Christian Capitini Named Director of the UW Carbone Cancer Center

The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and UW Health are pleased to announce that Dr. Christian Capitini, a national expert in the treatment and research of childhood cancers, has been named the next director of the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center. He will assume the role of Carbone Cancer Center director on April 19.

Capitini joined the school’s faculty in 2011 and currently serves as professor and chief of the Division of Hematology, Oncology, Transplant & Cellular Therapy in the Department of Pediatrics at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. Capitini is also a pediatric hematologist and oncologist with UW Health Kids at the American Family Children’s Hospital. Since December 2024, he has served as the acting director of the Carbone Cancer Center.

Capitini’s research focuses on stem cell transplant and personalized cellular therapies, a kind of immunotherapy that helps the body’s own immune system recognize and fight cancer. He trained at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, the University of Minnesota, Johns Hopkins University and the National Cancer Institute.

UW Health | Carbone Cancer Center is one of the original comprehensive cancer centers in the country as designated by the National Cancer Institute, and the only NCI-designated center in Wisconsin. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Wisconsin, with approximately 36,000 new invasive cancer cases diagnosed annually, highlighting the importance of the center’s work. The center’s comprehensive status illustrates its expertise and impact across every domain of cancer: clinical care for cancer patients, research and clinical trials for innovative therapies, education, and efforts to prevent cancer in communities.

Carbone currently holds an “outstanding” rating from the NCI, placing it in the top 10% of all 73 NCI-designated cancer centers in the U.S. More than 33,000 people receive care from the center’s faculty physicians annually. Since 1990, the center has enrolled more than 36,000 patients in clinical trials and currently supports 250 active trials each year. Nearly 250 researchers from across the university are members of the center, investigating how cancer can be prevented and detected, how it forms and spreads, and how it can best be diagnosed and treated, with a focus on precision medicine.