Foreword from the Secretary General 2025 - 2026
Gwen Clarke, ISBT Secretary General
June 2025 ISBT brought many society members and transfusion professionals together for the ISBT Congress in Milan Italy. This Congress was very successful. Abstracts were submitted in 9 categories. Exhibitors displayed the latest innovations in transfusion diagnostics and research, and the program offered both educational opportunities and fascinating new discoveries.
The Scientific Secretary, (Jason Acker), the ISBT Vice-Presidents, (Jill Storry and Cynthia So-Osman) the ISBT office staff, the Scientific Planning Committee members and abstract reviewers as well as MCI Amsterdam once again contributed expertise and organizational acumen, in leading a successful, well attended and informative congress.
Working Party meetings and board meetings were also held ahead of the congress, ensuring that the society continues to move forward in its mission of sharing knowledge to advance transfusion practice.
October 2025 brought the society membership to Perth Australia for a second ISBT congress. This congress was held jointly with Blood 2025. Congress delegates had access to a wide range of transfusion education and research with parallel streams in haematology and coagulation as part of Blood 2025. This event proved to be an excellent collaborative opportunity with the Australia and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion that brought an increased number of international delegates to the Blood Congress and provided the ISBT attendees with a broader than usual range of educational and research topics to engage with. A highly successful and well attended poster presentation and exhibit hall rounded out the experience for all delegates and corporate partners.
The webcast library found at ISBT Education includes presentations on 30 different topics from the Milan congress and an additional 15 presentations from the Perth congress.
A strategic planning workshop was held prior to the Milan congress allowing the board members to consider and refine strategic goals for the society for the next 5 years. An updated mission, vision and core values statements were developed along with an outline of key activities to support the mission. Further discussion of the priorities and activities were undertaken at the board meeting in Perth. The full strategic plan for the next five years is now available.
The review of the ISBT Statutes and By-laws continued with approval of the first set of changes at the General Assembly in Milan. A second set of refinements was developed by a subcommittee in 2025 and will be brought forward to the membership at the 2026 General Assembly.
A subcommittee of the Board also undertook a review and update of the major ISBT awards and travel fellowships. Details of the revised processes and nomination procedures for each award are available on the website.
This year is an election year for the ISBT Board and a record number of nominees for each of the open board positions were received. The new board members will begin their term at the General Assembly held in Kuala Lumpur in June 2026.
Vox Sanguinis had a successful year under the continued editorial leadership of Miquel Lozano. The journal continues to increase open access publication (now approaching 40% of submissions), reduce turn-around time between article acceptance and publication and increase the number of article downloads. A new contract with the journal publisher (Wiley) was finalized during this fiscal year and includes a change to a royalty-based model.
The ISBT Working Parties continue to be an active and vital part of the Society, contributing congress materials, organizing live webinars, providing organizational tools and resources for members and for the transfusion community as well as hosting workshops and conducting research. Collaboration between working parties with respect to future projects was encouraged as budgets for new initiatives were considered. The two newest working parties (Big Data and Basic Science) in particular, have overarching mandates which are expected to provide many opportunities for collaboration between working parties. ISBT members are encouraged to consider involvement with the WPs that relate to their areas of interest; over one third of the members currently participate in one or more working parties. Information regarding activities and membership requirements for each can be found on the website.
Awards and prizes for 2025 included two ISBT awards in Milan and two in Perth. The annual Vox Best paper prize for 2024 was also awarded in Milan. Harold Gunson Travel fellowships were provided to 28 delegates. The ISBT website in the “about” tab also provides information on all ISBT awards along with former awardees.
At the end of March 2026, ISBT membership stood at 2025 individual members and 30 affiliate societies / organisations. All WHO regions and 124 countries are represented within the Society.
Individual members
Affiliate Societies
I look forward to seeing many of you in person at the upcoming Congress of the ISBT in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Please plan on attending the General Assembly if you are attending the Congress to learn more about the ISBT Board of Directors and the ongoing activities of the society.
