News Release

Cynthia Wetmore, MD, PhD, has joined the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Phoenix Children’s as division chief. Dr. Wetmore earned her Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude in history of science from Harvard University, Medical Degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School, and Doctorate in neurobiology from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. She completed her residency training in pediatrics at the University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic and completed fellowship training in hematology/oncology and neuro-oncology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. 

Following fellowship, Dr. Wetmore joined the faculty at Mayo Medical School in 2001 as an assistant professor, where she founded the first multi-disciplinary clinic for pediatric brain tumor patients. Dr. Wetmore had joint appointments in the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Neurology. She provided clinical care to children battling brain tumors and also directed a basic research laboratory investigating the role of Sonic hedgehog pathway in the growth of normal and neoplastic neural stem cells.

In 2010, Dr. Wetmore was recruited back to St. Jude, where she directed the Developmental Therapeutics program for neuro-oncology and also served as director of the Molecular Clinical Trials Core, a shared resource that supports the conduct of clinical trials at St. Jude. In April 2014, Dr. Wetmore was recruited to the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine, where she served as the inaugural director for the newly established Center for Clinical and Translational Research for the Department of Pediatrics and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and vice chair for research in the Department of Pediatrics. She also served as the director of the Developmental Therapeutics Program at Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and was promoted to professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine.

Dr. Wetmore is actively involved in bringing new, targeted agents to Phase I/II clinical trials for the treatment of children with cancer. While her clinical area of focus is providing care for children with central nervous system tumors, she brings more than two decades of basic science research experience to the design and conduct of molecularly-based therapeutic protocols for children. As division chief of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Phoenix Children’s, she will be responsible for the scientific and medical direction of the Center and mentoring faculty, fellows, advanced practice providers and nursing staff in the care of children with cancer and blood disorders. She will also continue to be active in providing clinical care to neuro-oncology patients and work to lead and increase the number of novel therapeutic clinical trials based at Phoenix Children’s for children battling cancer and blood disorders.

About Phoenix Children’s Hospital

Phoenix Children’s Hospital is Arizona’s only children’s hospital recognized by U.S. News & World Report’s Best Children’s Hospitals. Phoenix Children's provides world-class inpatient, outpatient, trauma, emergency and urgent care to children and families in Arizona and throughout the Southwest. As one of the largest children’s hospitals in the country, Phoenix Children’s provides care across more than 75 pediatric specialties. The Hospital is poised for continued growth in quality patient care, research and medical education. For more information about the hospital, visit www.phoenixchildrens.org.