Leadership

Ayad Hamdan, MD

Interim Division Chief
Professor of Medicine

Ayad Hamdan, MD, is a board-certified hematologist who specializes in treating people with cancers of the blood and lymph system, including lymphoma, multiple myeloma, leukemia, myeloproliferative neoplasms and myelodysplastic syndromes. He offers chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy to adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. CAR T-cell therapy harnesses the patient's own immune cells to recognize and kill cancer cells. It is just one of many types of personalized cancer therapies offered at UC San Diego Health.

As a physician in UC San Diego Health's Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, Dr. Hamdan provides comprehensive blood and marrow transplant services, including autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplantation for all hematologic malignancies, with a focus on B cell Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Hodgkin's lymphoma. In addition, Dr. Hamdan's clinical expertise and research interests include apheresis (stem cell collections), clinical innovation and quality improvement.

In 2023, Dr. Hamdan was appointed as physician-in-chief of Moores Cancer Center and cancer services, overseeing clinical operations and all related inpatient and outpatient oncology services at UC San Diego Health as well as operations with affiliates and outreach clinics.

As a professor in the Department of Medicine, he trains medical students, residents and fellows at UC San Diego School of Medicine. Dr. Hamdan has co-authored numerous articles and his work has appeared in medical and research publications, including Blood Journal, Lancet Hematology, Transfusion, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Journal of Immunotherapy and the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Prior to joining UC San Diego Health, Dr. Hamdan was an attending physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, in Boston. He was also the site investigator for the HIV/AIDS Malignancy Consortium (a National Cancer Institute-supported clinical trials group) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, as well as the medical director for apheresis and infusion services.

Dr. Hamdan completed a fellowship in hematology and oncology through the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Harvard Medical School program and his residency in internal medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He holds a medical degree from the American University of Beirut Medical Center in Beirut, Lebanon. He is board certified in hematology and internal medicine.

Dr. Hamdan is a member of the American Society of Apheresis, American Society of Hematology and American Medical Association.

He is fluent in Arabic.

Caitlin Costello, MD

Clinical Professor of Medicine
Clinical Director of the Division of Hematology and Cellular Therapy

Caitlin Costello, MD, is a board-certified hematologist and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego and specializes in the treatment of hematologic malignancies. As a physician in UC San Diego Health's Division of Hematology and Cellular Therapy, Dr. Costello provides comprehensive blood and cellular therapy services, including autologous transplantation for all hematologic malignancies, with a focus plasma cell dyscrasias, specifically multiple myeloma, AL amyloidosis, and Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia. In addition, Dr. Costello’s clinical expertise and research interests include operational efficiency, clinical innovation, and quality improvement.

As the leader of the Multiple Myeloma Program at UC San Diego, Dr. Costello has an active, broad research portfolio that includes clinical trials of novel therapies in myeloma and related disorders. She has a special focus on research with immunotherapies such as CAR-T cell therapy and bispecific antibodies which have been published and presented at national and international meetings. Dr. Costello has co-authored numerous articles and her work has appeared in medical and research publications, including Blood Journal, Lancet Hematology, and Journal of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Costello is a member of the International Myeloma Working Group and International Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia Foundation, and serves as a member of the American Society of Hematology Education Committee.

Dr. Costello serves as the Clinical Director of the Division of Hematology and Cellular Therapy, overseeing clinical operations of the program, both inpatient at the Jacobs Medical Center and outpatient at the Moores Cancer Center.

Dr. Costello completed a fellowship in hematology-oncology with a focus in bone marrow transplantation at UC San Diego School of Medicine. She completed a residency in internal medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Costello earned her medical degree at Tufts University School of Medicine and undergraduate degree from Harvard University.  She joined UC San Diego as a faculty member in 2012.

Dr. Costello is fluent in Spanish.