ASTCT Special Interest Groups

ASTCT’s members-only special interest groups (SIGs) provide an exclusive opportunity to get more deeply involved and actively engaged in your area of expertise by communicating with peers, learning best practices, educating the broader BMT community and advocating on issues of concern.

Get Involved!

Volunteering is one of the best ways to get the most out of your ASTCT membership - you'll connect with fellow members and gain valuable leadership experience all while making a difference in our organization and industry. Learn more about the opportunities available on our Committees and SIG Steering Committees and submit your application today to become a volunteer leader for ASTCT.

Administrative Directors SIG

The Administrative Directors Special Interest Group offers administrators at blood and marrow transplant centers a national forum where they can exchange ideas and information, benchmarking and disseminating data about best practices within the field of blood and marrow transplantation.

SIG Steering Committee

Mylove Mortel, BS, BSN, MS - Chair
Mark Duckworth, BS - Vice Chair 
Amy Emmert, MScPH
Michelle Kosik, MBA-HM, BSN, RN, OCN
Robin LaRocca, RN, BSN
Robert Richards, BS, MS, MBA 

Julie Porter, BS

About the SIG

Members have the opportunity to be involved in working groups that provide recommendations on national issues related to BMT program administration, as well as to participate on a conference planning committee or other task forces. Members can use the Administrative Directors discussion forum to seek input from colleagues regarding BMT program questions or practices.

ASTCT Staff Liaison - Liz Stockton

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Advanced Practice Provider SIG

The Advanced Practice Provider Special Interest Group (NP/PA-SIG) provides a forum for APPs to exchange ideas and information while promoting their role in the BMT/cellular therapies field. The SIG hopes to focus on education, jobs, networking and other opportunities as it continues to grow and expand its presence in ASTCT, and we want to use our website as a tool for communication and education.

SIG Steering Committee

Misty Evans, DNP, APRN, CPNP-AC - Chair
Nancy Shreve, APN, FNP-BC - Vice Chair
Kathryn Ciccolini, DNP, AGACNP-BC, OCN
Chelsea Honstain, MS, FNP-C, BMTCN, CPHON
Rita Jakubowski, DNP, MSN, RN OCN-ANP-BC, BMTCN
Darren Johnson, PA-C
Kadee Raser, PA-C
Sasha Skendzel, DNP, MSN, APRN, ACRP-CP, AGACNP-BC

About the SIG

Our SIG enables APPs to become more involved and have a voice in ASTCT. We are defining new ways to support APPs in the BMT field and are embarking on new projects to increase their knowledge and resources. Our website offers networking, education, practice and research opportunities. During the annual BMT Tandem Meetings we have our own clinical education conference — sponsored by the ASTCT Education Committee — devoted to NPs, PAs and fellows. It is a great opportunity to learn from BMT experts and obtain practical clinical information that helps us care for our transplant patients. Steering Committee members are reaching out to you and encouraging all current BMT APPs to join the SIG. We must unite to achieve great things in the years to come for our BMT practice.

ASTCT Staff Liaison - Anna Hawkshead

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Aging SIG

The Aging Special Interest Group is a national and international forum for exchange of ideas, collaborative research development, and educational initiatives on the care and resiliency of older adults undergoing transplantation and cellular therapy (TCT) treatments. Their mission is to achieve the optimal outcomes for TCT among older adults through better patient care and advancing age-related research.

ASTCT Staff Liaison - Liz Stockton

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Biobehavioral Research SIG

The Biobehavioral Research SIG intent is to improve TCT patient quality of life and clinical outcomes by advancing science that effectively integrates behavioral (including psychological and social/environmental factors) and biological processes. The SIG believes this will be achieved through a better understanding of the intersecting behavioral and biological mechanisms that underlie symptom, social and psychological health. Examples of such research include, but are not limited to, the application of this principle to the cross-directional effects on health behaviors, insomnia, fatigue, sexual dysfunction, depression, anxiety, isolation, fear of recurrence, social health disparities, and gene by environment interactions.

