Overview
Overview
Welcome
SASCeTS is the South African Stem Cell Transplant Society. It is an organisation whose members consist of clinical haematologists and medical oncologists who participate in the transplantation of bone marrow / stem cells for the treatment of haematological diseases. Membership is also open to all interested medical practitioners and allied health care professionals.
The goal of SASCeTS is to promote awareness of stem cell transplantation as therapeutic modality for the treatment of haematological diseases in South Africa. It also aims to promote the education of clinical haematologists and medical oncologists who are practicing stem cell transplantation as a therapeutic modality. Education directed at allied health care professionals (nurses, dieticians, pharmacists and social workers, amongst other) is also a primary goal of the society. A SASCeTS conference is organised once a year where both international and well-known national speakers are invited to speak on various topics addressing the various elements of both autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplantation.
In more recent transplant history, haplo-identical donors have expanded the access to transplantation to patients who do not have matched sibling related donors and who do not have access to matched unrelated donors from bone marrow registries. The “newest kid on the block” is CAR-T cell therapy and SASCeTS also aims to educate transplant physicians on this topic and, in the long term, aims to make this therapeutic modality accessible to South African patients.
Our Mission
The South African Stem Cell Transplantation Society (SA SCTS – hereunder referred to as the Society) is a scientific and educational non-profit organization aiming to bring together haematologists, oncologist, physicians, scientists, nurses, technologists and medical administrators with an interest in and/or involved in the teaching, research, practice and promotion of haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The objectives of the Society are:
- To set the standards for the education, training and practice of haematopoietic stem cell transplantation in South Africa.
- To organize annual meetings and provide a forum for the discussion of advances in this field.
- To synthesize and evaluate evidence-based and consensus guidelines for the management of transplant related clinical problems.
- To promote the acquisition, dissemination, exchange and application of knowledge in haematology, immunology of transplantation, stem cell biology, radiation biology, pharmacology and haematopoiesis.
- To develop, standardize and critically evaluate new and existing instrumentation, tests, and reagents to harvest, manipulate and purify cell populations that are of interest in transplantation (cell therapies).
- To encourage and promote collaborative activities among members working in the field and related fields as well as with other national and international organizations.
- To interact with other groups with similar core activities such as the SA Bone Marrow Registry.