Casey O’Connell, MD

Dr. O’Connell is an academic hematologist hematologist: (hee-muh-TOL-uh-jist) A doctor who specializes in treating blood diseases and disorders of blood producing organs. with the Jane Anne Nohl Division of Hematology at the Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California (USC). In addition to her clinical work with patients at the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, she conducts clinical and translational research in Myeloproliferative and Myelodysplastic Syndromes Myelodysplastic Syndromes: (my-eh-lo-diss-PLASS-tik SIN-dromez) A group of disorders where the bone marrow does not work well, and the bone marrow cells fail to make enough healthy blood cells. Myelo refers to the bone marrow. Dysplastic means abnormal growth or development. People with MDS have low blood cell count for at… (MDS). She is currently the principal investigator at USC on various clinical trials clinical trials: Clinical research is at the heart of all medical advances, identifying new ways to prevent, detect or treat disease. If you have a bone marrow failure disease, you may want to consider taking part in a clinical trial, also called a research study. Understanding Clinical Trials Clinical… , the most exciting of which is a Phase I trial utilizing a novel hypomethylating agent for patients with MDS and acute myeloid leukemia acute myeloid leukemia: (uh-KYOOT my-uh-LOYD loo-KEE-mee-uh) A cancer of the blood cells. It happens when very young white blood cells (blasts) in the bone marrow fail to mature. The blast cells stay in the bone marrow and become to numerous. This slows production of red blood cells and platelets. Some cases of MDS become… . This trial is supported, in part, by a large grant from the Stand Up 2 Cancer organization awarded to a consortium of “dream team” sites involved with epigenetic therapy. Dr. O’Connell has also created a hematology tissue banking protocol protocol: An action plan that describes what will be done in a clinical trial and how it will be carried out. This plan is reviewed and approved by a committee at each place doing the clinical trial. This committee is known as the Institutional Review Board. at USC which will foster an integrative approach to the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of a variety of hematologic disorders, with particular attention to the impact of patient factors such as age and ethnicity. She is most proud of her accolades for patient care, including several consecutive listings as a Southern California Super Doc and Pasadena Top Doctor, and for teaching in the Keck School of Medicine where she is the Associate Director of the Year, Hematology Course.