The Standing Committee of the ISBT Academy
Members of the Standing Committee of the ISBT Academy
Cynthia So-Osman
Cynthia So-Osman finalized her specialism in Internal Medicine, with a subspecialty training in Haematology (2000) and in Transfusion Medicine (2002). She obtained a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Clinical Epidemiology (2008) and obtained her PhD with a thesis titled: “Patient Blood Management in Elective Orthopaedic Surgery” in 2012. Since 2002 she is a Clinical Consultant in Transfusion Medicine at Sanquin Blood Bank at the Dept. of Transfusion Medicine, NL, and she actively participates in Patient Blood Management and COVID-19 related studies. As a Haematology Consultant, she works at Erasmus University Hospital, Rotterdam, NL. She is the past chair of the ISBT Clinical Transfusion Working Party, she is a member of the International Collaborative on Transfusion Medicine Guidelines (ICTMG) and a member of the BEST Collaborative.ISBT Vice President (2024-2028)
Sophie Uyoga
Sophie Uyoga is a research scientist at the KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya. She has over 19 years’ research experience in describing the epidemiology of red cell genetic disorders with focus on Sickle cell anemia (SCA). Blood transfusion is one of the key management strategies for management of anemia and acute crises in people living with sickle cell anemia. Her current area of research focuses on understanding the transfusion needs of children with sickle cell anemia and the need for better transfusion strategies so that the transfusions don’t result in the development of alloimmunisation that could result in re-admissions with anemia.
Clotilde Estrada Carsolio
Clotilde Estrada Carsolio is a Medical Technician from National University of Mexico and worked as a Blood Bank Laboratory Chief at Children’s Hospital of Mexico and the National Blood Transfusion Centre (Health Secretary, Mexico).Previously, she was president of Mexican Association of Transfusion Medicine (Mexico). Clotilde is president of Blooders.org ( a Not for profit NGO that educates, promotes and facilitates the voluntary and regular donation of blood through technology) Mexico.
Sally Lam Tsuey Peng
Sally Lam currently holds the position of Scientific Officer (Microbiology) at the Department of Pathology, Hospital Ampang, Selangor, Malaysia. She has 8 years work experience in Transfusion Microbiology at National Blood Centre Kuala Lumpur and 10 years work experience to now mainly in serology and virology including transplant molecular. She works a lot on the quality assurance implementation based on ISO 15189 accreditation in the lab. She is also the Honorary Secretary of Malaysian Blood Transfusion Society since 2013 actively organising various educational events at national level such as National Transfusion Medicine Conferences, Immunohaematology Workshops, Patient Blood Management Workshops, Seminars in Blood Donor, Transfusion Medicine Quality and Transfusion Transmitted Disease Infection.
Dina Ekram Shabaan
Dina has more than 20 years of experience in the field of Transfusion Medicine and Transfusion Transmitted Infections screening. She joined the Egyptian National Blood Transfusion Services in 2003. For more than 17 years of work experience, she continued to hold several positions within the National Blood Transfusion Center. She was Head of the Serology Department in the Egyptian National Blood Transfusion Services for more than 6 years. In parallel, she has been actively involved in teaching and training since 2006 being a laboratory cascade trainer in the Egyptian-Swiss project for restructuring the Egyptian Blood Transfusion Services, as well as a cascade trainer for the appropriate clinical use of blood since 2011. She has also been a lecturer for the Egyptian Fellowship Board for Transfusion Medicine for more than 5 years, was a member of the Hepatitis Virus Surveillance Task force-WHO and CDC in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Health for 3 years. As of 2021 she was elected as the coordinator of the Arab Speaking Countries Transfusion Forum (ATMF) and is a member of the ISBT since 2009 and is also a member in the ISBT Transfusion Transmitted Infections Working Party.
Marion Vermeulen
ISBT Regional Director Africa (2024-2028)
Marion Vermeulen is the Executive: Transfusion Medicine and Technical Services at the South African National Blood service (SANBS). She has worked for most of her 35 years in Transfusion Transmissible Infections. Her current role consists of the development of the SANBS strategy with direct responsibility for the donation screening, processing, crossmatching, issuing, transportation and logistics of 1 million donations per annum. She obtained her PhD from Stellenbosch University in advancements of transfusion safety with regards to Transfusion Transmissible Infections (TTI). She is an active member of the international society for blood transfusion (ISBT) TTID working party and is the chairperson of the I TRY IT program that provides mentorship to young early career researchers through the ISBT.
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Sandra J. Nance
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Division of Transfusion Medicine & Therapeutic Pathology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.
Moderator: Arnaud Reggiani, Scientific Affairs, Bio-Rad Laboratories
Zainab Harb
Zainab is an American board certified clinical and anatomic pathologist based in Bahrain. She is currently finishing her fellowship in blood banking and transfusion medicine in the United States. She obtained her medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland - Medical University of Bahrain. She is interested in Cellular Therapies, Therapeutic Apheresis and Hemotherapy. She is an active member of many pathology societies including Association for the Advancements of Blood and Biotherapies (AABB), College of American Pathologists (CAP), American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP), American Society for Apheresis (ASFA), United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) and European Society of Pathology (ESP). She is actively involved in research and academics and is very passionate about teaching pathology to medical students, residents as well as laboratory technicians.