About
Christian Capitini, MD, is a UW Health Kids pediatric hematologist oncologist and a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, where he serves as chief of the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant. He provides care for children of all ages who have blood disorders and diseases, including cancer.
The young patients Dr. Capitini sees have abnormal lab values. These can be low neutrophils (type of white blood cell), low platelets (pieces of cells found in blood), low hemoglobin (protein in red blood cells that carry oxygen) and cancer. He works to identify and treat these conditions using advanced technologies.
Dr. Capitini has a special clinical interest in pediatric bone marrow transplant, which can cure certain types of pediatric cancer. He’s also interested in cellular therapy, an emerging technology that uses CAR-T cells to recognize and fight leukemia and potentially other cancers.
Dr. Capitini is very active in finding new treatments to fight pediatric cancer. He leads an NIH-supported research laboratory that studies immunotherapy of childhood cancer (using the body’s immune system to recognize and fight cancer) and conducts clinical trials, providing access to the latest in emerging treatment options.
Outside of work, Dr. Capitini enjoys stand-up comedy, traveling and spending time with family.
We bring our patients the latest, most cutting-edge treatments available in pediatric cancer.
Languages spoken
- English
- Spanish
University affiliation
Practice locations
American Family Children's Hospital Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Clinic
American Family Children's Hospital Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy Clinic
Education & credentials
Board certifications
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
Medical School
- University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY
Fellowships
Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD and National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD
Residencies
- University of Minnesota Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN
Areas of expertise
- Bone Marrow Biopsy
- CAR T-cell therapy
- Chemotherapy
- I-131 MIBG therapy
- Immunotherapy
- Lumbar Puncture
- Neuroblastoma
- Pediatric Bleeding Disorders
- Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant
- Pediatric Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA)
- Pediatric Ewing sarcoma
- Pediatric Fanconi anemia
- Pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma
- Pediatric Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH)
- Pediatric Wilms tumor
- Pediatric acquired aplastic anemia
- Pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia
- Pediatric acute myeloid leukemia
- Pediatric dyskeratosis congenita
- Pediatric hepatoblastoma
- Pediatric non-Hodgkin lymphoma
- Pediatric osteosarcoma
- Pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma
- Pediatric stem cell transplant and cellular therapy
- Pediatric thalassemia
Research & publications
Capitini leads an NIH-supported laboratory focusing on development of cell-based immunotherapies, including natural killer (NK) cells and CAR T cells, for the treatment of pediatric solid tumors like neuroblastoma, osteosarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma. The Capitini Lab also develops alternatively activated macrophages for complications of bone marrow transplant, including graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) and acute radiation syndrome. Capitini was one of 13 U.S. site principal investigators (PI) for the first multicenter CD19 CAR T cell trial, which led to the FDA approval of tisagenlecleucel-T (Kymriah) for relapsed and refractory B cell leukemia. Currently, he is site PI for a multicenter GD2 CAR T cell trial investigating neuroblastoma and osteosarcoma treatment and a multicenter MAGE-A4 TCR T cell trial investigating synovial sarcoma, MPNST, neuroblastoma and osteosarcoma. He is also a sponsor and PI for a University of Wisconsin clinical trial expanding gamma delta T cells in vivo using zoledronate after alpha beta T cell depleted stem cell transplant.