FACT Quality Boot Camp Presenters
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Kimberly Kasow, DO (HOST) Dr. Kim Kasow is the Director of Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant at UNC with a primary clinical research interest in providing hematopoietic cell transplantation to patients with sickle cell disease. She is the Associate Director of Quality Initiatives for the UNC BMTCTP adult and pediatric program and the Associate Director of Quality for the UNC Advanced Cellular Therapeutics Facility. She is a current member of the FACT Board of Directors, serving as the Treasurer, the 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 Committee. Dr. Kasow has served as a Clinical Hematopoietic Cellular Therapy, Clinical Immune Effector Cellular Therapy, and Marrow Collection FACT inspector since 2006. |
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Priscilla DaSilva (HOST) Priscilla Dasilva has 16 years’ experience in cellular therapy quality management and regulatory compliance in adult and pediatric transplant and cellular therapy clinical programs, marrow collection, apheresis collection, and processing facilities. Her experience extends into cellular therapy data management and blood product manufacturing. Currently, Priscilla DaSilva is the Senior Manager of the Transplant and Cellular Therapy Regulatory and Quality Management program at City of Hope in California. She is also currently serving as a member of the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) Quality Committee. |
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Heather Steinmetz, MPH In the role of Quality Assurance Manager, Heather works with the Hemapheresis Unit, Stem Cell Lab and Adult & Pediatric clinical transplant program. Since 2015, she has worked in collaboration with all areas to ensure regulatory compliance in incorporated into all aspects of the program. Most recently, she has served as operational lead implementing all FDA approved CAR-T therapies within the Hematologic Malignancy/Stem Cell Transplant (HM/SCT) Program. Throughout her career, Heather has worked within the bone marrow transplant field. She began as a donor coordinator for 4 years at BeTheMatch guiding unrelated donors through donation. In 2010, she joined UCLA as a CIBMTR Coordinator. While reviewing and reporting patient status to the CIBMTR registry, she learned key elements fundamental to the success of the HM/SCT program. Heather transitioned her donor and patient experience into the QA Manager role providing a cohesive understanding of the entire program. |
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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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Jacklyn Stentz, MBA, BSMT(ASCP), CPHQ Jackie is committed to establishing exceptional quality systems and fostering creative thinking. She has dedicated nearly 20 years to focusing that energy into transplant and cellular therapy. The experience gained from ten years with Moffitt Cancer Center and eight years with Baylor University Medical Center has provided a wide canvas of complex opportunities within collection, processing, research, accreditations and regulatory, key performance indices, and quality improvement initiatives. Jackie joined the Sarah Cannon Transplant and Cellular Therapy Network as the Quality Improvement Director in early 2022. Her current role includes focused efforts to provide operational standardization, resources supporting inspections and process improvement, actionable data for quality indicators relevant to the facilities and the Network, and mentoring for the seven Transplant and Cellular Therapy programs currently being served, as well as Network level process improvement projects. Jacklyn serves as a member of the FACT Quality Management Committee and the FACT-JACIE HCT Standards Quality Sub-Committee. |
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Karen Collum, DNP, RN, OCN Karen Collum is Director of Nursing Quality at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. As the Director, Karen oversees a team of Quality Management Nurses and Data Analysts who support the 4000+ nursing staff in monitoring patient outcomes, patient experience, and staff satisfaction through the tracking and reporting (internally and externally) of over 50 different types of metrics. Karen also provides quality oversight to the Transplant and Cellular Therapy programs and management of the organizational FACT Accreditation. Karen has been a nurse for 21 years, with 15 years working in quality. Prior to her role as Director, Karen was the Nurse Leader for Nursing Quality & Transplant Services. Karen is a graduate of Felician University with Doctor of Nursing Practice degree with a focus in Nursing Executive Leadership. |
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Ping Fu, MSc Ping Fu serves as the Quality Manager of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Ping has been working in the field of stem cell therapy for more than 21 years and in the regulatory and quality assurance section for 13 years. Her primary expertise lies in regulatory and quality management, GMP manufacturing, hematopoietic stem cell processing, and cord blood banking. Additionally, Ping has been a FACT inspector overseeing processing facility inspections for 15 years. |
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Cody Ginn, MLS(ASCP) Cody Ginn was born and raised in Texas. After completing his education, he relocated to San Antonio, where he found his calling in healthcare. His journey began at the Methodist Hospital Regional Blood Bank. However, Cody discovered an opportunity to expand his horizons, landing a job at Methodist Hospital as a Cellular Therapy Technologist. Cody gained valuable hands-on experience in cellular therapy during his tenure there. Cody received his undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Texas, San Antonio. He also received his Bachelor's in Applied Science in Biomedical Technology from the Karolinska Institute. Cody continued his studies in Clinical Laboratory Science and Medical Laboratory Technology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Cody continues his learning and best practices in clinical research through CITI Program GCP training, where he has completed several courses focusing on quality. |
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Deborah Griffin, MS, ASQ CPGP Debe has 30 years of experience in cellular therapy and laboratory science, including both minimally and more-than-minimally manipulated products. Deborah has been a FACT inspector for over a decade and has performed almost 20 external inspections. In addition, she was responsible for the FACT inspections of three independently accredited facilities at UPMC, the adult hematopoietic stem cell lab, the pediatric hematopoietic stem cell lab and a dendritic cell vaccine production facility, and successfully led them through 10 inspections. She is an active member of the FACT Quality Committee in FACT. Deborah was formerly the Chair of the ISCT North America Legal and Regulatory Committee as well as Editor of the Telegraft. She was formerly the Director of Quality Management for Cell Therapies of the Cell Therapies Facility at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL, USA. Prior to that position, she served as the Manager of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs for Cellular Therapy, and was responsible for three cGMP compliant and FACT accredited cellular therapy facilities at the Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, in Pittsburgh, PA, USA
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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. |
