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Dr. Shin Mineishi, left, of Penn State Cancer Institute, examines Doug Harris, a stem cell transplant patient, while his wife, Lisa, looks on. PHOTO PROVIDED BY PENN STATE CANCER INSTITUTE
Penn State Cancer Institute achieves international reaccreditation
Penn State Cancer Institute in Hershey has again earned international reaccreditation for stem cell transplantation.
The reaccreditation came from the international Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT). According to a release, accreditation is required to perform stem cell transplants and remain part of the international network of donors that patients depend on for potentially lifesaving procedures for blood cancers and blood diseases. The accreditation has been upheld by the Cancer Institute since 2000.
“With each reaccreditation, our stem cell therapy program continually raises the bar on safety, innovation and patient care,” Dr. Shin Mineishi, medical oncologist and director of the bone marrow transplantation and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy programs at the Cancer Institute, said in a statement. “By meeting the most rigorous standards in every aspect of stem cell therapy, we also were recognized in the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research’s Final 2024 Transplant Center-Specific Survival Report for performing above expectations in transplant outcomes. We are one of only 12 programs out of 172 in the nation and the only program in Pennsylvania to achieve this honor.”
Organizations seek and maintain FACT accreditation through a process that includes peer-reviewed, on-site inspections, to ensure their clinical programs and personnel maintain the highest standards of care, per the release.
“We are giving hope to patients and families by creating programs like gene therapy for sickle cell disease, expanding our adult cellular therapies and leading clinical trials on CAR T for lupus,” said Dr. Kevin Rakszawki, medical director of the Cancer Institute. “We are excited by the many promising advances on the horizon.”
Since 1996, Penn State Cancer Institute has performed more than 3,400 stem cell transplants and each year provides approximately 200 lifesaving stem cell transplants.
