MEET THE SPEAKERS

​for World Cord Blood Day 2023

Speakers in alphabetical order.

Colleen Delaney, MD - Fred Hutch Cancer Center and Deverra Therapeutics  

Dr. Colleen Delaney is a trained oncologist and stem cell transplant physician scientist who brings more than 20 years of experience in the translation of scientific discovery to clinical practice, including all aspects of cell therapy product development, from initial discovery research to pre-clinical/IND-enabling studies, manufacturing, IND sponsor, global regulatory experience, and clinical trial design. She has served on a number of cell and gene therapy focused federal advisory committees and as a Director on a number of non-profit associations. She is currently Vice President of the Cord Blood Association and was the founding director of the Fred Hutch’s Cord Blood Program. 

Dr. Delaney is also a Clinical Professor at the University of Washington, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, and is an Affiliate and former Professor at the Fred Hutch, where she also held the Madeline Dabney Adams Endowed Chair in AML research. 

Dr. Delaney received her MSc from Oxford University and her MD from Harvard Medical School.

Diana L. Farmer, MD - University of California at Davis, Department of Surgery 

Dr. Diana L. Farmer, an internationally renowned fetal and neonatal surgeon, is Distinguished Professor, Pearl Stamps Stewart Endowed Chair, and Chairperson of the Department of Surgery, University of California, Davis. She is also Chief of Pediatric Surgery at Shriner's Hospitals - Northern California, and Founder and Co-director of the Center for Surgical Bioengineering.
 
Dr. Farmer's lab focuses on regenerative medicine, specifically in utero cell therapy for myelomeningocele (MMC), the most severe form of spina bifida. In 2000, Dr. Farmer's team made the seminal discovery that hindbrain herniation could be ameliorated by prenatal surgical repair in fetal sheep. This breakthrough led to the $22 million-dollar, multi-center Management of Myelomeningocele Study (MOMS), a randomized human clinical trial of MMC closure before and after birth. The trial showed conclusively that fetal surgery resulted in better outcomes. Dr. Farmer is now developing an allogeneic placental mesenchymal stem cell product to further treat in utero spina bifida. Her lab received Investigational New Drug (IND) approval with the Food and Drug Administration in 2020. Patient enrollment in the CuRe (Cellular Therapy for in Utero Repair of MMC) clinical trial is currently underway. 
 
Dr. Farmer has been honored with numerous awards throughout her career, including being a Luce Scholar, a recipient of Wellesley College's Alumnae Achievement Award, a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, past President of the American Pediatric Surgical Association, and past Chair of the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Farmer has long been a leader in global surgery and in 2016 she founded the Global Initiative for Children's Surgery, subsequently receiving the 2020 Universitas 21 Award for Contribution to Internationalization in Surgical Education. She is a Regent of the American College of Surgeons and the 2022 President of the American Surgical Association.

Megan Finch-Edmondson, PhD - Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Institute

​Dr. Megan Finch-Edmondson received her PhD from the University of Western Australia for her work on signalling pathways and their contribution to stem cell biology and cancer. Her role is to significantly build capacity for stem cell research for cerebral palsy in Australia, particularly in clinical trials, through identifying and securing funding for stem cell research, facilitating collaboration between researchers, both nationally and internationally, championing consumer engagement activities for the stem cell research program, and identifying novel research directions in the field of stem cell therapy for cerebral palsy.

Dr. Finch-Edmondson is also a leading team member on the PremStem project which is €9M research project funded by the European Union’s prestigious Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. This group of researchers, from 8 different countries, are working together to develop a new regenerative stem cell therapy to repair the brain damage caused by premature birth. 
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Azucena Garcia - Cord Blood Transplant Recipient (Breast Cancer & MDS Survivor)

​Azucena Garcia is a 2-time cancer survivor and a double cord blood transplant recipient. We are grateful to Azucena for sharing her story and explaining how she went from an ordinary day coaching sports at school to fighting and beating cancer thanks to cord blood – something she didn’t even know was possible.  It is vitally important to meet people like Azucena in order to put a face and name to the importance of cord blood preservation and utilization. She is living proof of the power of cord blood stem cells.
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Joanne Kurtzberg, MD - Duke University, Marcus Center for Cellular Cures (MC3), Carolinas Cord Blood Bank
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​Dr. Kurtzberg is an internationally renowned expert in pediatric hematology/oncology, pediatric blood and marrow transplantation, umbilical cord blood banking and transplantation, and novel applications of cord blood and birthing tissues in the emerging fields of cellular therapies and regenerative medicine.   Dr. Kurtzberg serves as the Director of the Marcus Center for Cellular Cures (MC3), Director of the Pediatric Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program, Director of the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank, and Co-Director of the Stem Cell Transplant Laboratory at Duke University.  The Carolinas Cord Blood Bank is an FDA licensed public cord blood bank distributing unrelated cord blood units for donors for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) through the CW Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program.  The Robertson GMP Cell Manufacturing Laboratory supports manufacturing of RETHYMIC (BLA, Enzyvant, 2021), allogeneic cord tissue derived and bone marrow derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), and DUOC, a microglial/macrophage cell derived from cord blood.

