Official Master's Degree in Transfusion Medicine and Cellular and Tissue Therapies
Course coordinator
Barcelona: Joaquim Vives PhD. E-mail: jvives@bst.cat
Senior Researcher, Group Leader, Blood and Tissue Bank, Barcelona.
Main researcher in the Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering Group (VHIR).
Leiden: Jaap Jan Zwaginga PhD. E-mail: j.j.zwaginga@lumc.nl
Doctor in Transfusion Medicine.
Professor, Leiden University Medical Centre (Netherlands).
Academic Management: E-mails:
masters.fuabformacio@uab.cat
coordinacio.mt3.fuabformacio@uab.cat
Lecturers
Arturo Pereira Saavedra. E-mail: arturopereira13@gmail.com
Graduated in Medicine and Surgery in 1980 at the University of Barcelona and Specialized in Haematology and Hemotherapy in 1985. PhD in Medicine in 1989 by the same university. After being a resident doctor at the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, he became part of the Haematology staff at the Department of Hemotherapy and Haemostasis at the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. Now retired from clinical practice and formal academic appointments, he most recently served as Senior Consultant in Haematology at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and as Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Barcelona. He has authored more than 200 scientific articles in indexed journals, as well as several book chapters in the fields of Haematology and Transfusion Medicine.
Module 1 - Blood Donation
Silvia Sauleda. E-mail: ssauleda@bst.cat
PhD in Biology by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain). She developed her research in hepatitis C and HIV in the Liver Unit of the University Hospital Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona. Since 1999 she is responsible for the Transfusion Safety Laboratory of the regional Banc de Sang i Teixits de Catalunya (BST). Besides the screening of infectious diseases activities, the laboratory has a research line on biosafety of blood, tissue and cell donations. Sauleda has published more than 100 research papers on hepatitis C, hepatitis B, HIV and emerging infectious diseases. She is a member of the ISBT (International Society of Blood Transfusion) Transfusion-Transmitted Diseases Working Party and, since 2017, coordinates the Transfusion-Transmitted Diseases Working Party of the Spanish Society of Blood Transfusion. Since 2024, she is a member of the ECDC ad hoc scientific panel on prevention of transmission of infectious diseases through Substances of Human Origin (SoHO).
Module 1 - Blood Donation
Juan R. Grífols. E-mail: jrgrifols@bst.cat
Specialist in Haematology & Hemotherapy. He works as the Chief Medical Officer at the Banc de Sang i Teixits de Catalunya (BST), a public agency of the Catalan Health Department, whose mission is to guarantee the supply and proper use of blood and tissues in Catalonia and leading centre in the field of immunodiagnostics and advanced therapy development. Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine & Surgery by the Universitat de Barcelona and postgraduate degree in Transfusion Medicine at the Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg as well as a Master’s Degree in Hospital Management at ESADE Business School in Barcelona. He has extensive international experience as an advisor for the implementation and development of organizational models and structuring blood & transfusion networks as well as the development of programs that encourage the voluntary and altruistic donation of blood components in different countries in the process of joining the European Union. He is an active member of the Spanish Society of Blood Transfusion (SETS), the Spanish Society of Haematology and Hemotherapy (SEHH), the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) the Grupo Cooperativo Iberoamericano de Medicina Transfusional (GCIAMT) and member of the Board of Blood Transfusion editorial.
Module 2 - Blood Transfusion
Carlos Cotorruelo. Email: ccotorru@hotmail.com
Biochemist graduated from the National University of Rosario, Specialist in Immunohematology, and PhD in Biological Sciences. He is currently Full Professor of Immunology at the Faculty of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences of the National University of Rosario (Argentina), and Director of the Immunohematology and Molecular Biology of Blood Groups Laboratory, which provides services to the Provincial Hospital del Centenario. This laboratory is a national reference center with the capability to solve complex immunohematological problems through the use of serological and molecular methodologies. He is actively involved in postgraduate teaching and training activities in the field of immunohematology. He is an Independent Researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), where he leads research projects focused on molecular immunohematology. He has published papers in national and international scientific journals, co-authored book chapters, and presented numerous communications at national and international conferences. He is a member of the Working Group on Red Blood Cells and Donors with Rare Phenotypes of the GCIAMT (Ibero-American Cooperative Group of Transfusion Medicine) and of the Rare Donors Working Party of the ISBT (International Society of Blood Transfusion). He has participated as a speaker in multiple scientific meetings at both national and international levels. He is actively involved in the training of human resources through the supervision of doctoral and master’s theses, CONICET fellows, specialization final projects, and undergraduate theses. In addition, he serves as a reviewer for scientific papers in several international journals.
