Michael Swain works at the Alfred Hospital as the Head Scientist of the Cellular Therapy Unit within the Malignant Haematology, Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Services. The Cellular Therapy Unit process autologous and allogenic haematopoietic stem cells for cryopreservation and infusion, as well as export fresh and cryopreserved products as an ABMDR accredited collection centre to transplant centres in Australia and around the world. The service is also one of the nationally approved commercial CAR-T programs in Australia. Prior to working at the Alfred Michael was the Scientist in Charge of The Cell Therapy and Flow Cytometry Laboratory at The Royal Children’s Hospital having previously working in Haematology and Blood Banks in Pathology Laboratories in a number of major Melbourne and overseas hospitals. Michael completed a Bachelor of Applied Science in Medical Laboratory Science majoring in Haematology and Immunohaematologoy at RMIT in 1983 and was admitted as a Fellow of The Australian Institute of Medical and Clinical Scientists in 1994. Michael enjoys encouraging scientists to reach their full potential and embrace the changing field of cellular therapy.

Joanna gained her PhD at the University of Cambridge following research on biomarkers of embryonic stem cells. Her career spans two decades managing the various aspects of translational research in cell therapies, from technology commercialisation to GMP process development and quality assurance.

Janu Davawala works at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (PMCC) as the CAR-T Cell logistics Project Manager. In her current role, Janu looks after the implementation, onboarding, and ongoing management of CAR-T/Cellular therapy clinical trials and Standard of Care at PMCC. Prior to working in this role, Janu worked as a Medical Scientist in the Cryopreservation Laboratory at PMCC and as Assistant Production Manager at Cord Blood Bank at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Janu is passionate about onboarding new potential therapies for patients and coordinating and streamlining workflows for efficient project deliveries.