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Becker’s Hospital Review has named Kara M. Kelly, chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Pediatrics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and chair of the Department of Pediatric Oncology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, to its list of top leaders in health care.

The publication notes that leaders that made its top 100 are “renowned not only for deftly adjusting to changes across the healthcare industry, but also for actively shaping and driving transformation.”

Kelly is professor of pediatrics in the Jacobs School and Division Chief, Hematology/Oncology of John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital. Kelly has spent 30 years at National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers transforming pediatric cancer care, outcomes and research.

As the Waldemar J. Kaminski Endowed Chair of Pediatrics at Roswell Park and chief of pediatric hematology/oncology at UB, she has expanded the Roswell Park Oishei Children’s cancer and blood disorders program to include a pediatric experimental therapeutics program, precision medicine and integrative wellness.

Becker's states that the collaborative program now sees more than 90% of pediatric oncology and pediatric benign hematology cases in Western New York, offering cutting-edge clinical trials, stem cell transplants, cell and gene therapies, and specialized treatments for sickle cell disease and hematological conditions.

It notes that Kelly is the recipient of the 2023 Lymphoma Research Foundation’s “Distinguished Leadership Award” and has set new treatment standards for high-risk Hodgkin lymphoma in children and young adults as the leader of multiple national clinical trials.

She is also the founding co-chair of the Lymphoma Research Foundation’s adolescent and young adult consortium.