ASTCT New Board Member Spotlight: Jennifer Holter-Chakrabarty, MD
This member spotlight features Jennifer Holter-Chakrabarty, MD, ASTCT’s 2026 board director of community/clinical practice. Holter-Chakrabarty is both a tenured presidential professor of hematology/bone marrow transplant (BMT)/cellular therapy (CT) and the Gary McKinney chair of bone marrow diseases at the NCI-designated Stephenson Cancer Center at the University of Oklahoma. In this Q&A, she shares insight into her two-decade plus career in research, what she looks forward to in her new Board role and the role ASTCT has played in her professional development.
ASTCT: What inspired you to pursue a career in bone marrow transplantation/cellular therapy?
Jennifer Holter-Chakrabarty (JHC): I have two people to credit for my interest in BMT and CT. First, Dr. Robert Epstein contacted me when I was a third-year resident and asked me if I might be interested in a lab research project to look at graft-versus-tumor effect. What luck to get to work with one of the fathers of transplantation! The experience led me to a career in translational research transplantation. Secondly, I have worked with George Selby, MD, who was the transplant director for the majority of my career.
My inspiration has always been Mary Horowitz. She is the North Star in transplantation for me. Her clear patient-forward science and analysis are incredible. I have had the opportunity to see her kind, but direct mentorship of so many people. When Mary engages with you, she asks hard, clear and direct questions, but she does it in such a kind way. I hope that someday I can be half the woman and scientist she is. She continues to be my motivation.
ASTCT: What has motivated you to serve ASTCT in your various roles prior to being nominated to the Board of Directors?
JHC: ASTCT is my family. Every year I attend the Tandem Meetings of ASTCT® and CIBMTR® to gain knowledge and move the future of our society and patients’ outlook forward. Push the needle, as it were. The interactions I have with my colleagues are of unparalleled worth. To get to be a leader in this society and move our society forward for better patient outcomes at the leadership level is exciting. Furthermore, as a woman in BMT from the middle of the country, I would like to be a visible reminder that anyone can lead our society (not just the coasts) and provide encouragement to smaller BMT/CT physicians in smaller and medium centers, that we all have a leadership role in our society.
ASTCT: What are you most looking forward to in your new role as board director of community/clinical practice?
JHC: I look forward to making ASTCT a clinical/translational leader in the BMT and CT space. I would like to see our community be the major leadership to the clinical support and clinical research for CAR T and HCT programs in this space. We have access to one of the best research databases in the world (CIBMTR/IBMTR), and I look forward to using these two groups to improve patients’ lives. We save lives, and we are only getting better at it.
ASTCT: Can you share three lessons your 20-plus career in research has taught you?
JHC: Always ask why. Always look for ways to improve. Never let someone tell you that you cannot or don’t make an impact. Push boundaries. Find friends and work together. Don’t believe that you are too ‘anything’ to be a leader. Help those younger than you. They are our future. These sound cliche, but as I mentioned earlier with Mary Horowitz, these are the things that she taught me and have become my drive. I listen to “Drive” by Incubus often. It resonates with me. Here are the lyrics:
‘Sometimes I feel the fear of
Uncertainty stinging clear
And I, I can't help but ask myself
How much I'll let the fear take the wheel and steer
It's driven me before and it seems to have a vague
Haunting mass appeal
But lately I'm beginning to find that I
Should be the one behind the wheel
Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there
With open arms and open eyes, yeah
Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there’
ASTCT: Outside of your work, what's something you enjoy doing that might surprise your colleagues or ASTCT members?
JHC: That is such a loaded question. Do you want to know I fall asleep to Dateline? (My husband thinks that I am finding multiple ways to kill him and get away with it). I love to cook and love sharing food with others. I think food is a way to communicate, share and find connections.
I love to garden. You will often find me handing out my garden produce to everyone I can find. It makes me smile. I make pickles almost every year and have since I was three. At least 25 quarts, but sometimes up to 70. They are way too garlicky, way too spicy and quite salty. I handed them out when we had the big tornado that went through Moore, Oklahoma. Unusual, but it was funny how many people enjoyed them.