Transfusion News brings you the latest news in blood banking, transfusion medicine, tissue transplantation, blood policies, hematopoietic stem cells, cellular therapies and related fields. With concise news updates each week and the “Question of the Day” every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Transfusion News is a valuable resource for professionals who want to stay up to date with all of the latest news in their field.
Editor
Aaron Tobian, MD, PhD is a Professor of Pathology, Medicine, Oncology and Epidemiology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is also Director of the Transfusion Medicine Division and CLIA Laboratory Director for Johns Hopkins Hospital. He serves as President of the AABB Board of Directors, as a Transfusion Medicine Section Editor for UpToDate, an Associate Editor of the Journal of Clinical Apheresis, and an Editorial Board member of the journal Transfusion. His research interests are in transfusion transmitted infections. He has published >400 papers, including in prominent journals such as Lancet, JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine, and Transfusion.
Associate Editors
Brian D. Adkins, MD is an Assistant Professor of Pathology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He serves as the Medical Director for both Transfusion and Tissue Services and Coagulation at Children’s Health Dallas. His professional interests encompass resident and fellow education, along with medical research focusing on the clinical and social aspects of blood transfusion. He is a member of the AABB Hemovigilance Committee and is active in the AABB Pediatric Transfusion Medicine Subsection.
Lorraine N. Blagg, EdD, MA, MLS(ASCP)CM SBB is the pathology education and development lead at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, a role which includes being the program director for the Johns Hopkins Hospital Specialist in Blood Bank Technology/ Transfusion Medicine Program, transfusion medicine education coordinator, and overseeing pathology clinical experiences of external allied health education programs. She is also the co-chair of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Pathology continuing education committee, P.A.C.E.® and CEBroker® administrator, serves on other committees related to allied health education, training and competency assessment, and pathology website design, and is active in community outreach promoting STEM careers.
Garrett S. Booth, MD, MS is a Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Nashville VA Medical Center where he serves as the co-medical director for the cellular therapy processing laboratories and the associate medical director of the blood bank. Dr. Booth’s research interests focus on the untoward elements that make their way into the blood supply.
Diarmaid Ó Donghaile, MB BCh, MD, FRCPath is the director of the Irish Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry (IUBMR) and the National Tissue Typing Laboratory at the Irish Blood Transfusion Service. He is also a consultant haematologist at St. James’s Hospital Dublin, and lectures in transfusion medicine at Trinity College Dublin. He serves on the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & Healthcare (Council of Europe) Working Group on the Guide to the Preparation, Use and QA of Blood Components. His research interests include the clinical use of blood components and transfusion safety.
Eric A. Gehrie, MD is a transfusion medicine physician with the American Red Cross. His primary responsibilities are in overseeing and developing the Red Cross’s programs in therapeutic apheresis and cellular therapies. He also has a leadership role in the organization’s donor and recipient hemovigilance program. Dr. Gehrie’s research centers around the provision of leukapheresis-derived starting material for new drug development as well as academic research. He is also interested the detection and prevention of adverse events associated with blood transfusion, therapeutic apheresis, and cellular therapy collections.
Daniela Hermelin, MD is the Chief Medical Officer at ImpactLife Blood Center and an Assistant Professor of Pathology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, where she teaches the Introduction to Pathology course. Alongside Dr. Pagano, she co-produces the Transfusion News #Blooducation Baristas Podcast, serving “piping hot transfusion news” on a broad range of topics. As the Social Media Chair for AABB and the Social Media Editor for Transfusion Medicine Reviews Journal, Dr. Hermelin actively contributes to the dissemination of knowledge in her field. Outside of her professional commitments, she enjoys spending time with her husband, raising their six children aged between 9 and 18.
Ronald Jackups, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Pathology & Immunology and Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He serves as Medical Director of the blood bank and hematology laboratories at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and as Assistant Medical Director at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He is co-founder and co-editor of Transfusion Medicine Questions. His research interests are in blood product and laboratory test utilization, inventory management, and transfusion education.
William Lane, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor in Pathology at Harvard Medical School and Director of Clinical Laboratory Informatics and Assistant Director of the Tissue Typing Laboratory at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Boston, MA. He is board certified in Clinical Pathology, Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine, and Clinical Informatics. He is co-founder and co-editor of Transfusion Medicine Questions. He is founder of PathQuestions.com. His research interests include RBC and platelet antigen prediction.
Monica B. Pagano, MD is an Associate Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Washington. She is also the Director of Transfusion Services and Division Head of the Transfusion Medicine at the University of Washington Medical Center. Dr. Pagano is the immediate past Chair of the Clinical Transfusion Medicine Committee (AABB), currently serves on the Nominations Committee (AABB), and is a Scientific Member of The Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST) Collaborative. Her research interests include clinical aspects of transfusion medicine and medical education.
Contributing Editor
D. Joe Chaffin, MD is a Transfusion Medicine Educator and Associate Professor of Pathology at Loma Linda University in Southern California. He is the founder of the “Blood Bank Guy” website (BBGuy.org), and host of the award-winning “Blood Bank Guy Essentials Podcast.” For the past 25 years, he has used virtual and live teaching to accomplish his professional passion of teaching the essentials of Transfusion Medicine to learners everywhere. Dr. Chaffin is a former blood center Chief Medical Officer for both LifeStream Blood Bank and the former Bonfils Blood Bank (now Vitalant). He graduated from Loma Linda University and trained in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.
Transfusion News Sponsor
Grifols
With a history of innovation and patients at the center, Grifols is a global leader in transfusion medicine and a pioneer in disease detection and laboratory operations management. Simply put, our business is to protect the people who rely on blood products. Our unique, proven diagnostic solutions overcome laboratory challenges and improve transfusion safety to ensure blood compatibility and the detection of potential pathogens from infectious diseases in the donors of blood, plasma and tissue, while simplifying laboratory operations.
AABB and Transfusion
Established in 1947, AABB is an international association of blood banks, including hospital and community blood centers, transfusion and transplantation services and individuals involved in activities related to transfusion and transplantation medicine. AABB supports high standards of medical, technical and administrative performance, scientific investigation, clinical application and education. It is dedicated to encouraging the voluntary donation of blood and other tissues and organs through education, public information and research. AABB member facilities are responsible for collecting virtually all of the nation’s blood supply and transfusing more than 80 percent. More than 2,200 institutions (community and hospital blood banks, hospital transfusion services and laboratories) and 8,500 individuals are members of AABB, including physicians, scientists, administrators, medical technologists, blood donor recruiters and public relations personnel. Members are located in all 50 states and 80 foreign countries. AABB’s active membership provides direction to the Association through its elected Board of Directors, and more than 30 committees of volunteer professionals.
TRANSFUSION is AABB’s scholarly, peer-reviewed monthly journal, publishing on the latest technological advances, clinical research, and controversial issues related to transfusion medicine, cellular and gene therapies, and tissue transplantation. Each issue addresses topics such as clinical transfusion, immunology, genetics, cellular therapy, and hematology.
The views expressed on this website do not necessarily reflect the views of AABB, Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins Health System, Bio-Rad Laboratories, or Wiley.
