Randal Olshefski, MD, recently was appointed chief of the Section of Hematology/Oncology/Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where he previously served as interim chief prior to January 2012. In this role, he will report to Timothy Cripe, MD, PhD, who joined Nationwide Children’s from Cincinnati Children’s earlier this year as chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology/BMT at Nationwide Children’s.
“We are very grateful to Dr. Olshefski for his tireless leadership in Hematology/Oncology/BMT at Nationwide Children’s,” said Dr. Cripe, also a professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. “Dr. Olshefski’s new role will primarily focus on clinical services and quality improvements and advancements for the Division. He will work closely with our faculty and nursing staff to be certain we deliver the most efficient and highest quality of care. He will also be in charge of quality improvement projects.”
Last year, Dr. Olshefski completed formal training in quality improvement and in this new role, he will also report to the hospital’s chief medical officer, Richard Brilli, MD, FAAP, FCCM.
In addition to his position at Nationwide Children’s, Dr. Olshefski is an associate professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. His clinical interest is the treatment of children and adolescents with primary benign and malignant brain tumors, and clinical research activities focusing on clinical trials for treatment of brain tumors in children.
Dr. Olshefski comes to the position with a long line of experience in pediatric healthcare. He earned his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1988. He completed his residency at Nationwide Children’s in 1991 and his fellowship training in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. in 1994. Dr. Olshefski returned to Nationwide Children’s in 1997 to serve as the medical director of the Brain Tumor Program.
The Division Hematology/Oncology/BMT at Nationwide Children’s Hospital treats a full array of blood disorders, cancers, immune-deficiency disorders, bone marrow failure syndromes and inherited metabolic storage diseases. In addition to treatment, it is committed to advancing both basic and clinical research in these areas. The division maintains active membership in the Children’s Oncology Group, the Therapeutic Advances in Childhood Leukemia Consoritum, the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium, and is a research member of the International Blood and Marrow Transplant Registry. Hematology/Oncology/BMT works hand-in-hand with the Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases, directed by Peter Houghton, PhD, to expand the understanding of childhood cancer and to improve strategies for its diagnosis and treatment.
NOTE TO EDITOR: Dr. Olshefski is a resident of Pickerington, OH 43147.
Dr. Randal Olshefski, chief of the Section of Hematology/Oncology/Bone Marrow Transplantation