Just the FACTs Volume 1
Inaugural Letter from FACT’s New President: Catherine M. Bollard, MBChB, MD, FRACP, FRCPA
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I am extremely excited to introduce myself as your new FACT President. It is truly an honor and privilege to serve in this capacity. For those of you who don’t know me, I received my medical degree from the University of Otago, New Zealand and am Board Certified in Pediatrics and Adult/Pediatric Hematology. My background is in cell therapies for cancer and post transplant viral infections, and for the past 20 years I have investigated the efficacy of virus and tumor specific T cells for the prophylaxis and treatment of viral infection after transplant and cancer respectively. I was formally the Director of the Pediatric Lymphoma program and the co-Director of the BMT QA Program at Texas Children’s Hospital / Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX). In 2013, I was recruited to head the new Program for Cell Enhancement and Technologies for Immunotherapy (CETI) and The Center for Cancer and Immunology Research at Children’s National Hospital and The George Washington University (Washington, DC).
Taking over this role from Dennis Gastineau as 2021 begins, and at a time that cell therapy is rapidly evolving and expanding to new applications, is extremely energizing for me. I therefore look forward to outlining my 5-10 year vision for FACT in the next newsletter. I would, however, like to take this opportunity to profoundly thank Dr. Gastineau for his dedication and commitment to FACT over his tenure. Thank you, Dennis, for all your hard work over this time and I look forward to continuing to work with you in your Past President role!
Cheers,
Cath
