Academy
ANZSBT Blood 2024 Brisbane
The Australian Blood 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting is a combined meeting for Australian and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion (ANZSBT), Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand (HSANZ); Thrombosis and Haemostasis Society of Australia and New Zealand (THANZ).
An ISBT Academy grant enabled ANZSBT to fund the low to middle income countries Travel Award 2024. Three delegates from Lower Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) were funded to attend Blood 2024: the funding supported one delegate from India, one from Nepal and one from Papua New Guinea. The delegates were chosen for their capacity to enhance and support the transfusion services and encourage ongoing education in their respective countries.
Anastazia Keegan and Priscilla Paua
The ISBT sponsored delegates were able to attend sessions in concurrent streams, review posters and visit the trade exhibition. They were also able to submit posters and abstracts (and one was selected as an oral abstract presentation). The exposure to the education opportunities and being able to visit the industry stands was beneficial for the delegates from an educational, networking and collaboration perspective and gave them opportunities to develop relationships with international peers. As Blood 2024 had many streams it was possible for delegates to attending medical, nursing and laboratory streams thus enabling understanding and education on how to develop and strengthen transfusion medicine when they returned home.
Group picture
The conference was fortunate to have national and international speakers of a high calibre. Some of the highlights of the program included Prof Meghan Delaney (United States of America), the current president of Association for the Advancement of Blood Biotherapies (AABB) talk on Adverse transfusion reactions, Prof Rick Kapur (Netherlands) presented on immune functions of platelets, Nicole Thornton (United Kingdom) facilitated a masterclass on Solving complex immunohematology cases’ and Denise McKeown (Ireland) facilitated a masterclass on implementing patient blood management.
The Ruth Sanger oration was presented by Professor Alison Street AO on “History redux: Humanity, harm and healing”. An inspiring and thoughtful presentation on the lessons of history and how not to repeat these. The delegates were very grateful to ISBT Academy for the grant to attend Blood 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting.
Group photos from ANZSBT Blood 2024
Feedback from the three delegates confirms the value of the ISBT Academy Grant:
”The conference, hosted in one of Australia’s most vibrant cities, offered a blend of cutting-edge haematological science, global networking, and diverse perspectives on innovations shaping the field. It was a wonderful opportunity interacting with clinicians, researchers, and industry leaders, fostering a stimulating environment for scientific exchange and collaboration” - Joyisa Deb
“Interacting with clinicians, researchers, and industry executives was a once-in-a-lifetime experience”, “I could have never asked for more” - Purshotam Paudel
“Dr. Meghan Delaney talk on improving access to safe blood in developing nations was also beneficial to me. She talked about the challenges in low income countries that she worked in and how she improved that blood center. This helped me to understand that I was not alone in my struggles and how I could improve despite my challenges” - Priscilla Paua
