Transplantation and cell therapy: insights from fellows

In 5 seconds Established in 2009, the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital fellowship in transplantation and cell therapy trains the next generation of specialists. It is recognized by Université de Montréal.
Yasmina Serroukh and Omar Eduardo Fernandez Vargas

Yasmina Serroukh: “Total immersion turned me into a transplant specialist”

Originally from Belgium, Dr. Yasmina Serroukh completed a fellowship in transplantation and cell therapy at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital (HMR). It was a defining experience that shaped her career and enlarged her expertise.

I hadn’t planned on coming to Montreal. It all began in 2014, during the 3-Minute Thesis competition. As the Belgian finalist, I was invited to Montreal for the international finals. Université de Montréal, the competition’s host, gave us the chance to meet experts in our field. Since my thesis was in hematology and immunology, they put me in touch with Denis-Claude Roy and Jean-Sébastien Delisle, hematologists at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital.

That informal meeting was a turning point for me. The idea of coming back to Montreal to do a fellowship started to take shape.

I returned to Belgium, where I completed my training and started a family. When it came time to specialize, I reconnected with Jean-Sébastien Delisle, who put me in touch with Dr. Sylvie Lachance, then director of the hospital’s transplant and cell therapy program. In 2019, I moved to Montreal with my husband and two children for two years. A few months later, the pandemic struck. Despite everything, those were two exceptional years, both professionally and personally.

At HMR, I found a world-class North American program open to physicians trained in Europe. The fellowship is structured, demanding and comprehensive. I entered it as a hematologist. I left capable of running a transplant program. That’s what has stayed with me: a total immersion that turned me into a transplant specialist.

I also threw myself into cell therapy, particularly CAR-T therapy. The clinical meetings, interdisciplinary discussions and complex cases enabled me to develop an expertise that is now recognized and in demand, since few training programs offer such exposure to transplantation and CAR-T cell therapies.

That’s what made the difference for my career. Today, I work at the Erasmus MC Cancer Institute in Rotterdam, a major European hematology centre. They accepted me partly because of the connections between the teams in Montreal and Rotterdam, but mostly thanks to the skills I acquired at HMR. Learning that the program has received a +1 rating made me proud. It speaks volumes about the quality of the program and the teams.

Cell therapy is advancing rapidly, and the applications extend well beyond hematology. The challenge will be making these treatments accessible. They are powerful, but very expensive. One thing is for sure: my time at HMR has placed me at the heart of a field of medicine that is undergoing profound transformation.

Omar Eduardo Fernandez Vargas: “Here, we’re doing things that are rarely done elsewhere”

Dr. Omar Eduardo Fernandez Vargas, a hematologist from Mexico, is doing a fellowship at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, where he is developing clinical and research expertise.

When I was looking for a place to train in stem cell transplantation and cell therapy, particularly CAR-T, I searched all over the world—in France, Spain and Canada. Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital quickly stood out.

Here, we do all types of transplants, including cord blood transplants in adults. As far as I know, this procedure is performed at a limited number of hospitals in the world, and none in Mexico. For me, it was a unique learning opportunity.

Once I arrived, after a month of intensive reading, I dove into practice. I am involved in every step of the process. I see patients during their first consultation, help organize pre-transplant evaluations, and present cases at multidisciplinary meetings. Decisions are never made by a single person: they are made as a team, by consensus.

I also follow patients during their hospitalization and then after the transplant, at the outpatient clinic. This allows me to understand the entire journey, the complications, the adjustments and long-term follow-up.

Training doesn’t stop at the clinic. I also work in the cell therapy laboratory, where we learn how to handle grafts, ensure their quality and understand all the logistics behind a transplant. Sometimes, the cells come from Europe: they are harvested, transported by plane, received here, and then administered to the patient. Everything must be perfectly coordinated.

This organization really impresses me. It shows just how much a transplant is a meticulous team effort. But beyond the technical side, what has struck me most is the team spirit. In transplantation, that’s essential. Around the patient are doctors, of course, but also pharmacists, nutritionists, nurses and other professionals—in short, an entire team that supports them at every step.

From a scientific standpoint, I believe cell therapy is still in its infancy. CAR-T therapies have already transformed the treatment of several blood cancers. And today, we are beginning to explore these approaches for other autoimmune diseases. The range of possibilities is expanding.

This fellowship also allowed me to get involved in research. We’ve submitted several projects to international conferences. That’s another important aspect: not just understanding, but also contributing.

In the longer term, I hope to return to Mexico and help organize referral centres for transplantation and cell therapy. To offer these complex treatments, expertise must be concentrated in one place. What I’ve seen here shows that it’s possible.

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