Presenters
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Walid Almashaqbeh, BS, BB (ASCP)
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Etienne Baudoux, MD |
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Ngaire Elwood, PhD Associate Professor Ngaire Elwood is the Director of the BMDI Cord Blood Bank and Head of the Cord Blood Stem Cell Research Program at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia. A/Prof Elwood is Vice-President of the Board of Directors for FACT. She has been a FACT Cord Blood Bank Inspector since 2008 and serves on many FACT committees, including the FACT CB Accreditation Committee, FACT CB Standards Committee, FACT Education Committee and FACT Regenerative Medicine Task Force. A/Prof Elwood is a Non-Executive Director of the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia, Chair of the AusCord Network of public cord blood banks and was the Australia New Zealand Regional Vice President for the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT) (2018-2020). She has more than 30 years’ experience in the field of cellular therapy, cord blood, stem cells and leukemia and is passionate in promoting words’ best practice in cellular manufacturing and the application of cellular therapies. |
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Arvin Faundo, MD Dr. Arvin Faundo is an anatomic and clinical pathologist who received post-residency training in Hematopathology and Stem Cell Transplantation at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Currently, he is the Cord Blood Bank Director of Cordlife Singapore since 2014. He is an Affiliate of the Stem Cell Center in St. Luke’s Medical Center-Global City. He is an Active Inspector for the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) since 2018. Recently, he served as member of the Quality Management subcommittee for the latest edition of the FACT-NetCord Cord Blood Standards. |
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Alisa Forsythe |
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Diane Fournier, PhD With training in microbiology and immunology, Dr. Diane Fournier worked as a Research Scientist at the National Research Council of Canada for 10 years before joining Héma-Québec in 2008. Dr. Fournier is a member of the FACT Cord Blood Bank Accreditation Committee and the FACT Education Committee. She is an active FACT Cord Blood Processing Inspector. |
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Sergio Querol Giner, MD, PhD |
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Mike Halpenny, MLT (CMLTO) Mike Halpenny has been working in the cellular therapy field for over 25 years, starting his career in a research setting and progressing to working in a regulated manufacturing environment. In 2010, Mike was recruited to oversee the design, development, validation and implementation of the manufacturing process for the Canadian Blood Services’ Cord Blood Bank. He is currently the Manager, Manufacturing, Cord Blood Bank and Stem Cell Manufacturing at Canadian Blood Services. Mike is a registered Medical Laboratory Technologist (CMLTO Canadian Medical Laboratory Technologists of Ontario), has completed a certificate in Quality Management for Healthcare Professionals from the Canadian Healthcare Association, is a member of the AABB CTSCC and has been a FACT inspector since 2000. |
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Roger Horton Roger Horton is the Director of the Anthony Nolan Cord Blood Bank and Cell and Gene Therapy Clinical Delivery Lead at the Anthony Nolan Cell therapy Centre in Nottingham, UK. He also acts as the designated individual for the Human tissue Authority, which is the UK regulator. He has been a FACT Cord Blood Bank Inspector since 2016 and serves on a number of committees, including the FACT Cord Blood Standards Committee and the Cord Blood Association Education Committee as well as being part of the WMDA cord Blood working group. He has more than 12 years’ experience in the field of cord blood, stem cells, cellular therapy and leukemia and, as part of the Cord Support Programme in the UK, is passionate in promoting best practice in the search, selection, manufacture and application of cord blood in both transplant and cellular therapy applications. |
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Dunia Jawdat, PhD Dr. Dunia Jawdat is the Director of KAIMRC-Cord Blood Bank and Saudi Stem Cell Donor Registry (SSCDR) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Dr. Jawdat is the Chair of the Department of Basic Sciences at the Female Branch of the College of Sciences and Health Profession and an Associate Professor of Immunology in the College of Medicine at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. She has been a FACT Cord Blood Bank Inspector since 2018 and serves on the FACT CB Standards Committee. Dr. Jawdat is an active member of numerous professional societies. She is serving as a board member of the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) supporting Global Development, Chair-elect for the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) Cord Blood Working Group and the Vice president of the scientific committee of the Arabian Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenomics (ARSHI). She has more than 10 years’ experience in the field of immunology and cord blood banking. |
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Phillip Johnson, MMedSc (Path) Phillip Johnson is the Director / Scientific Director at Queensland Cord Blood Bank at the Mater and the Director of the Cellular Therapy Unit of Mater Pathology. He is a member of the FACT Cord Blood Bank Processing, Selection and Release Standards Subcommittees, the FACT Quality Management Committee, and the FACT Cord Blood Accreditation Committee. He is a FACT Cord Blood Bank, Collection and Processing Inspector.
