Sara Bolivar-Wagers, MD, PhD
Locations: Buerger Center for Advanced Pediatric Care
About Sara Bolivar-Wagers, MD, PhD
Titles
Fellow
Awards and Honors
2023-2024, Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society Member
2023-2024, Gold Humanism Honor Society Member
2023, J. Thomas Livermore Memorial Award – outstanding hematology research
2023, Cover page of Blood Journal, March 2023, Vol 14, Number 11
2023, American Physician Scientist Association (APSA) Travel Award
2022, Best Immunology Oral Presentation, 37th National MD/PhD Student Conference
2022, Keystone Symposia Travel Scholarship 2022 for Emerging Cell Therapies Conference
2022, J. Jacob Kaplan Award - outstanding research in immunology and cancer treatment
2021-2022, ASH Minority Medical Student Award Yearlong Recipient
2021-2024, NIH Ruth L. Kirchstein NRSA F30 Predoctoral Fellowship
2019-2021, NIH T32 Immunology Training Grant Fellow
2018-2019, Minority Graduate Student Award by MSTP program
2018, Honors in 2nd year of Medical School, University of Minnesota
2013, Outstanding Contribution/Research Presentation at SACNAS National Conference
2012, Annual Biomedical Research Conference (ABRCMS), First Place Award Winner
2012, University of Central Florida’s Undergraduate Researcher of the Month
2012, Third Place Winner at the Minority Access 13th National Role Model Awards
2012, First Place in Life Sciences Division at Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence
2012-2013, Hispanic Heritage Scholarship Fund Scholarship
2010-2014, University of Central Florida Pegasus Scholarship
2010-2014, University of Central Florida Dean’s List
Leadership and Memberships
2016-present, Society of Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS)
Education & training
Undergraduate Degree
BS in Biomedical Sciences - University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL
Graduate Degree
PhD, MICaB Graduate Program - University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN
NIH/INRO Post-baccalaureate research program - National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at NIH, Bethesda, MD
Medical Degree
MD - University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN
Residency
Pediatrics Residency Program, Accelerated Research Program - Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia , Philadelphia, PA
Publications
Publications
2025
Sujeong J,Zaiken M, McDonald-Hyman C, Hartigan CR, Bolivar-Wagers S, Larson J, Peng Y, Hani S, Riddle M, Saha A, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Zhao Y, Marquez RABaskar PS, Eide C, Murphy W, Hippen K, Hill G, Tolar J, Pennell C, Kean L, Blazar BR. CAR19 Tregs treat murine chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease through immune suppression in absence of measurable B-cell cytolysis. Submitted June 2025.
2024
Bolivar-Wagers S, Shaheen ZR. CPPD in a child with Wilson’s disease – an ominous sign or incidental finding? Journal of Rheumatology. 2024.
Bolivar-Wagers, S. Finding my sense of belonging. Family Medicine Journal. 2024.
2023
Larson JH, Jin S, Loschi M, Bolivar-Wagers S, Thangavelu G T, Zaiken MC, McDonald- Hyman C, Saha A, Aguilar EG, Koehn B, Osborn MJ, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, MacDonald KPA, Hill GR, Murphy WJ, Serody JS, Maillard I, Kean LS, Kim SV, Littman DR, Blazar BR. Enforced gut homing of murine regulatory T cells reduces early graft-versus-host disease severity. American Journal of Transplantation. 2023.
Ramos TL*, Bolivar-Wagers S*, Jin S, Thangavelu G, Simonetta F, Lin PY, Hirai T, Saha A, Koehn B, Su LL, Picton LK, Baker J, Lohmeyer JK, Riddle M, Tolar J, Panoskaltsis- Mortari A, Wagner JE, Garcia KC, Negrin RS, Blazar BR. Prevention of acute graft-versushost disease using an orthogonal IL-2/IL-2Rb system to selectively expand regulatory T cells in vivo. Blood. 2023. *co-first authors
2022
Pennell CA, Campbell H, Storlie MD, Bolivar-Wagers S, Osborn MJ, Refaeli Y, Jensen M, Viaud S, Young TS, Blazar BR. Human CD19-specific switchable CAR T-cells are efficacious as constitutively active CAR T-cells but cause less morbidity in a mouse model of human CD19+ malignancy. Journal of Immunotherapy for Cancer. 2022.
