For cell procurement and delivery operations to run smoothly, countless moving parts must align.
From understanding the needs of a research project to scheduling donors, fulfilling orders, and ensuring precise delivery, every step must fit together seamlessly.
So, who keeps everything ticking like a perfectly timed clock?
Meet Sophia Johnson, Associate Director of Logistic Operations at CGT Global. Sophia has been with CGT Global for 6 years, bringing her background in psychology and a talent making the puzzle pieces fit applying her expert planning and organization skills.
While at Sonoma State, Sophia was a research assistant when she realized she wanted to be on the people-facing side of research. After graduating, she began as an administrative assistant, scheduling donors in the collection clinic, and took initiative to advance into a management role overseeing production planning. Her experience with scheduling, clinical workflows, and logistics, combined with her drive to improve operations, led her to propose and implement centralized scheduling in 2020. With this new approach, each clinic focuses on collections, while scheduling is managed centrally with a holistic view of all clinics. It’s a unique approach in the industry, giving scientists access to the cells they need from donors at any of the three U.S. cell collection clinics: Folsom, California; East Norriton, Pennsylvania; and Boston, Massachusetts.
1. How would you explain your role at CGT Global?
I’d like to think of myself as the air traffic controller communicating between our sales and operations teams to set up production to go as smoothly as possible. I work with internal teams to ensure the projects requested by scientists are feasible.
Scientists often have specific donor requirements, and our team makes sure the right donors are scheduled for each project.
We coordinate all the moving pieces between our clients’ needs and the availability of suitable donors.
2. What is typical day like?
So much happens each day in production. Donors can be scheduled and may end up having to cancel or can’t complete the donation so the team spend the majority of their morning working to get different donors to come in to fill those projects. It’s our main goal to ensure the researcher is getting the best quality product when they need it.
I’m most proud of how efficiently and collaboratively the scheduling team works. What they manage might overwhelm a lot of people, but for them, it’s just their normal workday. I’m always impressed by how calm, collected, and kind they are at all times.
Even when it’s crazy and chaotic, they find a way to make it happen by finding people willing to spend six hours of their day at the clinic on short notice to donate. It’s very impressive how motivated and adaptable our team is when it comes to scheduling donors.
3. What keeps you and your team motivated?
It’s about remembering what we do and why it’s so critical. Often, things don’t go as planned, and our team stays adaptable. On a day when donors don’t answer their phone or show up for their scheduled clinic visit, we can’t control that, but we can control how we handle it. One of the things we do best is staying focused on what truly matters: why we do what we do. It helps so many people, often in ways that most don’t even realize.
4. What stands out to you about working at CGT Global?
CGT Global has a knack for finding creative ways to continuously adapt within a fast-growing industry. Our leadership team, especially Cate and Megan, are always exploring new ways to innovate and anticipate what’s next.
For example, during the pandemic, we quickly pivoted to provide essential COVID testing services for our community. Today, we continue to strengthen our partnerships with hospitals.
It’s reassuring to know we’re working together to create meaningful, novel solutions within the evolving cell and gene therapy space. And it’s equally exciting to see those creative solutions making an impact for people and researchers across healthcare.
When teams at CGT Global work together seamlessly, scientists get the high-quality cells they need faster, so they can develop the next generation of life-changing therapies. Behind every shipment, large or small, is a team coordinating every detail to make sure each order arrives with precision and care. For people like Sophia, this commitment to operational excellence and continuous improvement isn’t about going above and beyond, it’s simply who they are, and it’s central to CGT Global’s mission to expand access to life-changing therapies.
Sidebar:
Record-Breaking Moment
Within 6 minutes, a donor was arranged for a mobilized leukopak donation and came in six days in a row.
On a mission to transform the life science and medical industries, CGT Global has been supporting biotech, pharma, and academic scientists developing next-generation therapeutics through biospecimen procurement and primary cell isolation since 2010.
If you’re looking for primary cells or Leukopaks for your next research project, connect with us on our website CGT.global and follow us on LinkedIn to stay up to date on our latest product releases, research insights, and industry news.
