Dr. Mapara is Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center and the Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BMT). Dr. Mapara graduated from the University of Heidelberg Medical School/Germany, and received his post-graduate training in Internal Medicine and Hematology/Oncology at the Universities of Heidelberg and the University Medical Center Charite of the Humboldt University of Berlin in Germany. In addition, he completed a research fellowship at the Transplantation Biology Research Center of the Massachusetts General Hospital at the Harvard Medical School in Boston. As Assistant Professor of Medicine, he headed the Hematologic Intensive Care Unit and served as deputy director of the Stem Cell Transplantation unit at the University Medical Center Charité in Berlin, Germany. Before coming to Columbia, Dr. Mapara was Associate Professor of Medicine (with tenure) at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and served as the Director of the Adult Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Program.