New joint Master’s programme in Transfusion Medicine and Cellular and Tissue Therapies

Exciting news! Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) and Leiden University will start a new two-year Master’s programme in Transfusion Medicine and Cellular and Tissue Therapies on October 20th, 2022. Accreditation for the Master’s – offered in conjunction with the Autonomous University of Barcelona (AUB) – has been granted by the Dutch-Flemish Accreditation Organisation (NVAO).

The Spanish version of the Master’s has been accredited since 2014. LUMC and AUB specialists have been working hard for the past ten years to put together the international version of the programme. Thanks to the recent Dutch-Flemish accreditation, the contribution from Leiden is now formalised.

Transfusion medicine

The field of transfusion medicine has grown considerably throughout the past decades. It covers the entire process of development to the administration of blood products, such as blood transfusions but also cell therapies. Despite numerous innovations, new challenges have also arisen. Many educational courses approach will approach the discipline differently, fragmenting the knowledge within it.

Now, professors and experts of the Transfusion Medicine and Cellular and Tissue Therapies Master’s programme share state-of-the-art knowledge in the field. Subjects taught include: Blood Transfusion, Immunohematology and Project Management in a Blood and Tissue Bank. The collaboration between Barcelona and Leiden represents one of the most powerful international alliances for knowledge transfer within this domain.

A unique global programme

As one of the pioneers of regenerative medicine, LUMC has a rich history in the field of transfusion and transplant immunology. For years, LUMC researchers have been working on cell therapies for mesenchymal stromal cells, tolerogenic dendritic cells, gene therapy of haematopoietic stem cells and CAR-T cells – amongst many others.

Thanks to the intensive knowledge-sharing between Leiden and Barcelona, the two institutions have created a programme that is unique in the world. Students can play a leading role within transfusion medicine in the future. They will acquire knowledge and skills that will enable them to analyse and implement the latest developments in the field of transfusion and cellular therapies.

The programme is offered entirely online, both in English or Spanish, and can be followed part-time by professionals and (international) students with a bachelor’s degree in Medicine, Pharmacy, Biomedical Sciences and Biology. Nurses can also attend the programme if they have at least four years of experience in transfusion medicine.

More information about the new joint Master’s programme can be found on the website of Leiden University. 

This article is a citation from LUMC.nl. View the original article here.