Elias Kalouche, MBA, B.Sc. (Med. Biotech.), MLT (CSMLS/CMLTO), QM (U of M)
President
Mr. Kalouche is currently Vice President, Quality and Organizational Excellence, with Progenics, a premier cord blood bank in Canada. He has overall corporate responsibility for ensuring that the utmost consistency and highest quality is integrated throughout the value chain of Progenics. As a patient-focused leader, he has a passion for continuous improvement, quality services and innovative products which harness the full potential of cord blood and cord tissue derived stem cells.
Mr. Kalouche is an Active International FACT Accreditation Inspector of Cord Blood Banking and Cellular Therapy (CT) Programs involved in the collection, processing and cryopreservation of stem cells collected from 1) the Peripheral Blood (PBSCs) of donors/patients by Apheresis and 2) from Bone Marrow. Since 2012, he has been an international accreditation inspector on behalf of the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) based at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
He has also conducted international audits of medical device companies in North America and Europe, in addition to internal audits of Canadian blood services centres and blood donor clinics across Canada. He participated as a member of the FACT committee to develop the current 7th edition, and previous 6th edition, of the International FACT Accreditation Standards for Cord Blood Collection, Banking, And Release for Administration.
Mr. Kalouche’s ongoing commitment to excellence is evidenced in his outstanding accomplishments in developing and implementing quality management systems across various industries including, cord blood banking, cellular therapy, medical device, medical laboratories, and blood transfusion centres at both the national and international levels.
He holds academic degrees in Medical Biotechnology, Medical Laboratory Science, Business Administration – Executive MBA, and Quality Management. Mr. Kalouche is a valued member of various Professional Advisory Committees of Medical Laboratory Colleges, and has been a guest speaker for numerous scientific conferences.
He is also an active member of professional national and international societies including The Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science (CSMLS), Advancing Transfusion and Cellular Therapies Worldwide (AABB), American Society For Apheresis (ASFA), International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT) and a senior member with The American Society for Quality (ASQ).