Bolivar-Wagers S*, Loschi ML*, Jin S, Thangavelu G, Larson JH, McDonald-Hyman CS, Aguilar EG, Saha A, Koehn BH, Hefazi M, Osborn MJ, Jensen MC, Wagner JE, Pennell CA, Blazar BR. Murine CAR19 Tregs suppress acute graft-versus-host disease and maintain graft-versus-tumor responses. JCI Insight. 2022 Sep 8;7(17):e160674. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.160674. PMID: 35917188; PMCID: PMC9536261. *co-first authors
Thangavelu G, Andrejeva G, Bolivar-Wagers S, Jin S, Zaiken MC, Loschi M, Aguilar EG, Furlan SN, Brown CC, Lee YC, Hyman CM, Feser CJ, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Hippen KL, MacDonald KP, Murphy WJ, Maillard I, Hill GR, Munn DH, Zeiser R, Kean LS, Rathmell JC, Chi H, Noelle RJ, Blazar BR. Retinoic acid signaling acts as a rheostat to balance Treg function. Cell Mol Immunol. 2022 Jul;19(7):820-833. doi: 10.1038/s41423-022-00869-y. Epub 2022 May 17. PMID: 35581350; PMCID: PMC9243059.
Bolivar-Wagers S, Larson JH, Jin S, Blazar BR. Cytolytic CD4+ and CD8+ Regulatory TCells and Implications for Developing Immunotherapies to Combat Graft-Versus-Host Disease. Front Immunol. 2022 Apr 12;13:864748. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.864748. PMID: 35493508; PMCID: PMC9040077. *co-first authors
2021
Hefazi M, Bolivar-Wagers S, Blazar BR. Regulatory T Cell Therapy of Graft-versus-Host Disease: Advances and Challenges. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Sep 7;22(18):9676. doi: 10.3390/ijms22189676. PMID: 34575843; PMCID: PMC8469916.
Hirai T, Ramos TL, Lin PY, Simonetta F, Su LL, Picton LK, Baker J, Lin JX, Li P, Seo K, Lohmeyer JK, Bolivar-Wagers S, Mavers M, Leonard WJ, Blazar BR, Garcia KC, Negrin RS. Selective expansion of regulatory T cells using an orthogonal IL-2/IL-2 receptor system facilitates transplantation tolerance. J Clin Invest. 2021 Apr 15;131(8):e139991. doi: 10.1172/JCI139991. PMID: 33855972; PMCID: PMC8059880.
Iwamoto N, Patel B, Song K, Mason R, Bolivar-Wagers S, Bergamaschi C, Pavlakis GN, Berger E, Roederer M. Evaluation of chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy in nonhuman primates infected with SHIV or SIV. PLoS One. 2021 Mar 22;16(3):e0248973. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248973. PMID: 33752225; PMCID: PMC7984852.
2019
Hippen KL, Aguilar EG, Rhee SY, Bolivar-Wagers S, Blazar BR. Distinct Regulatory and Effector T Cell Metabolic Demands during Graft-Versus-Host Disease. Trends Immunol. 2020 Jan;41(1):77-91. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2019.11.005. Epub 2019 Nov 30. PMID: 31791718; PMCID: PMC6934920.
2018
Ghanem MH, Bolivar-Wagers S, Dey B, Hajduczki A, Vargas-Inchaustegui DA, Danielson DT, Bundoc V, Liu L, Berger EA. Bispecific chimeric antigen receptors targeting the CD4 binding site and high-mannose Glycans of gp120 optimized for anti-human immunodeficiency virus potency and breadth with minimal immunogenicity. Cytotherapy. 2018 Mar;20(3):407-419. doi: 10.1016/j.jcyt.2017.11.001. Epub 2018 Jan 3. PMID: 29306566. *co-first authors
2015
Guo J, Bolivar-Wagers S, Srinivas N, Holubar M, Maldonado Y. Immunodeficiencyrelated vaccine-derived poliovirus (iVDPV) cases: a systematic review and implications for polio eradication. Vaccine. 2015 Mar 3;33(10):1235-42. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.01.018. Epub 2015 Jan 16. PMID: 25600519; PMCID: PMC5529169. *co-first authors
Editorials, Reviews, Chapters
2022
Thangavelu Govindarajan, Bolivar-Wagers Sara, Aguilar Ethan G, Rhee Stephanie Y, Koehn Brent H, Hippen Keli L, Blazar Bruce R. Chapter 17: “Insights and strategies to promote immune tolerance in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients”. Translational Autoimmunity Vol.5: Challenges for Autoimmune Diseases. Translational Immunology: Elsevier. May 2022, pp.330-347.