JOHN CUNNINGHAM was appointed chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Chicago.
In December 2006, Cunningham joined the University of Chicago to become professor of pediatrics and section chief of hematology/oncology and stem-cell transplantation. He was named vice chairman for research in pediatrics in 2008. He also serves as the Donald N. Pritzker Professor, and has served as interim chair of the pediatrics department since 2014.
Previously, he was part of the Divisions of Experimental Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and was appointed director of the cell and gene therapy laboratories, as well as chair of the institutional review board.
A native of Ireland, Cunningham came to the U.S. in 1991 as a visiting associate in clinical hematology at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Cunningham research focuses on childhood leukemia as well as hemoglobinopathies. He is known for his work on understanding the molecular mechanism underpinning red blood cell production, and has developed stem cell transplant techniques for the 70 percent of children who do not have a sibling match.
Cunningham earned his medical degree from University College Dublin, followed by a master of science degree in biochemistry from King’s College London. He completed his residency at St. Laurence’s Hospital and a hematology fellowship at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, both in Dublin.
In addition, he was a Wellcome research fellow in clinical science at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in London, where he also completed his clinical training in bone marrow transplantation.
He served on the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and is a reviewer for Blood; Molecular and Cellular Biology; Cancer Research; and Genomics. He is a member of the American Cancer Society’s Council for Extramural Grants, and pediatric series editor for The Oncologist.
