Transplant.

Dr. DeZern is a Professor of Oncology and Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is active in the Division of Hematology Malignancies, Leukemia Program at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. Dr. DeZern has expertise in aplastic anemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, acute myeloid leukemia, and bone marrow transplantation. Dr. DeZern received her medical degree at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She completed a residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins, followed by fellowships in medical oncology and hematology, as well as obtained a Masters in Clinical Investigations at the Bloomberg School of Public health. Dr. DeZern is a member of the American Society of Hematology, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. Dr. DeZern’s principle research activities consist of designing and conducting clinical trials that test investigational new therapies and approaches in the treatment of bone marrow failure (aplastic anemia and myelodysplastic syndromes). She has specific expertise in the use of alternative donor bone marrow transplantation in patients with severe aplastic anemia and trials of novel therapeutics for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes. Additionally, she has taken a rigorous approach to the study of diagnostics and supportive case (such as transfusion practices) in these patient populations. She is or has been the Principal Investigator for a number of multicenter trials in collaboration with the MDS Clinical Research Consortium, the Eastern Co-operative Oncology Group (ECOG)-ACRIN and now the Bone Marrow Trials Clinical Trials Network (BMTCTN). She is the Study Chair for the multi-site BMTCTN study (CHAMP) investigating the role of haploidentical donor transplantation using post-transplantation cyclophosphamide in patients with relapsed several aplastic anemia. Dr. DeZern is the local PI as well as the Deputy Chair for The National MDS Study, a collaborative natural history study of the NHLBI and the NCI. As a clinical investigator with a focus on translation of novel treatments to the clinic, Dr. DeZern’s goal is to improve outcomes for patients with bone marrow failure at the bedside and in her research environment. Dr. Dezern is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathy. Her top areas of expertise are Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia (CMML), Bone Marrow Transplant, and Bone Marrow Aspiration.