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Elias Kalouche, MBA, B.S.c, MLT (CSMLS) President Progenics Cord Blood Cryobank Elias Kalouche is the President of Progenics Cord Blood Cryobank, a Family Cord Blood Bank in Toronto, Canada. He is an Active International FACT Accreditation Inspector of Cord Blood Banks and Cellular Therapy Programs since 2012. Kalouche serves on many FACT committees, including the FACT Cord Blood Bank Accreditation Committee, FACT Inspector Development Committee, Family Cord Blood Banking Task Force Committee, and the Cord Blood Processing, Selection, and Release Standards Committee responsible for the development of the 8th Edition of the FACT standards. He previously participated in the revision and development of the 6th and 7th Editions of the FACT Standards He currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the Cord Blood Association (CBA) Member-to-Member Networking Task Force and participated in various international scientific discussions. He is an active member of professional societies including, the Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science (CSMLS), Advancing Transfusion and Cellular Therapies Worldwide (AABB), American Society for Apheresis (ASFA), International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT) and a senior member with The American Society for Quality (ASQ).
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Andrea Tiemi Kondo, MD Processing Facility Director Cord Blood Bank Hospital Albert Einstein Dr. Andrea Kondo is the Director of the Albert Einstein Cord Blood Bank and Director of Cellular Therapy Processing Lab at Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Dr Kondo is a Hematologist and has 20 years of experience in transplant and more than 10 years’ experience in the field of cellular therapy and clinical research in this area. Dr Kondo serves on FACT CB Accreditation Committee and participate in Brazilian Society of Bone Marrow Transplant to contribute for better practice in Cellular Therapy and Cord Blood Bank in Brazil. |
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Nadim Mahmud, MBBS, PhD Dr. Nadim Mahmud is a Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. He has more than 20 years of experience in the field of hematopoietic stem cell biology and stem cell transplantation. He also has extensive experience in studies of hematopoietic stem cell biology, blood cell regeneration, both in human and animal models, which includes bone marrow failure following myeloablative radiation or chemotherapy. Dr. Mahmud has a broad background in clinical medicine, stem cell biology, and transplantation and is currently serving as PI or co-Investigator on several university and NIH funded grants. Dr. Mahmud is the Director of Clinical Stem Cell Laboratory at UI Blood & Marrow Transplant Program. His clinical laboratory is responsible for processing, storing and releasing stem cell grafts for administration to patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation or other cell based therapy. Dr. Mahmud’s laboratory has pioneered a novel way to augment the number of transplantable blood forming stem cells present in an umbilical cord blood graft by using chromatin modifying agents and has been awarded a US patent for this work. Currently Dr. Mahmud is serving as FACT Board of Directors and a member of ISCT LPC committee. He also served as a Board of Directors for the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT) (2018-2020). |
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Arun Prasath Shanmugam, M.Phil, MSc Arun Prasath Shanugam supports the Senior Management and Board of the Singapore Cord Blood Bank by providing strategic direction based on knowledge of operating business issues, competitive analysis, and broader market research. He assumed the role of Director of Strategy and Compliance and successfully expanded the company operations from a public cord blood bank to an integrated hybrid bank. Arun is a member of FACT's Cord BLood Banking Standards subcommittee, and is a FACT Cord Blood Bank Processing Inspector. |
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Phyllis I. Warkentin, MD Dr. Phyllis Warkentin is a founding member of the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT), a member of the FACT Board of Directors, and the FACT Chief Medical Officer. She is Professor of Pathology/Microbiology and Pediatrics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, and the Medical Director of the Nebraska Medicine Biologics Production Facility. She has authored over one hundred scientific publications in the field of transfusion, transplantation, and cellular therapy. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, and is Board certified in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Transfusion Medicine. |