Clinical training

As a Cellular Therapy fellow, you work in laboratories accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) and AABB, which support one of the largest hematopoietic transplant programs in the country. You also work in an investigational lab, which has supported two dozen investigational new drug (IND) applications using various cell therapies.

The fellowship covers:

• Regulatory and accreditation training
• Laboratory management and leadership series
• Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) fundamentals
• Quality system essentials
• Facilities planning and management for current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP)
• Trial planning and analysis
• Isolation and manufacturing of various cell types
  • Hematopoietic stem cells
  • Mesenchymal stromal cells
  • Dendritic cells
  • Chimeric antigen receptor T cells
• Avenues to funding

Rotation schedule

During the fellowship, you participate in operations of the Division of Transfusion Medicine related to cellular therapy.

Your first month of training (core month) provides a general introduction to cellular therapy. During the remaining 11 months, you receive more in-depth training in the following areas:

Research training

Mayo Clinic offers a multitude of opportunities for research projects in many areas. Numerous research projects take place in the:

• Tissue Typing Lab
• Human Cellular Therapy Lab
• Immune, Progenitor, and Cell Therapeutics Group
• Therapeutic Apheresis Treatment Unit

We also collaborate with large, active clinical groups in the various transplant programs. Core laboratories reside in the same building as the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, providing access to such techniques as microdissection, fluorescence in-situ hybridization, and flow cytometry.

We expect you to have at least one peer-reviewed publication and one national presentation resulting from the work completed during your fellowship.

Didactic training

During the core month of training, transfusion medicine staff consultants and laboratory scientists deliver a series of didactic lectures. These lectures provide you with basic core knowledge in cellular therapy. Additional didactic lectures are provided during the in-depth rotations.

Throughout the year, you attend the Leadership and Management course offered by the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. This unique, interactive series of seminars helps you develop critical leadership and management skills that are often neglected in pathology residency training programs.

Invited speakers and in-house experts hold multiple all-day seminars on topics such as:

• Managing change
• Negotiation and conflict management
• Principles of motivation
• Leadership and management basics
• Quality school
• Informatics
• Health care finance

The seminar series culminates in capstone seminars that include team projects presented by the participants.

Conferences

A wide range of conferences is available to you. Topics include laboratory management, project management, journal club, and clinical practices. We expect you to periodically present at these conferences.

Teaching opportunities

The Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology is committed to the education and training of its entire staff and all trainees. During the fellowship, you assist in the training of pathology residents and deliver formal lectures to co-workers, allied health professionals, and students rotating through the division.

Evaluation

To ensure you acquire adequate knowledge and develop the appropriate technical skills to meet program expectations, we carefully monitor your performance during the Cellular Therapy Fellowship. You are formally evaluated by supervising faculty members on a regular basis and will meet with the program director to review these evaluations. In addition, you regularly evaluate the faculty to confirm that your educational needs are being met.