OHSU Doernbecher is a national leader in care for pediatric cancers and blood disorders. We are proud to be part of OHSU's Knight Cancer Institute.

Your family will find:

• World-class experts who focus on cancer care and blood disorders for children and teens.
• A highly skilled team that works together for each patient.
• Doctors with advanced training in their specialties.
• Social workers and child life specialists to support your family’s well-being.
• Investigators on the leading edge of cancer research.
• Innovative tools and top-rated programs.
• Access to clinical trials to test promising treatments.

Learn more

• Pediatric cancer (solid tumors)
• Pediatric leukemia
• Pediatric lymphoma
• Pediatric blood disorders (noncancer)
• Pediatric bone marrow transplant
• Pediatric brain tumors
• Life after cancer: Children’s Survivorship Program
• Resources for patients and families
• Meet our team

Our excellence

Children have different treatment needs than adults. We offer the region’s only comprehensive center for childhood cancer and blood disorders.

• We are the only hospital in Oregon nationally ranked in pediatric cancer. U.S. News & World Report also ranks Doernbecher as one of the best children’s hospitals in the nation.
• We partner with the Pape Family Foundation Pediatric Research Institute to offer the newest and most advanced treatments.
• Doernbecher is the only children’s hospital in Oregon to offer CAR T-cell therapy, a groundbreaking immunotherapy treatment for childhood leukemia.
• We are home to one of the top children’s bone marrow transplant programs in the U.S. OHSU’s transplant team is the most experienced in Oregon. We have done more than 4,500 transplants, including more than 700 in children.

A team of experts

Your child’s care team will include some of the nation’s top specialists in pediatric cancer and blood disorders. Our program features:

• Doctors, nurses, social workers and others who work as a team for each patient.
• Cancer and blood disorder specialists who meet regularly to go over individual cases. They combine their decades of experience to offer your child the best possible care.
• National experts in blood diseases. Their knowledge helps us better diagnose and treat hemophilia, sickle cell anemia, thalassemia and clotting disorders.
• The only intraoperative (in surgery) MRI suite at a West Coast children’s hospital. This technology gives our expert neurosurgeons exceptional precision for removing childhood brain tumors.

Comprehensive care

We offer your child and family support from diagnosis through treatment and beyond. Our program includes:

• Advanced treatment options, plus clinical trials for the many types of pediatric cancer and blood disorders.
• Addressing any symptoms and side effects your child may have.
• Your input at every step, including on treatment plans and possible side effects.

At Doernbecher, we do more than treat your child’s condition. Our team supports your whole family:

• Our Hospital School Program offers flexible lessons and connects to your child’s school.
• Our animal-assisted therapy can distract from pain and help children relax.
• Our Child Life Program helps lower stress through play, education and expressive activities.
• Our pediatric social workers provide emotional support and help you find  financial and community resources.

Other OHSU resources:

• Care for brain and spinal cord tumors
• Pediatric palliative care (Bridges Program)
• Childhood Cancer Survivorship Program
• Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Program
• Fertility services to protect patients’ reproductive health
• Access to cancer clinical trials, including local and national research studies

Clinical trials and research

Our clinical researchers are pioneers in understanding and developing treatments for childhood cancers and blood disorders.

• OHSU’s immunotherapy and cell transplant therapy team is a leader in research and clinical trials. Our patients were part of the trial that resulted in Food and Drug Administration approval of a CAR T-cell therapy option for advanced leukemia. Learn more about the team’s work.
• Our blood disorder experts are part of several national gene therapy trials for patients with hemophilia. We hope that one of these gene therapies could better treat or even cure hemophilia.
• Dozens of OHSU cancer researchers work together on studies including childhood cancer at the state-of-the-art Knight Cancer Research Building.

Our clinical researchers have leadership roles in several national and international pediatric research organizations. Through these collaborations, we are finding new ways to treat and cure cancer.

• The Children’s Oncology Group is an international research organization supported by the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
• Therapeutic Advances in Childhood Leukemia & Lymphoma brings together top pediatric cancer research groups to find new drugs for leukemia and lymphoma.
• The Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium is a network of leading children’s hospitals that conduct clinical trials of brain tumor treatments.
• The Pediatric Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Consortium supports clinical trials for stem cell transplants and cellular therapies.
• OHSU is among the leaders of an ambitious national project, Beat AML. It aims to find new treatments for one of the deadliest forms of leukemia. OHSU also established the world’s largest collection of AML data to better understand and treat the disease.