Cellular Therapies

Mickey Koh

ISBT Regional Director Europe, Cellular Therapies Working Party Past Chair, Clinical Director, Haematology, Renal and Oncology, St George’s University Hospital, London, UK

Regional Director Europe (2024 - 2028)

Professor Mickey Boon Chai Koh received his medical degree at the National University of Singapore followed by all of his subsequent specialist Haematology training (FRCPath, MRCP and PhD) in London.

He holds several joint positions.  Prof Koh is the Clinical Director of the Haematology, Renal and Oncology Departments at St George’s University Hospital, London, UK and part of Infection and Immunity Academic Group at St George’s Medical School. 

He has in the past also had the concurrent appointment of Deputy Director of the National Blood Service in Singapore.

Professor Mickey Koh has been appointed as part of the Expert Advisory Panel at the World Health Organisation (WHO) and sits on the Expert Committee on Biological Standardisation.

He is the current President of the Worldwide Network for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (WBMT), sits on the Board of Directors for ICCBBA  and is a past Board member of the International Society of Cellular Therapy (ISCT). 

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Thierry Burnouf

Cellular Therapies Treasurer, Vice-Dean, Taipei Medical University, Taiwan

Thierry Burnouf, PhD, is Vice-Dean, Professor, and Director of the International PhD Program in Biomedical Engineering at Taipei Medical University, Taiwan. He previously served as Director of Research and Development and Production at the Regional Blood Transfusion Center in Lille, France, and as Scientific Director at LFB (Laboratoire Français du Fractionnement et des Biotechnologies).

He has played a key role in the development and industrial implementation of plasma fractionation technologies and viral inactivation and removal procedures, supporting both domestic and contract plasma fractionation programs worldwide. Dr Burnouf has acted as a WHO consultant and temporary advisor, contributing to major international guidelines on viral safety, GMP in blood establishments, and plasma fractionation.

He is a member of ISBT Working Parties on Cellular Therapies and Global Blood Safety and has authored over 230 scientific publications. His current research focuses on bioengineering virally-safe platelet growth factor preparations and extracellular vesicles for regenerative medicine and cell therapy.

 

Thierry Burnouf received the ISBT Presidential Award in 2024.

 

Denese Marks

ISBT BC WP Chair, Associate Professor, University of Sydney, Australia; Australian Red Cross LifeBlood Service

Regional Director Western Pacific (2020-2024)

Denese Marks earned her PhD at the University of Technology, Sydney, followed by post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Vienna, the University of Melbourne and the Institute of Child Health at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, as well as working in the biotechnology industry. Denese is the National Leader for Product Development at Australian Red Cross LifeBlood, where her research focuses on developing new blood products to meet patient needs, improving blood component processing and storage, platelet and red cell cryopreservation, pathogen inactivation and clinical trials of blood products. She is also an adjunct Associate Professor with the University of Sydney School of Medicine. Denese is a Section Editor for Vox Sanguinis, a scientific member of the Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST) Collaborative and a member of the Executive Committee for the ISBT Cellular Therapies Working Party.

Joseph Yossi Schwartz

Senior Medical Officer, Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular therapy (FACT), New Jersey, USA

Dr. Schwartz earned his MD from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and his MPH from Columbia University. He completed training in Internal Medicine, Hematology, research, and Transfusion Medicine at leading institutions in Israel and the United States, including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Columbia University, and the New York Blood Center. He has dedicated his career to advancing excellence in Transfusion Medicine, Apheresis, and Cellular Therapy and has held senior academic and clinical leadership roles at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Moffitt Cancer Center. He currently serves as Medical Director of Transfusion Medicine & Blood Bank at Moffitt and Senior Medical Officer at FACT.

Dr. Schwartz has been deeply involved in professional organizations including AABB, CAP, ISCT, and WBMT. He is Past President of the American Society for Apheresis (2018–2019) and currently serves as President of the World Apheresis Association. He has contributed extensively to the development of evidence-based therapeutic apheresis guidelines and international standards for cellular therapy through ASFA and FACT-JACIE. His contributions have been recognized with multiple prestigious awards, including the AABB Hemphill Jordan Leadership Award and ASFA Presidential Award.

Hans Vrielink

Apheresis Subgroup Chair, Transfusion Medicine and Apheresis specialist, Retired from Sanquin Blood Supply Foundation, Immediate past president World Apheresis Association, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Dr. Vrielink (1958) was educated at the University of Amsterdam in Medicine and wrote his PhD thesis (1996) on the ‘Laboratory diagnosis of viruses transmitted by blood transfusion’. From 1985 until his retirement in May 2025 Hans Vrielink worked 40 years as transfusion and apheresis medicine specialist at Sanquin Blood Supply Foundation, the national blood transfusion service in the Netherlands. He has published many articles and chapters in internationally recognized journals and books. Hans Vrielink is initiator of (inter)national courses in the field of apheresis for physicians and nurses and trained since 2013 almost 1,000 apheresis nurses and physicians. 

Since his retirement, Hans Vrielink serves as consultant in Transfusion and Apheresis Medicine and blood banking. He is involved in mentoring, training and advising individuals, organisations and governments in low and middle income countries in blood banking, transfusion medicine and apheresis all over the world.

Hans Vrielink is international JACIE / FACT inspector. Hans Vrielink is involved in many international associations, for instance as past- president of the World Apheresis Association and of the European Society for Hemapheresis, and active in various ISBT working parties.