Tuula Rintala
Director, Quality of Care and Advocacy
EBMT, European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation
Spain
CAR-T cell therapy has transformed the treatment landscape for patients with haematological malignancies, but its promise can only be fully realised when every healthcare professional involved in its delivery is equipped with the knowledge, skills and confidence to act. This is a conviction that sits at the heart of the work of the GoCART Coalition — the multi-stakeholder initiative co-founded by EBMT and EHA to maximise the potential of cellular therapies across Europe.
Over the past year, GoCART has made remarkable strides in building what can be described as a genuinely coherent educational ecosystem joining three distinct but interconnected initiatives.
The EU CAR-T Handbook: The Knowledge Foundation
The 2nd Edition of the EU CAR-T Handbook, presented at the EBMT Annual Meeting in 2025, represents a significant step forward in our collective effort to codify best practice. Building directly on the 1st Edition of the EBMT-EHA CAR-T Cell Handbook, this updated resource reflects the rapid evolution of clinical practice, regulatory frameworks, expanded indications, and enhanced safety profiles in the field. Available in open-access digital format, it is designed to serve as the shared knowledge foundation upon which structured, harmonised training can be built. For GoCART community, it signals that excellence in CAR-T care must be grounded in a common, evidence-informed understanding of the therapy itself.
The GoCART Passport: Turning Knowledge into Credentialed Competency
Knowledge alone is not sufficient. What our patients need — and what our centres require — is assurance that professionals have not merely been exposed to information, but have demonstrated core competency in delivering it. This is the ambition behind the GoCART Passport, which formally launched for physicians in 2026. Comprising ten interactive online modules, the Passport is structured to consolidate the overlapping training requirements that have historically burdened healthcare professionals working across different institutional and industry-specific programmes. The aim of the Passport is to reduce and ensure consistent standards, whilst preserving space for product-specific training delivered by industry partners. The first modules were launched at CART2026 in February, with the full suite available from June 2026. The modules are available via gocartpassport.com.
The Observership Programme: Bridging the Experience Gap
Finally, aligning with GoCART’s advocacy priorities is the GoCART Observership Programme. Access to CAR-T therapy across Europe remains profoundly uneven. Clinical expertise, institutional infrastructure and quality systems do not yet exist at the same level in all member states, let alone further afield, and this inequity has direct consequences for patients. The Observership Programme is a practical, human response to that challenge. By supporting physicians from emerging CAR-T centres to undertake one-to-two-week placements at experienced institutions, GoCART is facilitating genuine knowledge transfer at the point of care — not through a webinar, but through immersive, collegial learning.
The pilot phase is already underway, with four trainees from Ireland, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania placed at leading centres in Spain, France, Germany and Italy respectively. These are not symbolic gestures; they are the building blocks of a pan-European network of CAR-T-trained physicians capable of sustaining multinational trials, harmonised quality assurance processes, and equitable access to harmonised care. The full programme is now open for applications on a rolling basis through GoCART Coalition’s website.
An Ecosystem in Service of the Patient
Taken together — the Handbook, the Passport, and the Observership Programme — GoCART's educational activities reflect a philosophy that the GoCART has long championed: that quality of care is not incidental, it is structural. It depends on common standards, shared tools, and the deliberate cultivation of expertise across geographies and institutions.
The GoCART Coalition, remains committed to supporting the continued development of these initiatives. Clinicians working within the field are encouraged to explore the available resources, consider how the Passport and Observership Programme might be integrated into their centre's training and development activities, and to reflect on the role that participation — including hosting future observership trainees — can play in advancing harmonised standards of CAR-T care across Europe.
For further information, visit www.thegocartcoalition.com or www.gocartpassport.com.
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