Module 3 - Immunohematology
Masja De Haas. E-mail: m.dehaas@sanquin.nl
MD, PhD. An internationally recognized expert in the highly specialized field of transfusion medicine of laboratory immunohematology. The past 10 years, she has led the Dutch reference centre for immunohaematology Sanquin, an organization for blood supply and its knowledge. She is an appointed professor of “Translational Immunohematology” at the Leiden University Medical Centre. Currently, she is the chief medical officer of Sanquin.
Module 3 - Immunohematology
Claudia Folman. Email: c.folman@sanquin.nl
Biomedical Scientist with a PhD in Immunohematology. Since 2001 responsible for the Immunohematology Department with a focus on the National Reference Laboratory of Erythrocyte Serology and as a manager/senior clinical laboratory specialist where daily ~250 samples in the field of Immunohematology are processed. With a team of 50 people, both serological and genetic testing is performed, ranging from automated scale testing to manually solving complex serological problems. She is an expert in the field of diagnostic advice for transfusion-related serological problems, red blood cell destruction in alloimmunized pregnancies and autoimmune blood cell destruction and as such is an (invited) member of several Dutch national committees involved in blood transfusion practice, guideline development and scientific advice. She very much enjoys gaining and sharing knowledge to improve diagnostic testing, she actively participates in academic research projects and teaches on the topic of immunohematology for a broad audience from technicians to laboratory specialists and clinical doctors.
Module 3 - Immunohaematology
Núria Nogués Gálvez. E-mail: nnogues@bst.cat
Degree in Pharmacy and a PhD in Biochemistry by the University of Barcelona, Spain. Post-doc at the Department of Medicine of the University of Illinois, Chicago, USA. Joined the Immunohaematology Laboratory of the Banc de Sang i Teixits de Catalunya (BST) in Barcelona in 1998. Her current position is a head of the Immunohaematology Reference Laboratory of the Banc de Sang i Teixits. She is a member of the ISBT Working Party on Red Cell Immunogenetics and Blood Group Terminology since 2010 and coorganizer of two recent editions of the International Platelet Immunology Workshop. She is also the principal investigator of several national and international research projects and has authored more than 50 scientific publications and book chapters.
Module 3 - Immunohaematology
Eduard Palou. E-mail: epalou@clinic.cat
Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine and Surgery by the University of Barcelona. From 1995 to 1998 he did his training as a specialist in Immunology at the Immunology Service of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. In the same department he presented his doctoral thesis in 1999. That same year he joined the Banc de Sang i Teixits de Catalunya (BST), being the head and director of the Histocompatibility Laboratory from 1999 to 2013. His activity in this laboratory was oriented to studies of histocompatibility in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and immunogenetic studies of different immune-mediated diseases. In 2013 he joined the Transplant Immunology Section of the Immunology Service of the Hospital Clínic, becoming the head of this section in March 2016 and co-director of the laboratory accredited by the EFI (European Federation for Immunogenetics). This Transplant Immunology section constitutes the so-called Histocompatibility Laboratory of Catalonia, which provides support in Transplant Immunology to all solid organ transplantation units of hospitals in Catalonia for kidney, liver, heart, lung and pancreas transplantation. In 2014 he obtained the European Diploma of Specialization in Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics awarded by the EBTI-UEMS (European Board of Transplant Immunology - European Union of Medical Specialists), a newly created qualification aimed at the directors of histocompatibility laboratories. He has been part of the boards of directors of the Spanish Immunology Society, the Catalan Immunology Society and the Catalan Transplant Society. He was also part of the Education Committee of the EFI (European Federation for Immunogenetics). He is currently Commissioner in the Spain / Portugal region for the EFI accreditation of histocompatibility laboratories.
