Celebrating innovation at CSTM 2017

Last week, the 2017 Canadian Society for Transfusion Medicine Conference “Transfusion for All Ages” rolled into Ottawa. Each year, the Canadian Society for Transfusion Medicine presents this event in partnership with Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec.

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I had the opportunity to spend some time at the conference partaking in a few of the many sessions that were part of the scientific program, networking with professionals working across transfusion medicine and learning more about the important and exciting research going on. A hard-working conference team created and delivered an excellent event.

Best Abstract

Congratulations to Bonnie Lewis, a Centre for Innovation Gratuate Fellow working with Dr. Don Branch in Toronto who won Best Abstract for "Replacing Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIg) with more Efficacious Recombinant(r) Fc Multimers". Read the complete abstract on page 9 of the CSTM conference abstracts book. 

CSTM Ortho Award  

During the conference the Society takes the opportunity to recognize members who made significant achievements or have provided a major service or innovation in transfusion medicine. This year the CSTM Ortho Award was presented to Dr. Jason Acker, a senior development scientist at Canadian Blood Services’ Centre for Innovation.

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Dr. Acker took a few minutes to chat with me about what receiving this award means to him…

Further reading

Data dig uncovers associations between donor characteristics and patient outcomes

How it’s made matters: Manufacturing method linked to cellular damage in red blood cells

Canadian Blood Services – Driving world-class innovation

Through discovery, development and applied research, Canadian Blood Services drives world-class innovation in blood transfusion, cellular therapy and transplantation—bringing clarity and insight to an increasingly complex healthcare future. Our dedicated research team and extended network of partners engage in exploratory and applied research to create new knowledge, inform and enhance best practices, contribute to the development of new services and technologies, and build capacity through training and collaboration.

The opinions reflected in this post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Canadian Blood Services.