SIG Steering Committee

Debra Lynch Kelly, PhD, RN, OCN - Chair
Erin Costanzo, PhD - Vice Chair
Linda Burns, MD
Shahrukh Hashmi, MBBS, MPH
Heather Jim, PhD
Effie Petersdorf, MD
Bronwen Shaw, MD, PhD
Bill Wood, MD

About the SIG

The Biobehavioral Research Special Interest Group (SIG) provides a national and international forum for the exchange of ideas, research agenda setting, collaborative research development, and educational initiatives on the interaction of behavior, psychology, social/environmental factors, and biological processes (summarized as ‘biobehavioral’) throughout the hematopoietic cell transplantation and cellular therapies (TCT) process.

ASTCT Staff Liaison - Olivia Gunn

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Cord Blood SIG

The Cord Blood Special Interest Group (CB-SIG) will provide a national and international forum to promote the use of cord blood for the transplantation of patients with diseases of the blood and bone marrow. The CB SIG will also support the development of CB-derived cellular therapies and regenerative medicine applications.

SIG Steering Committee

Leland Metheny, MD - Chair
Rajneesh Nath, MD - Vice Chair

About the SIG

By joining the CB-SIG, members will contribute to specific cord blood initiatives, including: Interacting with CB banks, regulators and accrediting bodies to promote the optimal quality of CB products. Promoting optimal practices in the clinical conduct of CB transplantation for the treatment of diseases of the blood and bone marrow. Working with the CB banking and transplant communities to develop cost-saving approaches to optimal therapy. Promoting clinical, translational and laboratory CB research. Accelerating the investigation of CB-derived cellular therapies and regenerative medicine applications. Promoting CB banking and transplantation through interactions with the National Marrow Donor Program, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Food and Drug Administration and other government funding agencies, and the Cord Blood Association.

ASTCT Staff Liaison - Liz Stockton

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HCT Value and Health Economics SIG

The Special Interest Group for hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) value and health economics provides a national and international forum for the exchange of ideas, educational initiatives, research agenda setting, conducting collaborative research and dissemination on health economics and the value of HCT (e.g., costs and utilization of care, cost-effectiveness and – benefit analyses, patient-centered components of value and other health economic topics).

SIG Steering Committee

Andreas Klein, MD - Chair
Amy Emmert, MPH - Vice Chair
Andrés Gómez De León, MD
Samantha Jaglowski, MD
Amar Kelkar, MD, FACP
Shaji Kumar, MD
Joseph Lynch, MD
Amir Mian, MD, MBA
Gunjan Shah, MD

About the SIG

Membership to the SIG offers opportunities to become more involved with ASTCT and ground breaking work in the cell therapy field.

ASTCT Staff Liaison - Anthony Cisneros

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Nursing SIG

The Nursing Special Interest Group (N-SIG) offers blood and marrow transplant nurses a forum for education, the exchange of ideas, networking, the promotion of transplant nursing, and the dissemination of best practices within the field of blood and marrow transplantation

SIG Steering Committee

Erin Winters, RN, BSN, BMTCN - Chair
Ashley Rumsey, MSN, APRN, AGCNS-BC, OCN, BMTCN - Vice Chair
Ashur-Dee Brown, RN, MSN, CHTC, BMTCN - Immediate Past Chair
Meredith Caprio, BSN, RN, BMTCN

Jackie Foster, MPH, RN, OCN
Lisa Pinner, MSN, RN, CPON, BMTCN
Nancy Austin, RN-BSN, BMTCN
Allison Baus, MSN, RN, BMTCN, OCN
Misty Lamprecht, MS, APRN-CNS, AOCN, BMTCN
Brittany Leiker, BSN, RN, NEBC


About the SIG

The SIG offers opportunities to get involved in SIG projects, the steering committee, ASTCT committees and conference planning.

ASTCT Staff Liaison - Haedyn Smith

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Palliative and Supportive Care SIG

The Palliative and Supportive Care SIG was established to promote the delivery of high-quality patient and family-centered care that optimizes the quality of life of patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation. The delivery of such care is the product of research, education and clinical care management.

