FACT Clinical Inspector Training Course Facilitators
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Phyllis I. Warkentin, MD (HOST) 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 serves as Chair of Cellular Therapy and Cord Blood Accreditation Committees and FACT-CIBMTR Data Audit Committee, and is a member of numerous other FACT committees. Dr. Warkentin 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. |
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Ibrahim Ahmed, MD Ibrahim A. Ahmed, MD, DSc, is an accomplished physician and researcher specializing in pediatric hematology/ oncology and bone marrow transplantation. He currently serves as the Director of Quality and Accreditation at Children's Mercy in Kansas City, where he is responsible for overseeing the quality and accreditation programs in the hematology/oncology and bone marrow transplantation departments. Dr. Ahmed obtained his medical degree from the University of Cairo School of Medicine in Cairo, Egypt. Following graduation, he pursued his residency in pediatrics at Wayne State University School of Medicine/Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, MI. He then completed fellowships in pediatric bone marrow transplantation at Baylor University College of Medicine/Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, TX, and pediatric hematology/oncology at Wayne State University School of Medicine/Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, MI. Dr. Ahmed is board-certified in both pediatric hematology-oncology and pediatrics. Dr. Ahmed serves as an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine and a clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. He also serves as a member of the FACT Education Committee. |
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Suzanne Birnley MS, MBA Suzanne is passionate about immunology and her research thesis focused on T-cell homeostatis and interleukin-2. She managed an academic research lab for a decade prior to joining the FACT team in Accreditation Services as a Coordinator, then served as the Accreditation Services Manager, and most recently join the executive team as the Director of Operations. She has served as the staff liasion for multiple FACT standing committees and also participated in multiple editions of Standards review. |
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Joseph Lynch, MD Joseph P. Lynch, MD currently serves as the Director of the Geisinger Stem Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program. Dr. Lynch joined Geisinger in August of 2018. Prior to his tenure at Geisinger he served as the Director for the Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program at Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa Oklahoma from 1999-2018. During his tenure at Saint Francis, he also served as the President of the Medical Staff of Saint Francis Hospital. Dr. Lynch has served on the Board of Directors of the Community Oncology Alliance since 2010. In addition, he has serves as a certified Inspector for the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) since 2000. He currently serves on the FACT Education Committee. |
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Jean Sanders, MD Dr. Jean Sanders has been active in clinical hematopoietic cell transplantation since 1975. Although retired from clinical service in 2012, Jean remains active with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s Institutional Review Board, with FACT, and as editor of the ASBMT eNews. Jean has performed 42 FACT inspections, 36 in cellular therapy and 6 cord blood banks. Thus, she is exceptionally versed in FACT Standards, including quality management, development of SOPs, consent documents, and clinical research. As the developer of and director of Pediatric Transplantation until 2011, Dr. Sanders is sensitive to the unique needs and requirements of pediatric patients and donors. Jean is expertly qualified to assist a program with meeting FACT Standards for clinical (adult and pediatric) and marrow harvest as well as cord blood banks. |
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Donna Salzman, MD [insert bio] |
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Joseph Schwartz, MD, MPH Dr. Joseph Schwartz is the Director of Transfusion Medicine Services at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL. Dr. Schwartz is the Chair of the FACT Technology Committee and Co-Chair of the FACT Cellular Therapy Accreditation & Cord Blood Bank Accreditation Committees. In addition, he is a member of the FACT Standards Steering, and Education committees. In The past, he had served on the FACT Board of Directors. Dr. Schwartz has participated as an Apheresis and Marrow Collection, Cord Blood Banking, and Cord Blood Collection Inspector since 2006. |
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Priti Tewari, MD Dr. Priti Tewari is an Associate Professor with the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatrics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Her responsibilities also include serving as the Fellowship Program Director in the Department of Pediatrics Patient Care - Hematology Oncology, Division of Pediatrics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She has a particular interest in Supportive Care in Pediatric Stem Cell Transplantation. She is a board-certified pediatrician in the field of pediatric hematology/ oncology. Dr. Tewari holds an appointment as an Instructor in the Division of Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. Currently, she is the Chair of the Pediatric Stem Cell Transplantation Inpatient Taskforce as well as Chair of the Inpatient Mobility Incentive Program. Past committee service includes service as Chair of the Pediatric Fellowship Program Evaluation Committee and member of the Pediatric Quality and Safety Committee. Additionally, Dr. Tewari is also a member of the FACT Education Committee. |
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Basem William MD, MRCP, FACP Dr. Basem William is a hematologist with internationally recognized expertise in hematological malignancies, drug development, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and cellular therapy. He has been a PI/co-investigator/site PI on over 100 hematological malignancies and cell therapy clinical trials. He published over 80 peer-reviewed articles, over 120 peer-reviewed abstracts, and 5 book chapters and has previously served on the NCCN Guidelines expert panel in T-cell Lymphomas. After leading the T-cell lymphoma program at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he was an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine for 4 years, he joined the OhioHealth Health system to help build a new comprehensive hematological malignancies, transplant, and cell therapy program. He has been a FACT inspector since 2018, and he also serves on the FACT Education committee and immune effector cell taskforce. |
