Board Elections 2023 As an ANZTCT Member, your vote counts in our 2023 Board election. Four Directors are standing for re-election, with one new candidate contesting. Members will elect four Directors. You will find below the profiles of the five candidates below. The Board election will take place during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday, 7th September 2023. This years AGM will be held in-person as part of the inaugural scientific meeting. A/Prof Nada Hamad A/Prof Nada Hamad As president of Australia and New Zealand Transplant and Cellular Therapies (ANZTCT), A/Prof Hamad initiated and led its transformation with a new constitution, membership open to all TCT professions, registration as a charitable organisation with a board of directors and embedded policies and procedures. Nada drove the advocacy efforts during COVID: helped prioritise TCT patients for vaccination and boosters, co-chaired the committees formed with ABMDR to overcome rapidly closing borders and led position statements on vaccination, patient prioritisation and treatment. Nada believes that data is at the heart of quality and has been lobbying for ANZTCT registry and national FACT/JACIE accreditation funding. She has driven national and international stakeholder engagement conceiving and executing a CART national stakeholder meeting and fruitful memoranda of understanding (MOU) with ASTCT, EBMT, CTTC and soon APBMT as well as a UK/ANZ/Canada alliance. Nada secured an MOU with the ARROW BMT Foundation to ensure patient perspectives are part of all ANZTCT activities. This has resulted in fellow scholarships for registry projects. She believes in local education pathways for TCT professionals and convened the inaugural annual scientific meeting. She exemplifies gender equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in practice by tripling membership and balancing the board and ANZTCT activities with gender, geographic and discipline representation. She initiated the development of a nursing committee and several special interest groups (pharmacy, data mangers, quality mangers and TBI). A/Prof Nada Hamad is a senior staff specialist TCT, clinical and laboratory haematologist at St Vincent’s hospital in Sydney. She is immediate past Chair of the ACI NSW BMT network and ALLG TCT working group. She has a number of international leadership positions including WHO BMT quality taskforce, CIBMTR, EBMT, ASTCT and WBMT groups. She completed post-graduate fellowships in BMT and lymphoma at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Canada through the University of Toronto. She is a commited clinical trialist and has a specialist certificate in Clinical Research (Oncology) from the University of Melbourne and is a principal investigator in many key TCT trials. Her research interests are in malignant haematology, GVHD, TCT, equity of access and quality. She is an intersectional feminist and an international leader in EDI. She is the deputy chair of the medicine EDI committee at the University of NSW and a member of other similar influential committees. ANZTCT Vice President A/Prof Nada Hamad In his role as Vice President of the ANZTCT, Dr Purtill has supported the development of the new constitution and the redesign of the organisation and its processes and procedures. Duncan spearheaded the cryopreservation strategies during the COVID pandemic. He served on the joint committees between ANZTCT and ABMDR in response to COVID representing WA. On the ANZTCT board, Duncan is known for his wisdom and balance. He has built relationships with industry partners that have paved the way for numerous funding and scholarship opportunities for trainees, nursing and allied health staff. Duncan is great advocate for clinical quality in TCT and FACT/JACIE accreditation and has promoted this extensively in the ANZTCT. He has led and co-authored positions statements, advocacy and government letters. Duncan is a laboratory and clinical haematologist and medical director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Laboratory at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth. He obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Western Australia and completed most of his postgraduate training at Royal Perth Hospital. He has completed research and clinical fellowships in bone marrow transplantation, with a particular interest in cord blood transplantation, at Hôpital Saint Louis in Paris and at Memorial Sloan Kettering. He has been a key stakeholder in the introduction of CART therapy to Australia and Western Australia. Duncan has been a principle investigator on numerous allogeneic transplant clinical trials and is immediate past co-chair of the ALLG bone marrow transplant and cellular therapies group. He is the eviQ BMT ref committee chair and a member of the ABMDR scientific expert advisory committee. He is also an advocate for consumer representation and is a member of the Maddie Riewoldt Vision scientific advisory committee. ANZTCT Secretary A/Prof Ashish Bajel As Secretary of the ANZTCT A/Prof Bajel has focused on promoting and improving scientific research, improving access to transplant and cellular therapies (TCT), fostering collaboration between different craft groups to improve patient outcomes and mentoring of aspiring TCT clinicians. He has been a member of ANZCT for nearly a decade and was one of the founders of the redesign of the organisation and its policies and procedures. Ashish promotes transparency, communication and engagement with the TCT community. He