Christine Duncan, MD, MSc

Dr. Christine Duncan is a Senior Physician at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center and the Director of Clinical Research and Clinical Development of the Gene Therapy Program at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is also an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Duncan graduated from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and completed her residency in the Boston Combined Residency Program at Boston Children’s Hospital/Boston Medical Center where she served as a Chief Resident. She then completed her fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Duncan has contributed to several important studies in pediatric hematology, stem cell transplantation, and gene therapy. A key focus of her work is the cellular therapy of children with rare nonmalignant disease. This work includes gene therapy for children with cerebral adrenoleukodystophy which resulted in three co-first author papers in the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Duncan is the Vice-Chair of the Pediatric Transplant and Cellular Therapy Consortium; the largest international group focused on clinical trials for children undergoing stem cell transplant and gene therapy. In this capacity she developed the RESILIENT Conference series, which focuses on the interaction of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and survivorship in pediatric patients following hematopoietic cell transplantation. In these publications, she explores critical patient outcomes, the phases of chronic GVHD, supportive care, and discontinuation of systemic therapy. Another significant publication details the development of hematologic cancer after gene therapy for cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy. These studies contribute to advancing treatment protocols and understanding the complexities of gene therapy and stem cell transplantation in pediatric care.