Please note: AABB reserves the right to make updates to this program.
Wednesday, September 29, 2027
2:00 – 3:00 PM Eastern Time
Program Number: 27EL-778
Director/Moderator: Thomas Zachary Thompson, MD, FCAP, CABP, Medical Director of the Human Cell Therapy Lab, Mayo Clinic – Florida, Jacksonville, FL
Speakers:
Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy targeting CD19 has revolutionized the landscape of cancer care, offering unprecedented response rates and durable remissions for patients with refractory B-cell malignancies. Building on this oncological success, clinical observations of rapid B-cell depletion and subsequent immune system "resets" have sparked a major paradigm shift toward treating non-malignant conditions. Today, an increasing number of clinical trials are actively exploring CAR-T cell therapy as an intervention for treatment-resistant autoimmune diseases. This emerging frontier spans a diverse range of medical specialties—including rheumatology, dermatology, neurology, and transplant medicine—offering the potential to transition patients from temporary disease management to long-term, drug-free remission.
Instructional methods will include, but may not be limited to, background discussion, use case demonstrations, case studies and question and answer at the conclusion of the eCast.
After participating in this educational activity, participants should be able to:
Registration includes access to both the live and on-demand version of this eCast.
If you are a facility interested in participating in this eCast, simply complete the Group Viewing registration form and AABB will provide detailed instructions to share with your team approximately one week prior to the live program (each team member to register for the program utilizing a promocode). For single viewers, simply click on the Register button below to register.
Please note: registration for the live eCast will close 1 hour prior to the eCast start time. If you register after this time, you will receive access to the on-demand eCast when it is available.
| Single Viewer | Register |
| Group Viewing | Register |
This activity is eligible for one (1.0) continuing education credit/contact hour for Physicians, California Nurses, California Lab Personnel, Florida Lab Personnel and General Participation credit. AABB reserves the right to reduce or increase the number of credits granted based on the final activity duration. For more information on each credit type please visit our Continuing Education Credits webpage.
There is no financial support for this activity.
In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies (AABB), which is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
Physicians (ACCME): AABB designates this live activity for a maximum of one (1.0) AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM. AABB designates this enduring activity for a maximum of one (1.0) AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Claiming Credit
Live Activity - Upon completion of the live activity, you will receive instructions to complete your evaluation, which is necessary to claim credit and receive your certificate of attendance/completion (credit must be claimed by the date provided in the instructions). The evaluation can be found by logging into the AABB Education Platform.
Enduring Activity - Once the enduring (on-demand) program is available, you will receive instructions to access the AABB Education Platform. Upon completion of viewing the enduring activity, you will need to complete the evaluation, which is necessary to claim credit and receive your certificate of completion (credit must be claimed by the date provided in the AABB Education Platform).
Program & Credit Expiration Dates:
Disclosure Declaration
It is the policy of the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies to ensure independence, balance, objectivity, and scientific rigor and integrity in all of its CE activities. Faculty must disclose to the participants any relationships with commercial companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. AABB has evaluated, identified, and mitigated any potential conflicts of interest through a rigorous content validation procedure, use of evidence-based data/research, and a multidisciplinary peer review process. The following information is for participant information only. It is not assumed that the presence of such relationships will have a negative impact on the presentations.
Disclosures for the planners of this event can be found here. Disclosures for the program faculty, peer reviewers, and AABB personnel are provided at the beginning of the program.
Ernesto Ayala, MD is a hematologist and oncologist in the Department of Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. He specializes in stem cell transplantation for the treatment of benign and malignant hematologic conditions and the treatment of lymphoma. He also applies new immunotherapies including CAR T-Cell Therapy for the treatment of advanced lymphoma, and has interest in the use of autologous transplantation for the treatment of severe autoimmune disorders such as scleroderma and multiple sclerosis. Dr. Ayala earned his Doctor of Medicine degree from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and completed his residency and Hematology/Oncology fellowship through the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital. Soon after, he completed his second fellowship in Bone Marrow Transplantation at Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, where he also spearheaded the Haploidentical Transplantation Program prior to joining Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Vikas Majithia joined the Division of Rheumatology at Mayo Clinic in Florida as the Division Chair of Rheumatology in January 2022. He completed medical school at Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Science in India, residency at St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit, Michigan, and a fellowship in rheumatology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He is board certified in rheumatology and internal medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Dr. Majithia was previously at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he served as Faculty in rheumatology and internal medicine since 2004, a tenured Professor since 2014, Division Director of Rheumatology since 2014, and Fellowship Program Director within the Division of Rheumatology since 2008. Additionally, he worked as a Staff Rheumatologist at GV (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center from 2007 to 2019. He is the principal investigator on a number of clinical trials, longitudinal studies and has published more than 40 peer-reviewed manuscripts and multiple book chapters. He has won many honors and serves on a number of intra-mural and extramural committees.
Thomas Zachary Thompson, MD, FCAP, CABP is a consultant and Assistant Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, where he serves as the Medical Director of the Human Cell Therapy Laboratory and Cell Pharmacy. Dr. Thompson earned his Doctor of Medicine and completed his residency training in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at the Medical College of Georgia, followed by a subspecialty fellowship in Transfusion Medicine, Blood Banking, and Cellular Therapy at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He serves as a Biotherapies mentor in the AABB PEP mentoring program, and is a member of the AABB Cell Therapies Accreditation, and Cellular Therapy Section Coordinating Committees.
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