Dr. Kurtzberg’s research in MC3 focuses on translational studies from bench to bedside, seeking to develop transformative clinical therapies using cells, tissues, molecules, genes, and biomaterials to treat diseases and injuries that currently lack effective treatments. Recent areas of investigation in MC3 include clinical trials investigating the safety and efficacy of autologous and allogeneic cord blood in children with neonatal brain injury – hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), cerebral palsy (CP), and autism. Clinical trials testing allogeneic cord blood are also being conducted in adults with acute ischemic stroke. Clinical trials optimizing manufacturing and testing the safety and efficacy of cord tissue MSCs in children with autism, CP and HIE and adults with COVID-lung disease are underway. DUOC, given intrathecally, is under study in children with leukodystrophies and adults with primary progressive multiple sclerosis.

In the past, Dr. Kurtzberg has developed novel chemotherapeutic drugs for acute leukemias, assays enumerating ALDH bright cells to predict cord blood unit potency, methods of cord blood expansion, potency assays for targeted cell and tissue based therapies. Dr. Kurtzberg currently holds several INDs for investigational clinical trials from the FDA.  She has also trained numerous medical students, residents, clinical and post-doctoral fellows over the course of her career.

Amanda L. Olson, MD - MD Anderson Cancer Center

​Dr. Olson completed Hematology and Oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in 2013 where her research focus was related to optimization of umbilical cord blood transplantation and infectious complications following hematopoietic stem cell transplant in adults. 

She currently is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Department of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy where she oversees clinical research related to cord blood transplantation, mesenchymal stem cell manipulation and cellular therapy. 

Dr. Olson is the Principal Investigator for several cellular therapy trials including a Phase I trial of mesenchymal stem cells transfected with plasmid containing interferon beta for the treatment of refractory epithelial ovarian cancer, an international, multi-institutional, Phase III study evaluating the use of cord blood derived mesenchymal stem cell expansion to expedite hematopoietic engraftment following stem cell transplantation, a Phase I trial of IV mesenchymal stem cells for the use of cardiac regeneration following chemotherapy-induced cardiomyopathy and a Phase II trial of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes in the treatment of BK and JC virus. Dr. Olson has institutional funding and extramural grant support.
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Madison Paton, PhD - Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Institute

​Dr. Madison Paton is a Research Fellow at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Institute. She received her PhD in 2018 investigating stem cell therapies to protect the developing brain. She has been working in the field of cell therapies and cerebral palsy for more than 7 years and has transitioned from working in the lab, to helping develop clinical trials that drive the research pipeline. Dr. Paton’s early work focussed on stem cells collected from the placenta and how we can best protect from brain injury occurring during pregnancy or around the time of birth. She now is interested in applying these therapies to treat babies and children with a risk of brain injury or cerebral palsy. Dr Paton is passionate about science communication, engaging with consumers, and sharing the best available evidence on stem cells. 

In addition, Dr. Paton was recently awarded the White Coats Foundation ‘Power of One’ Grant. A key goal of Dr Paton’s work is to fast-track clinical trials of stem cell treatments to ensure they are a safe and effective treatment. Another major consideration of Dr Paton’s research is engaging families and parents of children with cerebral palsy – the White Coats grant supports the involvement of a Parent Investigator to work within a large team of experts to help establish acceptable and meaningful clinical research.

Host of World Cord Blood Day Official Virtual Conference

Charis Ober - Save the Cord Foundation

​Charis Ober is the Founder and Executive Director of Save The Cord Foundation ( www.SaveTheCordFoundation.org ), a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity.  She is a global advocate for umbilical cord blood education, awareness, research and legislation.  Mrs. Ober is a graduate of the University of Arizona and has more than 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical and biotech sales, marketing and product development.  After working for many years in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, Charis and her friend, Anne Sarabia, future founders of Save the Cord Foundation, were were invited to tour a cord blood bank in Tucson, Arizona. It was life changing. During their tour, these career women and mothers met two extraordinary children who had received life-saving cord blood transplants. One child had won a battle against leukemia and the other beat sickle cell anemia, both thanks to cord blood. It was then that they decided that no more cord blood should go to waste. They decided to focus their efforts on establishing the Foundation, as an independent 501c3 non-profit, whose mission was to advance cord blood education across the globe. Today, the Foundation is led by Charis with invaluable support from a talented team of volunteers and interns.