Vinodh Pillai, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Contact InformationChildren's Hospital of Philadelphia
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Philadelphia, PA, 19104
Fax: 215-590-1736
Research Expertise
CAR T cell therapy
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Castleman disease
Kikuchi-Fujimoto lymphadenitis
Single cell sequencing of pediatric lymphoma
Spatial transcriptomics
Clinical Expertise
Hematopoietic neoplasms
Pathology of CAR T cell therapy in B-ALL
Education
M.B.B.S. (Medicine and Surgery), Madras Medical College, 2002
Ph.D. (Biomedical sciences, Immunology), University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center , 2007
Specialty Certification
American Board of Pathology (Anatomic and Clinical Pathology), 2013
American Board of Pathology (Hematology/Hematopathology), 2014
Postgraduate Training
Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship , Government General Hospital, Madras, India, 2001-2002
Post-Doctoral fellow of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Immunology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, 2007-2009
Anatomic and Clinical Pathology Residency, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, 2009-2013
Hematopathology , Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Boston
Children's Hospital Boston, MA, 2013-2014
Awards and Honors
Top 5 Poster Award in GSO Poster Competition, 2005
Graduate Student Organization (GSO) Travel Award, 2007
Eliot Goldings Award for the Best Graduate Student in Immunology, 2007
BWH Biomedical Research Institute Microgrant Award, 2012
Paul E. Strandjord Young Investigator Award from the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists, 2013
SIOP (International Society of Paediatric Oncology) Young Investigator Award, 2018
HTG EdgeSeq 2020 Autoimmune Panel Research Grant Award, 2020
Enid Gilbert Barness Prize - Society for Pediatric Pathology, 2022
Memberships and Professional Organizations
American Association of Immunologists, 2007 - 2009
Clinical Immunology Society, 2007 - 2009
United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, 2011 - 2014
American Society for Clinical Pathology, 2012 - Present
Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists, 2013 - 2015
Children's Oncology Group, 2015 - Present
Society for Hematopathology, 2015 - Present
International Clinical Cytometry Society, 2015 - present
Children's Oncology Group Young Investigator Mentorship Program, 2017 - Present
American Society for Clinical Oncology, 2018 - Present
College of American Pathologists, 2018 - Present
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 2023 - 2023
Web Links
Selected Publications
CAR-T — The Slow and the Spurious
Pillai V, Elsevier 31(3): 121-122, 2025
The FBXO45-GEF-H1 Axis Controls Germinal Center Formation and B-cell Lymphomagenesis
Sahasrabuddhe AA, Chen X, Ma K, Wu R, Liang HC, Kapoor R, Chhipa RR, Onder O, McFetridge C, Van Arnam JS, Zhang X, Morrissette JJD, Pillai V, Li MM, Szankasi P, Basrur V, Conlon KP, Raabe TD, Bailey NG, Hogaboam CM, Rottapel R, Kim J, López C, Schlesner M, Siebert R, Dreval K, Morin RD, Moro L, Pagano M, Staudt LM, Lim MS, Elenitoba-Johnson KSJ, Cancer Discov, 2025, PMID:39820335
Incidental Autopsy Finding of Retiform Hemangioendothelioma of the Spleen
Koga S, Tirado F, Pillai V, Lee FS, and Cooper K, Formosan Journal of Surgery 58(1): 34-35, 2025
Spatial and Single Cell Mapping of Castleman Disease Reveals Key Stromal Cell Types and Cytokine Pathways
Smith D, Eichinger A, Rech A, Wang J, Esteva E, Seyedian A, Yang X, Zhang M, Martinez D, Tan K, Luo M, Park C, Reizis B, Pillai V, bioRxiv, 2024, PMID:39314418
CD5 Deletion Enhances the Antitumor Activity of Adoptive T Cell Therapies
Patel R, Ghilardi G, Zhang Y, Chiang YH, Xie W, Guruprasad P, Kim KH, Chun I, Angelos MG, Pajarillo R, Hong SJ, Lee YG, Shestova O, Shaw C, Cohen I, Gupta A, Vu T, Qian D, Yang S, Nimmagadda A, Snook AE, Siciliano N, Rotolo A, Inamdar A, Harris J, Ugwuanyi O, Wang M, Carturan A, Paruzzo L, Chen L, Ballard HJ, Blanchard T, Xu C, Abdel-Mohsen M, Gabunia K, Wysocka M, Linette GP, Carreno B, Barrett DM, Teachey DT, Posey AD, Powell Jr DJ, Sauter CT, Pileri S, Pillai V, Scholler J, Rook AH, Schuster SJ, Barta SK, Porazzi P, Ruella M, Sci Immunol 9(97): , 2024, PMID:39028827
Mapping the Cellular Biogeography of Human Bone Marrow Niches Using Single-Cell Transcriptomics and Proteomic Imaging
Bandyopadhyay S, Duffy M, Jin Ahn K, Pang M, Smith D, Duncan G, Sussman J, Zhang I, Huang J, Lin Y, Xiong B, Imtiaz T, Chen CH, Thadi A, Chen C, Xu J, Reichart M, Pillai V, Snaith O, Oldridge D, Bhattacharyya S, Maillard I, Carroll M, Nelson C, Qin L, Tan K, Cell 187(12): 3120-3140., 2024, PMID:38559168
The Common Variable Immunodeficiency IgM Repertoire Narrowly Recognizes Erythrocyte and Platelet Glycans
Le Coz C, Trofa M, Yoon S, Tian T, Reid W, Cabrera EC, Knox A, Khanna C, Sullivan K, Heimall J, Takach P, Fadugba OO, Lawrence M, Jyonouchi1 S, Hakonarson H, Wells A, Handler S, Zur K, Pillai V, Gildersleeve JC, Romberg N, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2024, PMID:38692308
Mapping the Cellular Biogeography of Human Bone Marrow Niches Using Single-Cell Transcriptomics and Proteomic Imaging
Bandyopadhyay S, Duffy M, Ahn KJ, Pang M, Smith D, Duncan G, Sussman J, Zhang I, Huang J, Lin Y, Xiong B, Imtiaz T, Chen C, Thadi A, Chen C, Xu J, Reichart M, Pillai V, Snaith O, Oldridge D, Bhattacharyya S, Maillard I, Carroll M, Nelson C, Qin L, Tan K, 65th ASH Meeting and Exposition, 2023
Bone Marrow Fibrosis is Associated with Non-Response to CD19 CAR T-Cell Therapy in B-Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Anil J, Alnemri A, Lytle A, Lockhart B, Anil AE, Baumgartner M, Gebre K, McFerran J, Grupp SA, Rheingold SR, Pillai V, Am J Hematol 98(12): 1888-1897, 2023, PMID:37718626
Transdifferentiation of B-lymphoblastic Leukemia to Histiocytic Sarcoma After Immunotherapy
Fenu E, Margolskee E, Pillai V, American journal of hematology 98(8): E216-E218, 2023, PMID:37259821
