Dr. Warren B. Fingrut (he/him) is a Hematologist and Transplant Physician with a research interest in characterizing and mitigating disparities in the provision of transplantation and cellular therapies. He is currently completing a research fellowship with the Adult Bone Marrow Transplantation Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, as well as a Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Fingrut is also Founder and Director of Stem Cell Club, a Canadian national donor recruitment organization which augments access to unrelated stem cell donors, especially for patients from underserved racial/ ethnic populations. Through his work, Dr. Fingrut advocates for a more inclusive transplant system, both for populations underrepresented as donors and impacted by unique barriers to donation, and for underserved patient groups.
What drew you to the MD Program at UBC?
I was initially drawn to medicine as I wanted a career where I could forge strong longitudinal relationships with patients and provide care during difficult parts of their lives. I grew up in Toronto, and I moved across Canada to pursue Medicine at UBC. I quickly fell in love with Vancouver, and it’s still one of my favourite cities.
What is your favorite memory from your time at UBC?
In third year, I completed a rural medicine elective in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. In addition to rotating through the departments of Inuvik Regional Hospital, I also visited remote communities including Tsiigehtchic and Tuktoyaktuk. Through these experiences, I learned about the unique challenges facing rural Canadians, especially those of Indigenous heritage. For example, I was involved in the care of a patient facing a medical crisis while working on a barge, and for whom special evacuation plans needed to be arranged. Additionally, in clinic, I saw a patient who told me and the medical team that they were going to be leaving town to live off the land for the months ahead. I worked with this patient to develop a care plan to manage the relevant medical issues as best possible during their time away. I also followed pregnant patients from rural communities who needed to travel great distances for their pre- and perinatal care.
During my last week of the elective, when I was off-duty in hospital, I ran a stem cell drive – at a booth I setup at the Inuvik NorthMart. It was the first-ever stem cell donor recruitment event north of the Arctic Circle. I recruited 44 young adults to be potential stem cell donors, the majority of whom were Indigenous. Given that patients in need of an unrelated stem cell donor are most likely to find a match from within their own ancestral group, and since Indigenous peoples are underrepresented as donors, the outcome of this drive had special meaning. I wrote up my experience as a manuscript which I published the following year in the UBC Medical Journal. This was the very first paper of my academic career.
What has been your journey since graduating from UBC?
I completed my Internal Medicine Residency at University of Toronto, and then returned to UBC for Hematology Fellowship training. Through to present day, I have continued to serve as Director of Stem Cell Club, building and supporting teams to engage Canadians to stem cell donation. Under my leadership, Stem Cell Club has recruited over 23,000 potential stem cell donors, the majority of whom are from underrepresented racial/ ethnic backgrounds. I led development of multiple resources aimed at improving the recruitment of diverse donors, including whiteboard videos, TikToks, and a stem cell donation story library called WhyWeSwab. These resources have been shared widely to support donor recruitment efforts around the world.
My teams and I partnered with advocates from diverse communities to spearhead national campaigns to recruit donors from underserved and historically marginalized groups (e.g. Black Donors Save Lives, Saving Lives with Pride). Overall, this work has secured coverage in >50 print/broadcast media outlets, has been routinely highlighted in Oral presentations at Canadian and US/ International meetings in Hematology and Transplantation, and has culminated in multiple peer-reviewed publications (including in The Lancet Haematology, BMT, BBMT, Transfusion, Vox Sanguinis, and Current Oncology). These efforts could not have been possible without the hard work of my many mentees across Canada, at all levels of training (undergraduates, medical students, Masters and PhD students, and resident physicians).
In the past few years, I’ve expanded my research to include projects which seek to identify and address inequities in care delivery for transplantation and cellular therapy candidates and recipients. My research is assessing how alternative donor allografts (i.e. cord blood, haploidentical, and mismatched unrelated donor transplants) have extended the possibility of allogeneic transplant, and evaluates whether significant disparities in access to optimal donors persist for patients from underserved racial and ethnic populations. I am also evaluating socioeconomic status and its intersection with patient race/ ethnicity/ ancestry as it pertains to the provision of therapies for life-threatening diseases of the blood and marrow.
What do you find most interesting about your medical career?
My clinical work provides me with the opportunity to care for very sick, complex medical patients, both as a transplant expert (i.e. evaluating eligibility for transplant, optimizing the transplant platform, managing post-transplant complications) and as a generalist (being the most responsible physician for my patients, both on the ward and in clinic). While there are challenging cases, including those with disease relapse or severe graft-versus-host disease, there are also many success stories. Patients in my networks have shared some of these stories with Stem Cell Club – we’ve published a series of heartwarming letters written by patients to their anonymous unrelated donors, and last year we were invited to capture the first meeting between a stem cell recipient and the donor who saved her life (https://youtu.be/k6xmtXcOjwk; this five minute video has secured > 110k views on YouTube).
On the research front, I am especially interested in deploying “big data” to advance equity for vulnerable patient groups. Through my work at Sloan-Kettering, I have had the opportunity to describe disparities in large cohorts of transplant recipients, and share my findings with stakeholders in the transplant community. I have seen firsthand the importance of such data to mobilize the resources and support required to change policy and practice.
Where do you find inspiration?
I am greatly inspired by the mentors I have had over my career, who have made me into the physician I am today. I am also inspired by my trainees and mentees with Stem Cell Club, many of whom have personal connections to stem cell donation and/or have pursued national projects with me spanning years. They all bring unique skills and passion to the work, and I am so proud of their accomplishments. In the past year alone, one of my mentees was invited to give two plenary presentations; another delivered a TedX talk sharing lessons she learned from her experience being a stem cell donor for her father; and a third presented the first-ever Oral on a LGBTQIA+ topic at a major meeting in Hematology/Transplant, a milestone in our field. Many others have won leadership and abstract achievement awards, spoken with the media, published manuscripts, and abstracts on our work, and spearheaded stem cell drives and campaigns recruiting hundreds of donors.
How has your identity affected your perspective on the field of medicine and future pursuits?
My passion for diversity, equity, and inclusion in hematology stems from multiple facets of my identity. My Canadian multicultural upbringing taught me to respect and accept people across diverse backgrounds, and my medical training instilled in me the critical value that everyone deserves medical care, including those from marginalized or underprivileged groups. I am Jewish and the grandchild of Holocaust survivors, and my family history has motivated me to pursue equity, justice, and anti-racism efforts. And my LGBTQ+ identity has guided me to work to advance inclusion in Hematology, for patients, donors, and the Hematology workforce.
What is one thing you hope to accomplish?
My research aims to better recognize specific patient groups at special risk for compromised care delivery, and to develop interventions to mitigate structural barriers, diversify patient populations, and maximize the equitable provision of optimal transplantation and cellular therapies. For donors, a key theme of my work is that health equity should be prioritized alongside donation safety.
Altogether, I hope to help build a more inclusive transplant system.
What does a healthy society mean to you?
A healthy society aims to eliminate discrimination and ensure that everyone has equal opportunities for education, employment, healthcare, and social participation, regardless of their background or identity. This work is critical for creating a culture where all individuals can thrive, contribute to their fullest potential, and lead fulfilling lives.
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