Dr Ngaire Elwood completed an honours degree in Pharmacology at the University of Melbourne in 1986. She undertook a Masters in Immunology at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratories / Kings College in London prior to completing her PhD in the Cancer Unit at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne. Following postdoctoral positions at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and then at Duke University Medical Centre, USA, she returned to Melbourne to the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in 2001 to establish the Leukaemia/Stem Cell Research Lab in the Children's Cancer Centre. In February 2007, Dr Elwood became the Director of the BMDI Cord Blood Bank (CBB), one of three public cord blood banks in Australia, which together form the AusCord network. As Director of the CBB, Chair of AusCord (2009 to 2014), appointments on a diverse range of executive committees and an international inspector for the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT), Dr Elwood's skills include strategic planning, governance, change management, policy development, cell therapy manufacturing, regulatory affairs and liaison with stakeholders. Dr Elwood is a member of the international FACT Board and sits on several FACT committees, including the FACT Cord Blood Standards Steering Committee. She heads the Cord Blood Stem Cell Research Group at Murdoch Childrens and has more than 25 years' research experience in the field of cellular therapy, haematopoietic stem cells, bone marrow transplantation, translational research, cord blood and leukaemia.

cord blood stem cell biology and pediatrics