FACT Events at ISCT Were a Success!
Chrissy Gordon: A Patient Perspective
FACT was honored to have its Cellular Therapy and Cord Blood Inspection and Accreditation Workshop in Melbourne, Australia opened by Ms. Chrissy Gordon, a recipient of an unrelated bone marrow transplant in 2000. Chrissy’s inspirational story of diagnosis, treatment, transplant, challenges, and successes over the past twenty years highlighted the importance of continuing to pursue improvements in the quality of patient care and advancing the promising developments in the field of cellular therapy. Diagnosed with leukemia in 1999 at the age of 28, Chrissy was treated in Melbourne, but her matched donor was found half way around the globe in Omaha, Nebraska where the donation was made at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. We first met Chrissy when she and her husband Dave visited Omaha to celebrate the 70th birthday of her marrow donor, Mr. Ken Vice of Lincoln, Nebraska.
Bone marrow transplant recipient Chrissy Gordon and her husband Dave shared her transplant story during the FACT Accreditation Workshop.
ISCT-FACT Quality Boot Camp 2019
The 2019 ISCT Annual Meeting in Melbourne kicked off during the Pre-Conference Day with a packed house at the ISCT – FACT Quality Boot Camp on Wednesday, May 29, 2019. Patrick Hanley, PhD presented timely information on incorporating immune effector cell activities into existing quality management programs. Guy Klamer, PhD discussed the importance of document control and common issues faced by cord blood banks. Participants were actively engaged during an interactive session with Phillip Johnson on risk management, and were presented with several case scenarios and asked to assess the risk. With validations being an important and challenging component of every cellular therapy facility, Robyn Rodwell, PhD and Annette Tricket, PhD provided details on the validation process and examples of their organizations’ results. FACT’s Quality Manager, Heather Conway, addressed the important subject of auditing, focusing on the minimum requirements of an audit report and the “Five Whys.” The day concluded with a hands-on exercise using the ISBT 128 Audit Tool for Cellular Therapy. The day was a great success and we look forward to future quality boot camps discussing core quality topics valuable to your organization. If you have ideas for future quality sessions, email your ideas to FACT@UNMC.edu.
Quality Boot Camp participants work together on an activity applying quality principles to real-world scenarios.
