Josu de la Fuente

Consultant Haematologist, Paediatric BMT Programme Director

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

United Kingdom

Josu de la Fuente is a Consultant Haematologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Professor of Practice (Cellular and Gene Therapies) of Imperial College London. He was appointed Director of the Paediatric Blood & Marrow Transplant Programme in 2006, specialising in transplantation for haemoglobinopathies and bone marrow failure, and being innovative in the use of alternative donors. He is the vice-chair of Paediatric Diseases Working Party of EBMT, a member of the steering committee of the BMT CTN 1507 trial Co-Director of the Vanderbilt Global Consortium for a Cure. He is an investigator and in the steering committee of a several gene therapy trials in sickle cell disease and thalassaemia. After an initial period in adult medicine, Professor de la Fuente completed his general training in paediatrics in different hospitals in London and following membership of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, he trained in haematology at Imperial College and Great Ormond Street Hospital achieving membership of the Royal College of Pathologists. During this time, he developed an interest in red cell disorders, bone marrow failure and transplantation, including a period of basic research in human developmental haemopoiesis as an MRC Clinical Research Fellow leading to a PhD. He has also developed a unique clinical and research programme for Diamond Blackfan anaemia patients.