Research Program: Transplant Biology & Therapy
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Hematology-Oncology

macmi002@umn.edu
612-626-2778 — office
Preferred method of contact: e-mail

Dr. MacMillan's clinical profile
(University of Minnesota Physicians Web site)

Dr. MacMillan received her MSc degree at the University of Toronto in 1989 and her M.D. degree at the University of Toronto in 1991. She completed her internship residency in pediatrics, and postdoctoral fellowship in hematology-oncology at the University of Toronto School of Medicine in 1997. She then completed a blood and marrow transplant fellowship at the University of Minnesota in 1999 after which she joined the faculty, where she is currently an assistant professor of pediatrics in the Division of Hematology-Oncology and Blood and Marrow Transplantation and attends on the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation service. Dr. MacMillan is the clinical medical director of the Pediatric BMT Program and the medical director of the Unrelated Donor Program at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. MacMillan's research is focused on the development and implementation of novel strategies for preventing the immunologic complications of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. She is the principal investigator of 12 phase I/II clinical trials at the University of Minnesota. In collaboration with Bruce Blazar, M.D., she is studying the safety and efficacy of T regulatory cells to prevent graft-versus-host disease. Dr. MacMillan is co-director with John Wagner, M.D. of the University of Minnesota Fanconi Anemia Comprehensive Care Clinic, which follows the largest number of Fanconi anemia patients in the world. Dr. MacMillan has authored more than 30 articles and book chapters on the subject of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and is a member of numerous professional societies. She is board certified in pediatrics.

Research Interests

1. Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease
   — T regulatory cells to prevent GVHD
   — Novel pharmacologic agents/ regimens
2. Fanconi anemia
   — Novel preparative therapies
   — Gene therapy — multipotent adult stem cell
   — Mechanisms to speed immune recovery and reduce infection after transplantation
   
3. Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia
   — Novel phase I agents
   — Novel preparative therapies
   

Selected Publications

Tan PL, Wagner JE, Auerbach AD, DeFor TE, Slungaard A, and MacMillan ML. Successful engraftmment without radiation after fludarabine-based regimen in Fanconi Anemia patients undergoing genotypically identical donor hematopoietic cell transplantation. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2006;46:630-636.

Barker J, Hough RE, van Burik J, DeFor T, MacMillan ML, O'Brien MR, Wagner JE. Serious infections after unrelated donor transplantation in 136 children: impact of stem cell source. Biol Blood Marrow Tranplant. 2005;11:362-370.

MacMillan ML and Wagner JE. Hematopoietic cell transplantation on congenital bone marrow failure. Curr Opin Oncol. 2005;17:106-113.

Pinto-Cardoso SM, DeFor TE, Tilley LA, Bidwell JL, Weisdorf DJ and MacMillan ML. Patient interleukin-18 GCG haplotype associates with improved survival and decreased transplant-related mortality after unrelated-donor bone marrow transplantation. Br J Haematol. 2004; 126:704-710.

MacMillan ML, Radloff G.A, DeFor TE, Weisdorf DJ and Davies SM. IL-1 genotype and outcome of unrelated donor bone marrow transplantation. Br J Haematol. 2003;121:597-604.