In Focus
The tenth anniversary of the ISBT Working Party on Immunohaematology!
Happy birthday IHWP!
Thierry Peyrard
French Blood Establishment (EFS) Île-de-France, Paris, France Read bio >
In 2013, under the strong impetus of Sandra Nance (USA) to the ISBT Board of Directors and ISBT Central Office, the possibility of creating a new Working Party dedicated to immunohaematology was raised.
A first informal meeting took place in 2013 at the ISBT Congress in Seoul, South Korea. Sandra Nance then became the interim Chair of this new Working Party. A small group of 10 persons met in October 2014 in Amsterdam at the ISBT Central Office: Sofia Lejon Crottet (Switzerland), Abdullah Meshi (Saudi Arabia), Mostafa Moghaddam (Iran), Sandra Nance (USA), Cinzia Paccapelo (Italy), Thierry Peyrard (France), Nicole Thornton (United Kingdom), Franz Wagner (Germany), Jenny White (United Kingdom), and Ziyan Zhu (China).
This small group continued the work started during the meeting in Seoul, especially aiming at defining the scope, topics of interest, and terms of reference of the new Working Party. In 2015, an Executive Committee was elected: Thierry Peyrard (Chair), Nicole Thornton (Vice-Chair), Sofia Lejon-Crottet (Secretary), and Mostafa Moghaddam (Treasurer).
The "newly" established Immunohaematology Working Party met in London during the 2015 ISBT congress.
Our Working Party brings together ISBT members working in the field of immunohaematology and focuses on practical subjects common to immunohaematology practice: educational activities, website communications, exchanges of information and rare samples, recommendations for best practice, supporting developing countries in an advisory capacity. The Working Party also promotes best practice and facilitate improvements in immunohaematology through education, communication, exchange of ideas/resources and support in the areas of red cell serology, molecular testing, antigen/allele matching and transfusion recommendations.
In 2015, our Working Party included 25 members from 15 countries. There are now 44 members from 26 countries, across 6 continents, making this Working Party an exceptionally rich international network!
Highlights of the past 10 years include the following activities and events: workshop on the clinical significance of red cell alloantibodies (Dubai ISBT Congress, 2016), international surveys of professional practices, posting of numerous case studies in immunohaematology on the ISBT website (41 cases as of today), suggestions of topics for ISBT Academy Days and proposal of scientific and working party sessions for ISBT Congresses, etc.
Happy Immunohaematology Working Party members at the Barcelona congress, in 2024 June.
2024 is a special year, with the election of a new executive committee: Nicole Thornton (Chair), Sofia Lejon Crottet (Vice Chair), Sue Johnson (Secretary), Peter Ligthart (Treasurer). Five subgroups of the Working Party were also created this year: serologic testing, molecular testing, staff education and training, immunohaematology reagents, and quality assurance and accreditation in the immunohematology laboratory. This “In Focus” issue of Transfusion Today, dedicated to our Working Party activities, will especially discuss examples of the future activities and challenges of these sub-groups.
As the Past Chair of the Working Party on Immunohaematolgy, I would like to warmly thank Sandra Nance for her decisive and essential role in the creation of this Working Party, and say how wonderful and enriching it has been to work with all the members of the Executive Committee and the members of this fantastic international group over the past 9 years!
I wholeheartedly wish the new Executive Committee all the best for the future, with many wonderful and new exciting projects to come!
