Stefano Rivella

Background

About Stefano Rivella

rivellas@chop.edu, 215-590-6840 http://rivella.research.chop.edu/ Dr. Stefano Rivella completed his studies at the University of Pavia, in Italy, and did his postdoctoral work at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, in New York. After his training, he opened his laboratory at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, where he was Director of the Stanley Jaffe Gene Therapy Lab. He is now Professor of Pediatrics with tenure at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania and holds the Kwame Ohene-Frempong Chair on Sickle Cell Anemia. Dr. Rivella is Chair of the Gene Therapy and Vaccines program of the Cell and Molecular Biology affinity group (CAMB) at Penn University Dr. Rivella is an expert in the pathophysiology of erythroid, inflammation and iron disorders and in the generation of lentiviral vectors for the cure of hemoglobinopathies. Dr. Rivella also investigated a number of the physiological mechanisms associated with the inappropriate amount of iron observed in the organs of patients with beta-thalassemia. Based on these studies, he contributed to the development of novel therapeutics, presently in clinical and preclinical trials. Dr. Rivella generated the first adult mouse model of ß-thalassemia major and contributed to the creation of the first lentiviral vector that corrected the hemoglobin synthesis in mice affected by beta-thalassemia. He is also generating new lentiviral vectors for the treatment of of a variety of hemtaological disorders. Holder of several grants from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and pharmaceutical industries and member of medical and scientific societies, such as American Society of Hematology (ASH), American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) and International BioIron Society (IBIS). SAB member of Meira GTx, Ionis and Disc Medicine. Consultant for a variety of Pharmaceuticals (Novartis, Bayer, Protagonist, LaJolla Pharmaceuticals, etc).