NMDP Taps Top Biotech Veteran to Bridge Cell Therapy Access Gap

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – February 12, 2026 – In a strategic move poised to reshape the landscape of patient access to advanced medical treatments, the global cell therapy nonprofit NMDP has appointed Dr. Ginna Laport to a newly created senior leadership role. As the Senior Vice President of Strategic, Scientific and Clinical Partnerships, Dr. Laport is tasked with bridging the critical gap between cutting-edge research and widespread clinical availability for life-saving cell and gene therapies.

Her appointment comes at a crucial juncture for the organization and the rapidly evolving field of cellular medicine. With a background that uniquely spans high-stakes pharmaceutical development and distinguished academic leadership, Dr. Laport is positioned to accelerate NMDP’s ambitious mission to treat thousands more patients suffering from blood cancers and other life-threatening diseases.

A Strategic Move to Accelerate a Bold Vision

The creation of Dr. Laport's role is a direct reflection of NMDP's aggressive five-year strategy, which aims to impact the lives of 10,000 patients annually. This goal represents a significant scaling of the organization's efforts, requiring not just an expansion of its renowned donor registry but a fundamental reimagining of how new therapies move from trial to treatment.

“Ginna joins NMDP at a pivotal moment for the field and our organization, where we’re realizing our five-year strategy of impacting 10,000 patients’ lives annually by increasing access to life-saving cell therapy,” said Dr. Steven Devine, Chief Medical Officer of NMDP. He emphasized that Dr. Laport’s expertise is “instrumental in shaping how NMDP’s reimagines what’s possible for patients with blood cancers and diseases.”

Her mandate is clear: to build and nurture a new ecosystem of partnerships. This involves serving as a key consultant to transplant centers, helping them navigate the complexities of implementing new therapies, and fostering collaborations that speed up research and its translation into standard clinical practice. This is less about incremental improvement and more about system-wide transformation.

Bridging the Divide Between Industry and Academia

Dr. Laport’s nearly three-decade career makes her uniquely qualified for this challenge. She brings a rare blend of experience from the two worlds that often struggle to align: the fast-paced, results-driven commercial biotech sector and the rigorous, research-focused realm of academic medicine.

Most recently, she served as Chief Medical Officer at CARGO Therapeutics, a company at the forefront of developing next-generation CAR-T therapies. Before that, as Global Vice President of Clinical Development at Genentech / Roche, she was instrumental in the development of first-in-class cancer treatments, supporting the successful FDA approvals of the bispecific antibodies Lunsumio® and Columvi® for B-cell lymphomas. Her resume also includes executive roles at Tempest Therapeutics and Corvus Pharmaceuticals, where she guided novel therapies through complex clinical trials.

This deep industry experience is balanced by two decades in academic and national leadership positions. Dr. Laport was a professor in the Blood and Marrow Transplant Division at the prestigious Stanford University School of Medicine and held faculty positions at The University of Chicago and The University of Pennsylvania. Critically, she has also held major leadership roles within the very infrastructure she will now work to enhance, having served as chair of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) Steering Committee and as president-elect of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT). This dual fluency allows her to understand the pressures of bringing a drug to market and the on-the-ground realities faced by clinicians and researchers at transplant centers.

Navigating the Complex Frontier of Cell and Gene Therapy

Dr. Laport’s appointment comes as the cell and gene therapy (CGT) field experiences both unprecedented growth and formidable challenges. The FDA has now approved seven CAR T-cell therapies for various blood cancers, and the pipeline of potential new treatments is robust, with over 1,000 clinical trials underway globally. These therapies offer profound, often curative, hope for patients who have exhausted all other options.

However, this promise is tempered by significant barriers to access. The cost of these treatments can exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars per patient, creating immense financial strain on healthcare systems and individuals. Furthermore, the logistical complexity is daunting. Most hospitals lack the specialized infrastructure, trained personnel, and sophisticated protocols required to administer these therapies safely and effectively. Restrictive reimbursement policies and manufacturing bottlenecks further limit which patients can receive care and how quickly they can receive it.

NMDP, with its vast network of transplant centers and its data-rich CIBMTR research program, is uniquely positioned to address these systemic issues. Dr. Laport’s role is designed to leverage this network, creating partnerships that can streamline processes, standardize protocols, and generate the real-world evidence needed to convince payers of the long-term value of these therapies. Her work will be central to transforming CGT from a bespoke treatment available at a few elite centers into a scalable therapy accessible to a broader patient population.

A Non-Profit Power Play in a Competitive Field

The decision by NMDP to recruit a top-tier executive directly from the commercial biotech industry is a powerful statement of intent. It signals a strategic shift for the non-profit, moving beyond its traditional role as a facilitator of transplants to become an active driver of innovation and access in a highly competitive field. By attracting talent like Dr. Laport, NMDP is positioning itself to lead from the front, leveraging its non-profit status and collaborative ethos as a strategic advantage.

Unlike for-profit companies, NMDP can act as a neutral convener, bringing together academic centers, pharmaceutical developers, and regulatory bodies to solve shared problems. Dr. Laport’s leadership is expected to supercharge these efforts, building on existing partnerships with organizations like the ASTCT and CIBMTR to create a more integrated and efficient ecosystem for cell therapy delivery.

Ultimately, this appointment is about more than a single executive hire. It represents a forward-thinking strategy by a major non-profit to tackle one of the most significant challenges in modern medicine: ensuring that revolutionary scientific breakthroughs translate into tangible benefits for the patients who need them most. In bringing Dr. Ginna Laport on board, NMDP is making a bold bet that the path to curing more patients lies in collaboration, strategic innovation, and the deliberate dismantling of barriers to care.