Donald Siegel

Dr. Siegel is a co-founder and Co-Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for Verismo Therapeutics. He is currently a Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and founding director of the Division of Transfusion Medicine & Therapeutic Pathology at UPenn. He is medical director of the blood bank, apheresis unit, and stem cell lab, and he directs the Clinical Cell and Vaccine Production facility in Penn’s Center for Advanced Cellular Therapies which has manufactured over 3000 cell products for over 1200 patients including the first genetically modified cell therapy product approved by the FDA and first-in-human use of CRISPR-edited cells in the U.S. Dr. Siegel’s translational research laboratory has been funded by the NIH in the areas of immunohematology, hemostasis/thrombosis, autoimmunity, and oncology since 1992. His laboratory focuses on the development of phage display technologies for the discovery of recombinant human and non-human antibodies relevant to transfusion medicine, benign hematology, infectious diseases, and oncology, particularly for use in the design of targeted therapies such as chimeric antigen receptor T-cells. For his contributions to clinical care, in 2013 Dr. Siegel was elected to the first class of Penn Medicine’s Academy of Master Clinicians. Since 2017, his investigative work in autoimmunity and cellular therapy has been recognized with receipt of the Research Innovation in Scientific Excellence Award, the Dale E. Smith Memorial Award, and the Tibor Greenwalt Memorial Award and Lectureship from the American Association of Blood Banks; the Francis S. Morrison Award and the Lecturer Award from the American Society of Apheresis; and the Gift of Life Award from the Ree Wynn Foundation. For his contributions specifically to the development of chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, Dr. Siegel shares the 2020 Robert de Villiers Spiral of Life Award from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the 2020 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Team Science Award. Dr. Siegel received an undergraduate degree in Biophysics from Brown University, a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard University, and an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed a residency in Clinical Pathology and Fellowship in Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania before joining Penn as a member of the faculty in 1992.