Cellular Therapies Working Party

20 January 2012

Dr. Mickey Koh has replaced Dr. Paolo Rebulla as chairperson of the Cellular Therapy Working Party.

Mickey writes:

"Cellular therapy continues to be one of the most exciting and rapidly evolving areas in medicine with promising results in cancer treatment and regenerative medicine."  

ISBT confirms its commitment to the area of cell therapy with the appointment of Dr. Mickey Koh to the chair of the ISBT Cellular Therapy Working Party.  This Working Party is in cooperation with AABB.  Dr. Koh is the Director of the Stem Cell Transplant Programme at St George’s Hospital and Medical School, London, UK.  He is also the Medical Director of the Cell Therapy Facility at Health Sciences Authority in Singapore.

Dr. Mickey Koh is enthused about chairing this Working Party and the enormous opportunities available for defining this area of therapeutic and investigational medicine within ISBT.  His firmly believes that cellular therapy forms part of the continuum and spectrum in transfusion medicine.  He says “Cellular therapy shares with blood transfusion the emphasis on safe donor selection, stringent processing, staff training as well as the complexities involved in monitoring the clinical safety and efficacy of an infused product. The plethora of clinical trials in cancer, cardiac and neurological diseases provide ample scope for defining the terms of reference for the WP.”  He is keen to attract enthusiastic participation from interested parties including technical staff, researchers and clinicians. 

A meeting of this Working Party will be held at the ISBT International Congress in Cancún.  Individuals can email Mickey Koh indicating their expression of interest at mickey.koh@stgeorges.nhs.uk or mickey_koh@hsa.gov.sg.