Dr. Morton J. Cowan, BMT Division Chief

Dr. Cowan is recognized throughout the world for research in immunodeficiency diseases, the use of alternative donors and in utero stem cell transplantation. He performed the first bone marrow transplant at UCSF for a child with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disease (SCID) in 1982, the first T cell depleted transplant on the West Coast for a child with leukemia in 1985 and more recently, the first pure blood stem cell transplant from a parent to a child with SCID in North America.

Dr. Cowan received his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his MD degree at the University of Pennsylvania. Following 2 years in surgery at Duke University Medical Center and 3 years as a Staff Scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Cowan went to UCSF where he completed his pediatric and immunology training. He established the Pediatric BMT Program in 1985. Dr. Cowan has more than 125 publications in a variety of medical and scientific journals focused on the genetics of SCID and the immunobiology of in utero stem cell.

Innovative Medicine
UCSF Children's Hospital has over 150 specialists in more than 50 areas of medicine, with world-class expertise in caring for the developing minds and bodies of children. We are consistently ranked one of the top hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. As an academic medical center, we offer the most advanced treatments, many developed here at UCSF. Committed to the principle of family-centered care, we include parents as part of the health care team.