Leukemia Division

Find a DoctorCall 551-996-3925Make an Appointment

The treatment of leukemia—especially acute leukemias—can be complex, requiring multiple drug combinations given in sequence to systemically destroy the cancer cells.

At John Theurer Cancer Center—part of Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey—we have built a robust infrastructure of care and support for patients with every type and stage of leukemia. We have the largest leukemia program in New Jersey and the only one in the state solely focused on treating leukemia. We understand that for some types of leukemia, standard therapies may not be enough. That’s why we offer our patients opportunities to participate in clinical trials and to receive innovative therapies. You may be able to receive a promising therapy through one of these vital studies. Our goal is to cure your cancer while supporting your quality of life.

A Team of Leukemia Care Experts

Your multidisciplinary team includes medical oncologists who specialize in leukemia care, as well as hematopathologists, infectious disease specialists, oncology nurses, social workers, nutritionists, and others dedicated to ensuring that your experience with us is the best it can be. Together we collaborate to discuss your needs and put together a treatment plan customized to your personal needs. We help you manage your symptoms and supports your comfort from the moment of diagnosis, throughout your treatment, and into survivorship. We don’t just care for you, but about you. In fact, according to Press-Ganey surveys, 99 percent of our patients report satisfaction with their care.

Comprehensive Leukemia Care

Our experience extends to the treatment of adults of all ages with all types and stages of leukemia. We treat:

  • Acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
  • Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML)
  • Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL)
  • Hairy cell leukemia
  • Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)
  • Myelofibrosis
  • Other myeloproliferative disorders

The Latest Medical Therapies

Our leukemia specialists played a seminal role in the development of novel therapies for several types of leukemia, particularly CML, AML, and myelodysplasia. Whether you are newly diagnosed or your cancer has come back after prior therapy, we’ll select the combination of drugs that is most effective for your leukemia—choosing from chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapies, and cellular therapies such as natural killer cell therapies and emerging CAR T-cell treatments. Finally, our leukemia team is using the latest technologies to refine the diagnosis of your leukemia and adjust your therapy based on the genetic make-up of your tumor cells to improve your outcome. The personalization of your treatment options is an example of precision medicine at John Theurer Cancer Center, where we will also, when feasible, follow and track your disease during the minimal residual disease state to help manage the intensity and duration of your treatment.

A Renowned Stem Cell Transplantation Program

Many patients with leukemia are treated with stem cell transplantation. For more than 25 years, physicians in the Adult Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation Program at John Theurer Cancer Center have provided this lifesaving therapy. With over 6,000 transplants since 1990 and more than 400 every year, we have one of the largest and most experienced transplantation programs in the United States. We can seamlessly connect you with this program if a stem cell transplant is an option for you. We have developed new ways to prevent leukemia recurrence after transplantation, as well as reduce complications of donor-related transplantations (particularly graft-versus-host disease) through our collaboration with the Immunology Branch at the National Institutes of Health.

CAR T-Cell Therapy

John Theurer Cancer Center is one of the few sites offering chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, and has been involved in CAR T-cell research for nearly a decade.

A Promising Form of Personalized Immunotherapy

Our Commitment to Clinical Trials

John Theurer Cancer Center has a strong portfolio of clinical trials assessing novel therapies for leukemia, including those not widely available elsewhere, and has the highest number of Phase I clinical trials in New Jersey. Phase I studies offer you access to new therapies at the earliest stage of their development in patients. We are conducting a number of clinical trials for different types of leukemia, including those for patients with challenging leukemias that have come back or continued to grow despite other therapies.

View Our Current Clinical Trials

Our Leukemia Specialists

Dr. Stuart Goldberg

Dr. Goldberg has been a pioneer, particularly in CML and MDS and the founder of the Leukemia Division. Dr Stefan Faderl, after 16 years at MD Anderson, Houston, TX, as a Professor of Medicine in the largest Leukemia Program in the world, joined us in 2014 to lead John Theurer Cancer Center Leukemia Program. He is an internationally known investigator in the field and has authored the most recent comprehensive book on leukemia.