Center Logistics for CAR T Programs: Challenges and Opportunities

This webinar aired live on October 28, 2021, as the fifth installment of the CAR T Webinar Series from ASTCT. This webinar featured presentations from Dr. Renato Cunha, Dr. Katie Gatwood, and Dr. Zahra Mahmoudjafari highlighting the key areas of logistics for operating CAR T programs, including reimbursement structure, inpatient vs. outpatient settings, programs in developing countries, data management, and clinical trials. There was also a robust panel discussion on these topics moderated by Dr. Antonio Macedo.

Speakers:

Dr. Katie Gatwood is a board-certified oncology pharmacist practicing as a Clinical Pharmacist Specialist in Adult Stem Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN. She is passionate about clinical research and education, and has authored several publications and textbook chapters related to management of cellular therapy patients, including chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy. She is an active member of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT) and was the recipient of the 2021 ASTCT Pharmacy SIG New Practitioner Award.

Dr. Zahra Mahmoudjafari is a board certified oncology pharmacist. She earned her doctorate of pharmacy at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and completed her pharmacy practice residency at The Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio and her oncology specialty residency the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah. She currently works as a Clinical Pharmacy Manager for Hematology/Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapeutics at the University of Kansas Health System. She also currently serves as the residency program director for the PGY2 Oncology residency program. She maintains active organizational involvement with the Hematology Oncology Pharmacists Association (HOPA), Advanced Topics for Oncology Pharmacy Professionals (ATOPP) as well as the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapeutics (ASTCT) where she had served as chair of the Pharmacy Special Interest Group and participates in committees such as the Practice Guidelines Committee, Government Relations Committee and Content Committee.

Dr. Renato Cunha graduated in Medicine from the Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University of Uberlândia, and was a Clinical Fellow in Hematology (2009), and Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cell Therapy (2010) at the Clinical Hospital of Ribeirão Preto Medical School of University of São Paulo. Postdoctoral Fellowship in Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cell Therapy at the National Cancer Institute (ETIBNCI/NHI) in Bethesda, USA (2015-2018). Member of the Brazilian Society of Bone Marrow Transplant, the American College Physician, the American Society of Hematology, and the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. Currently, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Head of the Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cell Therapy Unit at the Clinical Hospital of Ribeirão Preto Medical School of the University of São Paulo (BMTU-HCFMRPUSP). In 2018 was awarded the ASH Global Research Award and in 2019, performed the first car t-cell treatment in Latin America in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. In 2021, coordinate the first Brazilian Consensus of Advanced Cellular Therapy of the Brazilian Association of Hematology, Hemotherapy and Cellular Therapy.

Thank you to Janssen Oncology and Legend Biotech for their generous support of this webinar series.