Carlos Bachier, MD
Program Director and Processing Facility Director
Sarah Cannon Blood and Marrow Transplant Program

Dr. Bachier joined Sarah Cannon in 2015 and serves as the director of cellular research. As part of his role, he designs and leads the clinical trial menu for stem cell transplant at the Sarah Cannon Center for Blood Cancer at TriStar Centennial in Nashville.

Dr. Bachier is a member of the FACT Cellular Therapy Accreditation and Global Affairs Committees, the FACT Immune Effector Cell Task Force, and serves on the FACT Board of Directors and Executive Committee. Dr. Bachier has served as a FACT inspector since 2003.

Suzanne Birnley, MS, MBA
Accreditation Services Manager
Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy 

Suzanne is passionate about immunology and her research thesis focused on T cell homeostasis and interleukin-2.  She managed an academic research lab for a decade prior to joining the FACT team in Accreditation Services as a Coordinator, and now as the Accreditation Services Manager. She is the former FACT Staff Liaison for the Cellular Therapy Accreditation Committee, and participated as a staff member in the Seventh Edition NetCord-FACT International Standards for Cord Blood Collection, Banking, and Release for Administration.  Suzanne is in the process of developing a training program for new FACT Coordinators.

Paul Eldridge, PhD
Scientific Director 
Levine Cancer Institute Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program

Dr. Eldridge is the Standards Chair of the FACT Board of Directors and the FACT Executive Committee, as well as the Chair of the Cellular Therapy Standards, Cellular Therapy Standards Steering, Cord Blood Bank Collection Standards, and Cord Blood Bank Steering Committees and member of others.  

Dr. Eldridge serves as a FACT Inspector for Processing: Minimal manipulation of HPC, and Processing: More than minimal manipulation of any cell type.  

Alisa Forsythe
IT Business Analyst
Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy

Alisa Forsythe currently serves as the IT Business Analyst for FACT. Alisa constantly seeks to improve lives and processes with technology. With over 13 years of experience, she has overseen countless projects for FACT, the Department of Defense, and other smaller organizations. Since she joined FACT she has spearheaded the new FACT Accreditation Portal effort and is currently working to release the next major version. 

Dennis Gastineau, MD
Medical Director, Human Cellular Therapy Lab
The Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at Mayo Clinic Arizona 
President of the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy

Dr. Dennis Gastineau established the Human Cellular Therapy Laboratory in the Division of Transfusion Medical at Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota and established a sister laboratory, the Nyberg Human Cellular Therapy Laboratory, at Mayo Clinic's campus in Phoenix / Scottsdale, Arizona. Dr. Gastineau is the President of the FACT Board of Directors and the FACT Executive Committee and is a member of the FACT Cellular Therapy Accreditation, Clinical Outcomes, Education, and Finance Committees. He also serves as a FACT Inspector for Clinical Hematopoietic Cellular Therapy, Clinical Immune Effector Cellular Therapy, and Marrow Collection. 

Kim Kasow, DO
Director, Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Program, Marrow Collections Medical Director
UNC Bone Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program

Dr. Kim Kasow directs both clinical care and clinical research efforts in transplant at UNC. One of her primary interests is providing hematopoietic cell transplantation to patients with sickle cell disease.

She is a current member of the FACT Board of Directors, chair of the FACT Finance and Quality Management Committees, and Vice-chair of the FACT Technology Committee. Dr. Kasow is also a member of the Cellular Therapy Accreditation and Clinical Program Standards Committees. Dr. Kasow has served as a Clinical Hematopoietic Cellular Therapy, Clinical Immune Effector Cellular Therapy, and Marrow Collection FACT inspector since 2006.

Jean Sanders, MD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
FACT Consultant 

Dr. Sanders' to eliminate cancer as a cause of human suffering and death shaped the treatment of pediatric
transplant patients nationwide. She devoted her career to determining which transplant treatments work best in children, investigating the long-term health effects of stem cell transplantation, providing compassionate care, and teaching more than 90 doctors.

Although retired from clinical service in 2012, her groundbreaking clinical research has advanced the field of pediatric bone marrow transplantation and improved the survival and quality of life of many children undergoing this lifesaving procedure. In addition to authoring more than 300 scientific publications, Sanders has chaired multiple cooperative research group studies and served as adviser for many medical and scientific organizations including the Children’s Oncology Group, the National Childhood Cancer Foundation, the American Academy of Pediatrics and National Institutes of Health.

As a FACT inspector, Jeans has performed 42 FACT inspections, 36 in cellular therapy and 6 cord blood banks. 

Joseph Schwartz, MD, MPH
New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center
Bone Marrow and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Program

Dr. Joseph Schwartz is the Director of Transfusion Medicine and Cellular Therapy at Columbia University where he oversees the Blood Bank, the Apheresis unit and the Cell Therapy facility at the Columbia University Medical Center campus of the New York Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Schwartz serves on the FACT Board of Directors, is Chair of the FACT Technology Committee, Chair of the FACT HLA Typing Accreditation Committee, and Co-Chair of the FACT Cellular Therapy Accreditation & Cord Blood Bank Accreditation Committees. In addition, he is a member of the FACT Common Standards Steering, Education, Grievance, and Professional Relations Committees. Dr. Schwartz has participated as a Marrow Collection, Apheresis Collection, Cord Blood Banking, and Cord Blood Processing Inspector for 14 years. 

Leon Su, MD, MBA, FCAP, FASCP
Medical Director, Stem Cell Collection
University of Chicago
Apheresis Presenter

Dr. Su is the Medical Director of Apheresis and the Section Chief of Transfusion Medicine at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Dr. Su is a member of the ASFA Clinical Applications Committee. He is a FACT Apheresis Collection Inspector. 

Phyllis I. Warkentin, MD
FACT Chief Medical Officer
University of Nebraska Medical Center 
Apheresis & Cord Blood Presenter

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.