Nashville, TN – July 7, 2025 — OneOncology, a physician-led national platform empowering independent oncology practices, is pleased to appoint Michael Byrne, D.O. as Medical Director for Cellular Therapy.

Dr. Byrne is a hematologist at Tennessee Oncology’s Midtown Center for Blood Cancers and a nationally recognized investigator in hematologic malignancies. He has led the successful launch of Tennessee Oncology’s cellular therapy program that has expanded access for Middle Tennessee cancer patients to an advanced cellular therapy, known as CAR-T cell therapy. Tennessee Oncology is one of the first practices to deliver CAR-T cell therapy in the community setting. 

CAR-T is an innovative approach to personalized cancer care. By modifying a patient's T-cells to target and destroy cancer cells, CAR-T therapy harnesses the body’s immune system to fight cancer.

“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Byrne to OneOncology and look forward to his stewardship and support to enable our practice partners to develop cellular therapy programs across the nation,” said Davey Daniel, M.D., OneOncology’s Chief Medical Officer.  “Establishing cellular therapy programs in private practice centers requires significant expertise, coordination, and collaboration with hospital partners. Dr. Byrne’s leadership establishing Tennessee Oncology’s CAR-T program and his tenure at Vanderbilt make him the ideal person to scale cellular therapy programs at independent oncology practices nationwide.”

The initial rollout of CAR-T cell therapies in the U.S. has disproportionately favored large academic medical centers, creating an urban-rural divide that has made these advanced treatments inaccessible to many patients who receive cancer care in community practices.

Under Dr. Byrne’s leadership, OneOncology’s vision is to democratize cellular therapy by enabling practice partners with resources and expertise to make this cutting-edge therapy widely accessible in community practices across the OneOncology network. By moving CAR-T therapy to authorized community treatment centers, with hospital collaboration for necessary inpatient monitoring and management of certain adverse events, OneOncology’s goal is to have significant parts of the cellular therapy treatment journey—such as initial evaluations, conditioning chemotherapy, infusion, and post-infusion outpatient monitoring—be conducted at local clinics that are conveniently located close to where patients live. 

When this cutting-edge care is brought into the community, practices will be able to offer patients a more efficient process, which can lead to a shorter time between a diagnosis and starting treatment, fewer patient handoffs between clinics, and a dramatic reduction to a patient’s time commitment and travel burden to a central facility often far from home.

"For too long, advanced cellular therapies like CAR-T have been out of reach for many patients simply because of where they live,” said Dr. Byrne. We have a tremendous opportunity to democratize this care by empowering local oncology practices to deliver these life-changing treatments. It's about building a new, collaborative model that brings care closer to home, reducing the logistical burden on patients and their families. By leveraging the incredible expertise within our community practices, we can make this sophisticated care more convenient and accessible while maintaining the quality in care delivery that our patients deserve."

Before coming to Tennessee Oncology, Dr. Byrne served at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for seven years as the Assistant Professor of Medicine in the division of Hematologic Malignancies and Marrow Transplant. He is also currently the Medical Director of Hematologic Malignancies at Ascension St. Thomas Midtown. Dr. Byrne completed a Fellowship at University of Florida, a Blood and Marrow Transplantation Fellowship at University of California San Francisco, and his residency at the Cleveland Clinic.