SIG Steering Committee

Areej El-Jawahri, MD - Chair
Christine Ullrich, MD, MPH - Vice Chair
Debra Kelly, PhD, RN, OCN
Richard Lin, MD, PhD

Mark Litzow, MD
Caroline Morrison, PhD, RN, CNL
Hemant Murthy, MD
Effie Petersdorf, MD
William Wood, MD, MPH

About the SIG

The Palliative and Supportive Care SIG recognizes that all patients under the care of a hematologist-oncologist benefit from discussions that support complex decision making and advance care planning, quality of life (QOL) and palliative care (PC) needs with each member of their medical team. The SIG will focus on attainable goals meeting the needs of transplant patients and their families. At the same time, the SIG recognizes that many of the PC concepts that are integral to the care of transplant patients are best addressed as early in the course of a patient’s medical care as possible, involve providers who care for these patients starting at the time of diagnosis, and continue long after the transplant procedure to support the long-term needs of transplant survivors. For this reason, the SIG has identified long-term goals and questions broader in nature than those raised in the hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) setting, but complementary to transplant-specific issues. It is the belief of the SIG that these long-term initiatives will ultimately help all patients who receive care for life-threatening hematologic/oncologic disorders. Furthermore, the SIG recognizes that the long-term goals may require continuous refinement as progress continues.

ASTCT Staff Liaison - Liz Stockton

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Pharmacy SIG

The ASTCT Pharmacy Special Interest Group (SIG) provides leadership for pharmacists within the society and facilitates pharmacist representation on society committees. Our mission is to represent pharmacist membership within ASTCT, provide a forum for pharmacists to network and share ideas, and move the HCT field forward.

ASTCT Staff Liaisons - Kyra Newman and Haedyn Smith

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Social Work SIG

The Social Work SIG formed in order to further integrate social work into the multidisciplinary HCT team and provide an avenue for collaboration and the advancement of psychosocial health research. Our hope is to create an environment that will assist transplant/cell therapy social workers to grow their professional skills within our social work organization and our interdisciplinary collaborations within ASTCT to further the clinical use and position of social work with this very unique patient population.

Katie Schoeppner, MSW - SIG Steering Committee Chair

ASTCT Staff Liaison - Kyra Newman

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Survivorship SIG

The Special Interest Group for hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) survivorship provides a national and international forum for the exchange of ideas, educational initiatives, research agenda setting, conducting collaborative research and dissemination on issues of importance surrounding survivorship in HCT.

SIG Steering Committee

Christine Duncan, MD - Chair
Catherine Lee, MD - Vice Chair
Ibrahim Ahmed, MD
Nausheen Ahmed, MD
Scott Baker, MD, MS
Neel Bhatt, MD
Darren Johnson, PA-C
Annie Im, MD
Robert Lisac
Debra Kelly, PhD, RN, OCN
Anthony Sung, MD

ASTCT Staff Liaison - Anna Hawkshead

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Transplant Infectious Diseases SIG

Candidates who join the TID-SIG have greater visibility within ASTCT, promoting collaboration between physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other related specialties that have an interest in infectious diseases and HCT. This SIG provides a forum for discussion of transplant infectious disease-related issues in the context of HCT and encourages research collaboration in this area. In addition, members have opportunities to be involved in the annual meeting through plenary sessions, oral abstract sessions, and poster presentations, and to serve on different ASTCT committees.

SIG Steering Committee

Sanjeet Singh Dadwal, MD – Chair
Zainab Shahid, MD - Vice Chair
Genofeva (Zenia) Papanicolaou, MD, FIDSA – Past Chair
Michael Boeckh, MD, PhD – Ex-Officio
Roy F. Chemaly, MD, MPH – Ex-Officio
Jose F. Camargo, MD
Zeinab El Boghdadly, MD
Fareed Khawaja, MD
Randy Taplitz, MD
Alpana Waghmare, MD

ASTCT Staff Liaison - Angie Dahl

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Women and URM SIG

The overarching mandate of the Women and URM SIG will be to increase the number of women and other under-represented minorities in the field of stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy/immunotherapy.

ASTCT Staff Liaison - Olivia Gunn

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