Syed Ali Abutalib, MD, is taking his talents to the recently affiliated Aurora Health Care, now part of Advocate Health, one of the largest integrated health systems in the United States. He accepted a new position at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee, where he is now Director of the Malignant Hematology and Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Programs.
Syed Ali Abutalib, MD
Aurora Health Care—the largest health system in Wisconsin—recently became part of Advocate Health, making it the third largest nonprofit integrated health system in the country. With its combined footprint across six states (Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Wisconsin), Advocate Health now serves nearly 6 million patients at 67 hospitals, with a team of more than 21,000 physicians and nearly 42,000 nurses.
Patient-Focused Care
“I was drawn to Advocate Health and this remarkable opportunity due to Advocate’s stellar reputation as one of the nation’s foremost cancer networks,” said Dr. Abutalib, who is also Associate Professor at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago. “I am sincerely honored to be a member of this distinguished team of doctors and professionals committed to fostering innovation, unparalleled excellence, and, above all, unwavering patient-focused care. My aspiration is to ardently contribute to our mission by championing these fundamental principles, elevating the quality of patient care to new heights, and propelling innovation to the forefront of cancer treatment.”
Previously, Dr. Abutalib was Associate Medical Director of Hematologic Malignancies and the Stem Cell Transplant Program at City of Hope in Chicago. He received his medical degree from Dow University of Health Sciences in Karachi, Pakistan, and completed his residency at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. He then pursued a fellowship at the University of Illinois at Chicago, specializing in hematology/oncology with a primary focus on hematologic malignancies and bone marrow transplantation.
Dr. Abutalib is an editorial advisory board member for The ASCO Post and is also the founder and editor of Advances in Cell & Gene Therapy, a journal first published by Wiley in October 2021.
According to James Weese, MD, who expanded on the current and future state of the Hematologic Malignancies and Stem Cell Transplant Programs at Advocate Health, transplant and cellular therapies will become increasingly critical in the future of cancer therapy in hematologic as well as other malignancies. He said that Dr. Abutalib’s talents will help them hone their oncology approach, advance their mission, and achieve their goals for the future.
“Advocate Health, Midwest Region’s recent growth in these areas required us to find a leader with the skills and temperament to take us to the next level,” stated Dr. Weese, Vice President of the Cancer Service Line at Advocate Health, Midwest Region. “Dr. Abutalib has the leadership skills and the ability to work well with patients, other transplanters, researchers, and other innovators to be highly successful in this important area.”
Ruben A. Mesa, MD, FACP
Commenting on Dr. Abutalib’s recruitment and arrival at Advocate Health, Ruben A. Mesa, MD, FACP, explained how his addition to the team will reach far beyond Wisconsin, where he is based: “We are deeply excited by Dr. Syed Abutalib’s recruitment to the mission against cancer across Advocate Health.” Dr. Mesa is President of Atrium Health Levine Cancer and Executive Director of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Dr. Mesa continued: “With Dr. Abutalib leading our Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) Program for our Advocate Health colleagues in Wisconsin, we envision the four FACT [Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy]-accredited BMT programs across Advocate Health (in Wisconsin, Illinois, and two in North Carolina [Winston-Salem and Charlotte]) working together closely on patient safety and quality initiatives, clinical trials, and helping advance BMT, CAR [chimeric antigen receptor] T-cell and cellular-based therapies for cancer and other conditions such as sickle cell anemia.”
