Sangamo Collabolator John Zaia Earns new COH Directorship

Dr. John A. Zaia, . John A. Zaia, known for his research into potential gene therapy treatments for HIV, will serve as director of the Center for Gene Therapy within City of Hope’s new Hematologic Malignancies and Stem Cell Transplantation Institute.

Dr. John A. Zaia of City of Hope. Image via Science10project

Zaia will be tasked with maximizing the potential of gene therapy not just for HIV, but also for cancer and other diseases, as City of Hope expands its commitment to the revolutionary field of research.
Zaia, the Aaron D. and Edith Miller Chair in Gene Therapy and past chair of the Department of Virology, is also the principal investigator of the new Alpha Clinic for Cell Therapy and Innovation at City of Hope.
The clinic is dedicated to identifying new stem cell cures for currently incurable diseases, and to helping those cures become a standard option for patients who need them.
Among the treatments tested in the clinic will be immunotherapy approaches developed in the hematologic institute using gene therapy.
“As director of the center, and as principal investigator of the clinic, Zaia will bridge the current gap between the promise and the reality of stem cell treatments, speeding lifesaving treatments to the patients who need them,” according to City of Hope.
“When it comes to gene therapy, John has been both a visionary and a teacher,” said Dr. Stephen J. Forman, director of the new hematologic institute and the Francis and Kathleen McNamara Distinguished Chair in Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation.
Zaia’s “leadership will be vital in helping doctors and researchers maximize the potential of gene therapy as a source of treatments,” Forman said. “His leadership will be vital in helping us save lives.”
A specialist in gene transfer as HIV-related therapy, Zaia has focused on two potential avenues for fighting AIDS. One involves genetic modification of blood stem cells as a way to create resistance to the virus that causes AIDS; the other involves genetic modification of stem cell genes so that they prevent replication of the virus.
“City of Hope has made an important commitment to exploring the potential of gene therapy, and I’m proud to lead the effort as a leader of the gene therapy center within the Hematologic Malignancies and Stem Cell Transplantation Institute,” Zaia said.
“The researchers and clinicians at City of Hope have both the potential and the determination to change the course of HIV, cancer and other life- threatening diseases, and I’m looking forward to working with them to develop new gene therapy options,” he said.
Zaia has served as chair of the Department of Virology since 1999. The Harvard University graduate joined City of Hope in 1980 as director of Virology and Infectious Diseases within the Department of Pediatrics.
Prior to that, he was an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School and a clinical associate at the Dana Farmer Cancer Institute in Boston.
— City News Service