Dr Karen Ballen is a Professor of Medicine at University of VirginiaVA School of Medicine. She also serves as the chief of the division of Hematology/Oncology, and the Medical Director of the stem cell transplantation program at UVA Cancer Center. Dr. Ballen received her undergraduate degree in history and literature from Harvard College and her MDdoctorate from Dartmouth Medical School. She completed her medical residency at Beth Israel Hospital and a hematology/oncology fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital, both in Boston, MA. Before joining UVA's faculty in 2017, Dr. Ballen was the director of the Leukemia Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Pprofessor of Mmedicine at Harvard Medical School.Dr.

Ballen's research interests are in novel therapeutic strategies for acute leukemia, including stem cell transplant.immunotherapy and targeted agents. She is an international expert in stem cell transplants, particularly for patients who have a difficult time finding a donor. Dr. Ballen started one of the first cord blood banks in the Unites States, and she has published over 200150 articles on transplants and acute leukemia. She is an Associate Editor of the journal, Bone Marrow Transplantation.