Best Practices in Processing and Storage for Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

Joseph (Yossi) Schwartz, MD, MPH, is a Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology at the College of Physician and Surgeons of Columbia University and Director of the Transfusion Medicine & Cellular Therapy Service at the Columbia University Medical Center campus of the New York Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Schwartz received his medical degree from the Technion – Israel institute of Technology. He trained in Internal Medicine (Morristown Memorial Hospital, Morristown, New Jersey)), Hematology (Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel), and Transfusion medicine/ Blood banking (New York Blood Center, New York, New York). As the Director of the Transfusion Medicine & Cellular Therapy Service, Dr. Schwartz oversees the Blood Bank, The Apheresis unit and the Cell Therapy facility. As a major transplantation center, those facilities collect, receive & process Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells for transplantation as well as other cellular therapy products . Those facilities also participate in many novel investigations in the Cellular Therapy field involving processing of different Cellular Therapy products for different patients population such as mesenchymal stem cells. In addition, Dr. Schwartz is an international expert of Cellular Therapy & Cord Blood standards.

Beth Shaz, MD,  is Chief Medical and Scientific Officer, Senior Vice President at New York Blood Center, and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Shaz received her medical degree with research distinction from the University of Michigan and Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering with distinction from Cornell University. She did a general surgery internship at Georgetown University, an anatomic & clinical pathology residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a transfusion medicine fellowship in the Joint Program in Transfusion Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is responsible for all medical activities, including hemophilia services, transfusion services, cellular therapy laboratory, perioperative autologous transfusion, and therapeutic apheresis. She is leading Comprehensive Cell Solutions, which is focused on developing, improving, and implementing transfusion medicine, regenerative medicine, and cellular therapies.