Module 3 - Immunohematology
Ana Belén Álvarez Palomo. E-mail: abalvarez@bst.cat
PhD in Biochemistry by the University of Barcelona. She was a postdoctoral researcher at The Netherlands Cancer Institute (Amsterdam) and Institut Municipal d’Investigació Mèdica (Barcelona), working in the field of cancer. She later engaged in the field of regenerative medicine and stem cells at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona and at Banc de Sang i Teixits de Catalunya (BST), where she was instrumental in the creation of the Spanish clinical-grade iPSC bank (the first manufactured in Europe). Currently she leads the iPS and Advanced Therapies group at BST, focused on the development of clinical grade protocols to produce iPSC-derived effector cells for different immunotherapies.
Module 4: Cell and Tissue Therapy. Tissue Bank
Jesús Fernández Sojo. E-mail: jefernandez@bst.cat
Haematologist, PhD in Medicine (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain), specialist in Hematopoietic Stem cell transplantation and Cell Therapy. He is Director of the Barcelona Cord Blood Bank representing Inter-regional Donation programme (Concordia). This public CB bank has available more than 18,000 units through Spanish Donor Registry and performed more than 2,000 cord blood transplants. He is also Director of the Cell Therapy Services at the Catalan Blood and Tissue bank. This is a FACT-Netcord and JACIE accredited laboratory. Cell therapy laboratory is a central facility for most of the Clinical sites in the Barcelona area, performing transplantation and cell therapy application with more than 500 procedures conducted per year. Research areas are developing new uses of CB units either collected or frozen as starting material for ATMP, improving cord blood transplantation, plasma rich-platelets, red blood cells concentrate, or developing volunteer-donor derived ATMP like virus-specific T cells, MSC and iPSC haplo-bank from cord blood.
Module 4: Cell and Tissue Therapy. Tissue Bank
Sergi Querol. E-mail: sergi.querol@fcarreras.es
MD, PhD, specialist in Haematology and Hemotherapy, and currently the Director of Spanish Bone Marrow Donor Registry (REDMO), managed by the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Foundation. His main mission is to coordinate the search for unrelated donors for all Spanish patients and the Spanish donor registry as well as the connection with international registries, through the WMDA. As a result of this activity, about 1,000 patients per year receive a donation from REDMO for their transplantation. His field of research is related to improving bone marrow transplantation for leukaemia and other blood disorders. To this end, he has worked with innovation groups in bioprocesses, development of universal therapies from iPSCs, genetic and cellular immunotherapy, and personalised hemotherapy from cord blood. His main scientific interests include defining the optimal donor for each patient, developing new medical products from cell donors, and clinical developments that improve transplant outcomes, especially immune reconstitution
Module 4: Cell and Tissue Therapy. Tissue Bank
Joaquim Vives. E-mail: jvives@bst.cat
Biochemist, MSci in Biotechnology and PhD in Biochemistry (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain) with extensive experience in the R&D biotech sector, both in private and academic environments, where he focused on the optimisation of cellular processes towards A) high yield production of diagnostic and therapeutic molecules, and B) the development of methods to produce cells for drug screening and as a therapy, in compliance with current regulatory and quality standards. Vives conducted post-doctoral research at the Institute for Stem Cell Research (University of Edinburgh, UK), then moved to Stem Cell Sciences Ltd (Cambridge, UK), and joined Banc de Sang i Teixits (Barcelona, Spain). He has authored 70+ scientific publications, supervised 8 PhD projects and he is inventor of three patents.
Module 4: Cell and Tissue Therapy. Tissue Bank
Jaap Jan Zwaginga. E-mail: j.j.zwaginga@lumc.nl
M.D. in Medicine, PhD in Pathogenesis of Uremic bleeding in 1989 and full-time professor in Clinical Transfusion Medicine since 2013. His research on clinical transfusion medicine involves a) the classical use of red blood cells, thrombocytes and plasma, but also b) the “academic hospital reserved areas” of immuno-modulatory and regenerative therapies with manipulated blood, marrow or tissue-derived cells. His teaching activities started in 2007 to the present, among which being the LUMC Director of Education at the joint Master’s Degree in Transfusion Medicine and Cellular and Tissue Therapies. He has 380 publications and 2 book chapters at the Web of Science with an H-Index of 56. The average citations per item is 27,7.
