Dr Patrick Hanley

Dr Patrick Hanley is the Chief and Director of the Cellular Therapy Program and an associate professor of pediatrics at Children’s National Hospital and the George Washington University, respectively. He oversees processing for standard of care stem cell transplantation as well as the development, manufacture, and testing of novel cellular therapies and is responsible for seeking partnerships and commercialization of promising cell and gene therapies. Trained as an immunologist, Patrick has an extensive background and interest in cellular therapy and is passionate about improving regulations for cellular therapy, training the next generation of cell therapists, and facilitating the translation of new therapeutics. Over the past 15 years he has helped to translate more than 300 products on over 25 cell therapy protocols – ranging from mesenchymal stromal cells to cord blood virus-specific T cells and tumor-associated antigen specific T cells – into the clinic.

Patrick serves on the board of directors and as the chair of the education committee of the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) and is an active cellular therapy and cord blood inspector. He co-founded and served as the inaugural co-chair of the Early-Stage Professionals committee and was elected as vice president, North America of the International Society of Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT). He is the commissioning editor of the journal Cytotherapy and he serves on the editorial boards of the journals Cytotherapy, Frontiers in Immunology and Immunotherapy, and Molecular Therapy: Methods and Clinical Development. In 2017, along with Drs Catherine Bollard and Russell Cruz, he founded Mana Therapeutics, a biotech company aimed at educating immune cells and eliminating cancer. In his free time he enjoys playing soccer, cycling, cooking, and traveling.