# Donald Lawrence Siegel, PhD, MD 1983 PhD Graduate in Biophysics Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Director, Division of Transfusion Medicine & Therapeutic Pathology Director, Clinical Cell & Vaccine Production Facility Director, Fellowship Program in Transfusion Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania ![Photo of Dr. Don Siegel](/sites/g/files/omnuum9451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2026-06/Siegel%20photo.jpeg?itok=FvI5dE7K) laptop\_windows [Dr. Donald Siegel UPenn Profile Page ](http://pathology.med.upenn.edu/department/people/501/donald-l-siegel) laptop\_windows [Dr. Donald Siegel Research Laboratory Webpage](https://www.med.upenn.edu/cci/siegellab/) **Dissertation Title:** Human Erythrocyte Band 4.9 **PhD Dissertation Advisor:** Dr. Daniel Branton, Dept. of Cell and Developmental Biology, Harvard University **Current & Past Activities:** After graduating from the Biophysics Program in 1983, I moved to Philadelphia to attend medical school at the University of Pennsylvania where I have been for the past 42 years. After medical school, I completed a residency in Clinical Pathology and fellowship in Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine, both at UPenn, and then joined UPenn’s faculty in the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. My clinical interest in transfusion medicine had followed from my experience working with red blood cells while a graduate school at Harvard. From a research viewpoint, I recognized that just as the red cell had served as a great model system for understanding the plasma membrane cytoskeleton on the inside of the red cell surface while in Dr. Branton’s lab, now following my clinical training at UPenn, I appreciated the fact that red blood cells, through transfusion, can serve as excellent model systems for studying human immunology by virtue of all their extracellular polymorphic antigens that may immunize the transfusion recipient. Thus, from when I completed my graduate studies in the Harvard Biophysics program in 1983 to when I resumed my investigative work after med school, residency, and fellowship in 1992, my research interests had moved about a distance of 10 nanometers outward from the inner surface of the red blood cell membrane. To study human immune responses to transfusions, I adapted methods of a then emerging field known as antibody phage display technology. This technology and the broader area of antibody engineering has formed much of the basis for my research career to date. From a clinical standpoint, I have served as the founding director of UPenn’s Division of Transfusion Medicine & Therapeutic Pathology and the medical director of the blood bank, apheresis unit, hematopoietic stem cell lab, and an ACGME-accredited transfusion medicine fellowship program. I also direct UPenn’s Center for Advanced Cellular Therapies which has manufactured over 3000 engineered cellular products including the first genetically modified cell therapy product approved by the FDA (tisagenlecleucel, Kymriah®) and first-in-human use of CRISPR-edited cells. My lab has been funded by the NIH in the areas of immunohematology, hemostasis/thrombosis, autoimmunity, and oncology since 1992. I have used phage display to discover recombinant antibodies relevant to transfusion medicine, benign hematology, infectious diseases, and oncology, particularly for use in the design of targeted therapies such as Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells (CAR-T) which we develop, produce, and infuse into patients in dozens of clinical trials. Since 2017, I have been honored to receive the RISE Award, the Dale E. Smith Memorial Award, the Tibor Greenwalt Memorial Award and Lectureship, and election to the National Blood Foundation Hall of Fame from the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies (AABB), and the Francis S. Morrison Award and the Lecturer Award from the American Society for Apheresis. For contributions to the development of CAR T-cell therapy, I shared the 2020 Robert de Villiers Spiral of Life Award from the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and the 2020 Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer Team Science Award. For contributions to clinical care, I was elected to the first class of Penn Medicine’s Academy of Master Clinicians. In 2023, 2024,and 2025 our Apheresis Unit was recognized with the national Press Ganey Pinnacle of Excellence Human Experience Award for Outpatient Practices. For roles in education, I have received the Peter C. Nowell Teaching Award, the Leonard Berwick Memorial Teaching Award, and the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching. --- Attachments- [ picture\_as\_pdf siegel\_CV\_May\_2025.pdf ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9451/files/2026-06/siegel_CV_May_2025.pdf) --- - ## Alumni Alphabetical [Alumni P-T](/alumni-alphabetical/alumni-p-t) - ## People Terms [Alumni/ Graduated Students](/people-terms/alumni-graduated-students) [1983 Biophysics Graduates](/people-terms/1983-biophysics-graduates)