Module 4:Tissue Therapy. Tissue Bank
Pilar Córdoba Tejero. Email: pcordoba@bst.cat
Degree in Economics and Business Administration by the University of Barcelona, along with executive education in Marketing Management at ESADE, a PDG from UOC, and Leadership and Social Innovation at ESADE, among other specialized programs. Since 2022, she has been Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at the Banc de Sang i Teixits de Catalunya (BST), a public health organization ensuring the availability and proper use of blood, plasma, and tissues in Catalonia. As a member of the Executive Committee, she leads the overall strategy for donor recruitment, brand, communication, media relations, and internal communication. From 2015 to 2019, she was Marketing and Direct Sales Director at ARAG, a German multinational insurer with 4,000 employees and €1.6 billion turnover. She drove innovation, digitalization, and direct sales, positioning the company as the top-ranked insurer in online presence, social media, and e-commerce. Earlier, as Marketing and Communication Director at MC Mutual, she spearheaded brand transformation, launched pioneering digital services, and strengthened institutional relations. She had previously served as Head of Marketing and Corporate Image at RACC, significantly increasing brand awareness and aligning communication across business lines. With over 30 years of experience, she brings strategic vision, innovation, and people-centered leadership to every role.
Module 5: Management in blood and Tissue Banks.
Antoni Masi Roig. Email: amasi@bst.cat
Senior executive in technology and digital transformation with a degree in Business Administration and postgraduate studies in Finance, Supply Chain, Healthcare Management and ICT (ESADE, IESE, La Salle), with a strong track record leading digital strategies in complex environments, particularly in the public and healthcare sectors. He currently serves as Corporate Director and CIO at Banc de Sang i Teixits and is a member of the executive committee, driving innovation, IT governance and the adoption of eHealth solutions to enhance efficiency and quality of care. He has held senior roles including CIO at the Government of Catalonia and Project Director at IBM, leading large-scale transformation programs. He also combines his professional activity with academia as a professor and Master’s program coordinator at La Salle – Universitat Ramon Llull, contributing to the development of digital health and technology management talent.
Module 5: Management in blood and Tissue Banks
Bartjan Pennink. Email: bartjan@pennink.nl
Finished his PhD in 2004 and worked from 1988 until April 2025 as Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Besides that, he was visiting lecturer at the Institute of Finance Management Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from 2005 on. In his teaching career he contributed to the IB bachelor program in the Organizational theory and on Research Methodology, In his management career he coordinated the cooperation between his faculty and the Institute of Finance Management in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The last ten years the focus in his research is on modelling the process of Local Economic Development and for his research he travelled to Indonesia and Tanzania in order to collect data in regional remote areas. In his focus he made also the connection with sustainable business models: Which factors do support the cooperation of involved actors and on sharing which values to stimulate local economic and social development. He is retired since 2025.
Module 5: Management in blood and Tissue Banks.
Willem Martin Smid. Email: smidwm@gmail.com
MD Medicine, PhD, MBA. Has more than 25 years’ experience in blood bank management, transfusion medicine and coagulation. He was a managing director of Sanquin Consulting Services and is director of the Academic Institute IDTM. He is the Treasurer of the International Society for Blood Transfusion and chaired the ISBT WP GBS from 2018 -2023 of which he is a member from the start in 2010. Martin’s work experience combines transfusion medicine and management, and his main responsibilities include international cooperation and knowledge sharing in international projects and the management of the transfusion medicine programme at the Graduate School of Medical Science of the University of Groningen. He has over 60 publications mainly in the area of blood products and transfusion.
Module 5: Management in blood and Tissue Banks.
Jaime Tabera Fernández. Email: jtabera@bst.cat
MSc in Biochemistry from the University of the Basque Country and is currently the Quality Director at the Banc de Sang I Teixits, and the Operations and Quality Director at the Barcelona Tissue Bank – Banc de Sang I Teixits, where he joined in 2009. Prior to this role, he worked as a quality assurance consultant to the pharmaceutical industry for 7 years. He has participated as an expert in several international projects promoted by EU health programmes, including the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange (TAIEX), EU Twinning, the American International Health Alliance and the International Atomic Energy Agency. He has been part of the leadership and coordination team of the Euro Good Tissue Practices I and II, and EGALiTE projects and has played an active role in preparing several editions of the Council of Europe “Guide to the quality and safety of tissues and cells for human application”. Jaime has also been part of the European Association of Tissue and Cell Banks (EATCB) for 7 years.
Module 5: Management in blood and Tissue Banks