From OHC
August 29, 2018
Today, OHC’s James H. Essell, MD, a leading authority on blood and marrow transplant and a national expert leading the CAR T-cell therapy program for The US Oncology Network, was invited to spend time with emergency medicine residents at the University of Cincinnati teaching them about the newest advancements in cancer care. When the residents go on to become emergency room doctors, they will have a strong understanding about these conditions, will recognize signs and symptoms of possible problems, and provide better treatment.
Dr. Essell discussed the newest, most promising approach to cancer treatment, chimeric antigen receptor therapy, known as CAR T-cell therapy. With CAR T, doctors remove immune system cells from a patient, modify them in a lab so they will recognize and kill cancer, and then infuse them back into the patient. The cells that are injected back into the patient stay in the body, becoming what some researchers refer to as “living drugs.”
“Patients may present to an emergency room doctor if they are experiencing cell rejection,” said Dr. Essell. “We want them to know what to look for and how to intervene so they can stabilize the patient. They will also be able to help us, the oncologists, determine whether or not the patient needs to be admitted.”
Another condition the residents learned about was blood and marrow transplants. Patients who have had a transplant may go to the emergency room if they are experiencing problems related to transplant rejection, known as graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). GvHD is a medical complication following the receipt of transplanted tissue from a genetically different person. It’s commonly associated with stem cell transplants such as those that occur with bone marrow transplants as well as other forms of transplanted tissues such as solid organ transplants.
Dr. Essell talked about acute leukemia with the residents.
“Acute leukemia is a serious condition that needs immediate treatment because it’s a rapidly progressing cancer that starts in blood-forming tissue such as the bone marrow, and causes large numbers of white blood cells to be produced and enter the blood stream,” said Dr. Essell. “So we’re teaching these doctors what it is, what signs and symptoms to look for, how to stabilize the patients and then the importance of getting them to the Blood Cancer Center immediately so we can begin treatment. It’s that serious.”
Dr. Essell will provide the same information at a later date to the city’s Emergency Medical Transport teams for the possibility of even earlier intervention, before the patient reaches the hospital emergency room.
Dr. Essell is a medical oncologist and hematologist at OHC. Dr. Essell specializes in malignant and benign hematology, sarcoma, and blood and marrow transplantation. He is actively involved in clinical trials and research, and is always in search of new and innovative treatments. He is also considered an expert in CAR T-cell therapy, a promising new approach in the treatment of cancer.
Dr. Essell received a bachelor degree in pharmacy and a medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He completed an internal medicine residency and a hematology/oncology fellowship at Wilford Hall United States Air Force Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. He completed a post-fellowship at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington.
He is board certified in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology and is a member of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network, Ohio State Medical Society, American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Society of Hematology.
Dr. Essell serves as a principal investigator for hematologic malignant clinical trials and is the national principal investigator for The US Oncology Network for chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR T-cell clinical trials. He serves as Chair, Cellular Therapy for The US Oncology Network and is the Medical Director of the Blood Cancer Center at The Jewish Hospital – Mercy Health in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Dr. Essell served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, as a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, and as an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD. He has participated in more than 100 research studies and contributed to the publication of more than 30 publications in peer reviewed journals.
