March 2016

It’s not the future. It’s now.

So says Dr. James Baumgartner, pediatric neurosurgeon at Florida Children’s Hospital, with regard to the use of cord blood stem cells to treat a number of prevalent, devastating conditions in children. Dr. Baumgartner presented an update on a phase 1 trial using autologous (a child’s own) umbilical cord blood stem cells to treat acquired hearing loss in children. Families who elect to do cord blood banking ensure the availability of these stem cells for future therapeutic use.