ISBT Award and Prizes
ISBT Awards 2023
The ISBT Award is granted to persons who have made a significant contribution to transfusion medicine and science, and to ISBT. The decision to grant the ISBT Award is the privilege of the ISBT Executive Committee. There were four recipients of the ISBT Award in 2023. Two were awarded during the opening ceremony of the 33rd Regional congress of the ISBT in Gothenburg, Sweden in June 2023, and a further two at the 34th Regional Congress in Cape Town, South Africa in November 2023.
Christine Lomas-Francis
Christine has deep expertise in blood groups and has made valuable contributions to ISBT working parties. She has a strong background in education and has been an active member of ISBT for over 30 years. She is recognized in particular for her membership on the ISBT Red Cell Immunogenetics and Blood Group Terminology working party since 1994 and the ISBT Rare Donors Working Party, working tirelessly as the Chair from 2014 to 2022 to bring international colleagues together to collaborate on rare donor programmes.
John Semple
John has been a dedicated member of ISBT for the past 30 years and has made major scientific contributions to Transfusion Medicine in the field of platelet immunology throughout his career. In particular, he is recognized for his service as ISBT Scientific Secretary from 2018-2022, during which time he ensured the continuation of high-quality science at ISBT Congresses despite the challenging transition from in person to virtual Congresses due to the pandemic.
Ravi Reddy
Ravi is recognized for his leadership roles in SANBS and ISBT. SANBS has continuously improved blood safety in one of the most challenging regions of the world with large HIV and HBV epidemics, and Ravi has committed to SANBS leadership in research and evidence-based policy development. Ravi has also demonstrated a commitment to advancing Transfusion Medicine in Africa (despite fiscal, political, racial and ID and other epidemiological challenges) through his roles in establishing the South African Society for Blood Transfusion. With ISBT Ravi has demonstrated exemplary leadership as a Board member, ISBT President from 2016 -2018, and now Chair of the ISBT Foundation.
Marion Vermeulen
Marion is recognized for her commitment, both national and international, to the field of Transfusion Medicine. Notably for excellent research related to transfusion-transmitted infectious diseases (TTID) and for making transfusions safer through teaching, mentorship, and education. She is Chairperson of the ISBT Transfusion Research Young Investigator Training (I TRY IT) program, an active member of the ISBT WPs for TTID and Blood Safety, and a key investigator on international collaborative programs advancing blood safety, including REDS-III.
Vox Sanguinis Best Paper Prize 2022
The Vox Sanguinis Best Paper Prize is a scientific award for the best original paper published in ISBT’s journal Vox Sanguinis in the previous calendar year, selected by the Jean Julliard Awards Committee for papers put forward by the editors of Vox Sanguinis.
The 2022 prize was presented at the 33rd Regional Congress of the ISBT in Gothenburg in June 2023 to Christie Vermeulen, on behalf of all authors, for the manuscript:
Vermeulen C, den Besten G, van den Bos AG, Go M, Gouwerok E, Vlaar R, Schipperus MR, Spelmink SE, Janssen M, Lagerberg JW, de Korte D, and Klei TRL: Clinical and in vitro evaluation of red blood cells collected and stored in a non-DEHP plasticized bag system.
