Founding FACT Board Member Nancy H. Collins, PhD Receives ISCT Career Achievement Award

Posted in :: 2018 Volume 3 :: Friday, August 24th, 2018

During its 2018 Annual Meeting in Montréal, the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT) bestowed the Career Achievement Award in Cellular Therapy to Nancy H. Collins, PhD. Recipients of this award are individuals who have made a significant impact during a career devoted to advancing the field of cellular therapy.

In a tribute to Dr. Collins in the ISCT Telegraft, Carolyn A. Keever-Taylor, PhD, wrote, “Nancy is well-suited for this award as illustrated by her many contributions to the field of cellular therapy, from the early days of bone marrow transplantation where she literally defined the role of Laboratory Facility Director, through to the present.” Dr. Taylor described Dr. Collins’s role in founding FACT, “Nancy played a major role in the creation of FACT, which was jointly founded by ISCT and ASBMT to be an independent body that would complete development of laboratory and clinical standards. Here too she was a founding member of the FACT Board of Directors. Nancy was instrumental in recruiting individuals from other cell processing laboratories to be actively involved in these efforts.”

FACT is incredibly grateful to Dr. Collins for the guidance, leadership, and friendship she has generously provided to inspectors, committees, and staff. The following is a list of Dr. Collins’s impressive contributions to the organization:

  • Founding member of the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (1995)
  • Board of Directors (1996-2009), 14 years
  • Inspector (1996-2015), 19 years
  • Cellular therapy laboratory inspector, 19 years
  • FACT-NetCord cord blood bank laboratory inspector, 16 years
  • More than minimal manipulation inspector, 3 years
  • Standards Development (2000-2011), 11 years
  • Cellular Therapy and Cord Blood Standards committees, served as member or co-chair
  • Overall chair of the 4th edition of both Cellular Therapy and Cord Blood Standards
  • FACT Inspector and Facility Training Workshop presenter (multiple)
  • FACT Cellular Therapy Accreditation Committee (1995-2015)
  • FACT Cord Blood Accreditation Committee (2006-2015)
  • FACT Quality Management Committee and Quality Handbook Committee (2008-present)
  • FACT representative to multi-institutional Circular of Information for the Use of Cellular Therapy Products Committee (2007-2014)
  • Consultant, FACT Consulting Services (2015-present)

Congratulations, Nancy, on this well-deserved honor!