Canadian Blood Services research trainees reflect on the 2024 Canadian Society for Transfusion Medicine (CSTM) conference and their experience as planning committee members for Canadian Blood Services’ Research Day.

The Centre for Blood Research (CBR) Norman Bethune Symposium gathers scientists, clinicians, healthcare professionals, and trainees to discuss advancements in the field of blood research. The 12th Annual event, held in April 2024, consisted of expert talks on thalassemia, thrombocytopenia, sickle cell disease, and other bleeding disorders, demonstrating the breadth of ongoing research.

Since 2007, the Ontario Regional Blood Coordinating Network (ORBCoN) and Canadian Blood Services have partnered in hosting an annual Transfusion Medicine Education Symposium and Workshop for transfusion health-care professionals with the primary objective of providing best practice information on blood transfusion to healthcare staff in community and rural hospitals across Ontario. In this blog, Valérie Rhéaume of ORBCoN provides a summary of the most recent event, held in April 2024.

Since 2018, Canadian Blood Services has supported the development of evidence-based guidelines on red blood cell transfusion in patients with hemoglobinopathies through its work with the International Collaboration for Transfusion Medicine Guidelines (ICTMG). Hemoglobinopathies include sickle cell disease, thalassemia and other conditions that affect the structure, chemistry, or production of red blood cells. This blog describes recent efforts to update the ICTMG’s hemoglobinopathies guideline.

Canadian Blood Services is looking forward to connecting with members of the transfusion community at CSTM 2024, happening this month in Saskatoon! In this third post in a series of blogs counting down to CSTM 2024, Dr. William (Bill) Sheffield shares what he’s looking forward to about this year’s events.

The 2024 Canadian Blood Services’ Lay Science Writing Competition is open for submissions from research trainees in Canadian Blood Services’ research network until Friday, June 14, 2024. The theme this year is: “Connecting science with society”. Additional competition details available in this post!

Canadian Blood Services is looking forward to connecting with members of the transfusion community at CSTM 2024, happening this May in Saskatoon! In this second post in a series of blogs counting down to CSTM 2024, Dr. Jennie Haw shares her insights in lead-up to the event.

Canadian Blood Services is looking forward to connecting with members of the transfusion community at CSTM 2024, happening this May in Saskatoon! In lead-up to the event, a series of blogs will preview some of the contributions of our research and education network to CSTM 2024.

World Hemophilia Day, an initiative of the World Federation of Hemophilia to raise awareness of hemophilia and other genetic bleeding disorders, is held annually on April 17. Hemophilia, an inherited blood disorder that affects mostly men, impairs the ability of a person’s blood to form clots. This blog highlights significant research into hemophilia that has received support from Canadian Blood Services.

In this blog, Dr. Brodie Nolan describes how Canadian Blood Services’ Blood Efficiency Accelerator Award Program (BEAP) is supporting the development of national best practices and a new registry for lifesaving transfusions that occur outside of hospitals.