FACT Announces New Accreditations;
Accredited Facilities Now Total 155

Three new blood and marrow transplant programs earned accreditation and 10 additional facilities received accreditation renewal during the second half of 2007, according to the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT).

FACT is a non-profit voluntary foundation for standard-setting, self-assessment, inspection and accreditation in all phases of hematopoietic collection, processing and transplantation.  It is jointly sponsored by ASBMT and the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT).

The accreditation actions were:

NEW ACCREDITATIONS

Allogeneic and autologous marrow and peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation, including collection and laboratory processing:

·         Cook Children's Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program, Fort Worth, Texas
Program Director: Gretchen Earnes, MD, MPH

Allogeneic and autologous peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation, including collection and laboratory processing:

·          University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Hospital Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, Miami, Fla.
Program Director:  Mark Goodman, MD

Autologous marrow and peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation, including collection and laboratory processing:

·         St. Joseph Hospital HPCT Program, Orange, Calif.
Program Director:  Winston Ho, MD

ACCREDITATION RENEWALS

Allogeneic and autologous marrow and peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation, including collection and laboratory processing:

·         Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program of Mayo Clinic, Nemours Children's Clinic, and Wolfson Children's Hospital, Chicago, Ill.
Program Director: Michael Joyce, MD, PhD

·         The Cleveland Clinic Bone Marrow Transplant Program, Cleveland, Ohio
Program Director: Brian Bolwell, MD

·         The Thomas Hazen Thorne Blood and Bone Marrow Transplant Program at Rush University, Chicago, Ill.
Program Director : Henry Fung, MD

·         University of Chicago Stem Cell Transplant Program, Chicago, Ill.
Program Director: Koen van Besien, MD

·         Zalmen A. Arlin Cancer Institute at Westchester Medical Center, Hawthorne, N.Y.
Program Director: Tauseef Ahmed, MD

Autologous marrow and peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation, including collection and laboratory processing:

·         The Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program of Saint Francis Hospital, Tulsa, Okla.
Program Director: Joseph Lynch, MD

Autologous peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation, including collection and laboratory processing:

·         Baptist Centers for Cancer Care Stem Cell Transplant Program, Memphis, Tenn.
Program Director: Lee Schwartzberg, MD

·         The Blood and Marrow Transplant Program of the Cancer Centers of the Carolinas/Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, Greenville, S.C.
Program Director: Gary Spitzer, MD

Marrow and peripheral blood progenitor cell laboratory processing:

·         Progenitor Cell Therapy, LLC, Hackensack, N.J.
Program Director: Robert Preti, MD

Peripheral blood progenitor cell laboratory processing:

·         Blood Connection, Piedmont, S.C.
Program Director: Gary Spitzer, MD

Currently there are 155 accredited blood and marrow transplant facilities, and 38 additional facilities are in various stages of application and inspection.   Fifteen cord blood banks have earned NetCord/FACT accreditation, and 40 additional banks in 16 countries have applied for accreditation.

For a complete list of accredited facilities and additional information about FACT accreditation, visit the FACT Web site.