was also instrumental in securing a memoranda of understanding and joint memberships between ANZTCT and the European Bone Marrow Transplantation Society (EBMT) and the American Society of Transplant and Cellular Therapies (ASTCT). Ashish brings balance to the ANZTCT board with his diverse perspectives, representation of Victoria and his clinical research expertise. He has co-authored positions statements, advocacy and government letters and formed excellent collaborations with industry partners. Ashish Bajel is a clinical haematologist and transplant / cellular therapy physician at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and The Royal Melbourne Hospital. He is the disease group co-lead for acute leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome at PMCC /RMH and associate professor at university of Melbourne. Ashish has established the haplo-identical transplant program at his institution and been PI on more than 30 industry and investigator sponsored trials. His clinical research is focused on improving outcomes of transplant and acute leukemia with novel therapies. He is an associate editor of the Journal Transplantation and has participated in international scientific advisory boards on leukemia. Ashish is a member of disease group committees in the Australasian Leukaemia and Lymphoma Group (ALLG) and CIBMTR. ANZTCT Treasurer Dr Jason Butler As Treasurer of the ANZTCT Jason has overseen the financial security of the society with increasing revenue from memberships and industry grants. He supported the development of the new constitution and the redesign of the organisation and its processes and procedures. On the board, Jason is known for his ability to bring the group together and is always engaged. He balances the board with his representation of QLD which is the largest transplant centre and first adult FACT/JACIE accredited centre and his expertise in CART therapy, Myeloma and Lymphoma. He is a strong patient advocate and centres patients in our discussions and decisions. He has been a strong supporter of the memorandum of understanding between ANZTCT and the patient organisation Arrow Bone Marrow Transplant Foundation. He has co-authored positions statements, advocacy and government letters and formed excellent collaborations with industry partners. Dr Butler is a senior staff specialist at the Bone Marrow transplant Unit, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, and Visiting Medical Officer with Icon Cancer Centre. He has dual training in clinical and laboratory haematology. He also completed a Masters in Medical Science (Clinical Epidemiology) to assist with development of investigator-initiator research studies. His major clinical interests are in lymphoma, and myeloma, as well as autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplantation, and cellular therapies. Dr Butler also undertakes other roles, including extensive educational support and clinical presentations for patients and health professionals, as a longstanding member of Haematology and BMT eviQ reference committees, and advocacy roles as a board member for Lymphoma Australia Nominee Dr John Kwan Dr John Kwan is a full time senior haematologist and transplant physician of the Westmead Hospital Blood Transplant & Cell Therapy service. He is the current Medical Director of Apheresis & co-Medical Director of the BTCT laboratory. Following fellowships at St Vincents Hospital and the Jules Bordet Institute, his main interests include clinical translation of alternative donor transplantation, immune reconstitution through post-transplant immunotherapies and long-term health outcomes following TCT. Dr Kwan is extensively involved in local health district, state and national governance and research organisations. He has previously been co-chair of the BTCT council through the Agency for Clinical Innovation, a steering committee member of the ABMTRR and member of the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood Ethics committee. He is principal and co-investigator on investigator-initiated, ALLG- and industry-sponsored multinational trials in transplantation and haematological malignancy. He is a University of Sydney Senior Clinical Lecturer and JSAC mentor and examiner. Nomination Statement With the exponential development of TCT, our community needs to be prepared for growth and change. I believe that I possess the necessary skills and experience to represent the ANZTCT community at all levels, consolidate growth and drive its future vision. My clinical and laboratory roles have afforded me broad experience into all aspects of our field. I understand the importance in fostering and developing personal, professional and industry relationships alongside academic research. My experience within local health district and statewide/national committees has given me unique insights and understanding into TCT’s relationship with government. I possess a strong commitment to a collaborative working environment vital to successful partnerships. I am passionate about developing trainee pathways for our next generation of TCT practitioners. I would be honored to serve the ANZTCT, ready to listen and engage with all sectors of our community with the ultimate goal of bringing best practice, improved treatments and better outcomes to our patients. Board positions The successful candidates will take office in 2024 and serve on the Board for three years. They will be part of a 10 member Board comprising of five member-elected Directors and five Board appointed Directors.