Proceedings of the AABB blood center executive summit

Christopher France; Peter Marks; Jefferson Jones; Graham Sher; Jan M Bult; Jeffrey L Winters; J Mills Barbeau; Bob Carden; Leah Mendelsohn Stone

doi:10.1111/trf.16054

Proceedings of the AABB blood center executive summit

Transfusion. 2020 Sep:60 Suppl 4:S1-S16. doi: 10.1111/trf.16054.

Authors

Christopher France¹, Peter Marks², Jefferson Jones³, Graham Sher⁴, Jan M Bult⁵, Jeffrey L Winters⁶, J Mills Barbeau⁷, Bob Carden⁸, Leah Mendelsohn Stone⁹

Affiliations

¹ Psychology Department, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA.
² Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.
³ Office of Blood, Organ, and Other Tissue Safety, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
⁴ Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
⁵ Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association, Annapolis, Maryland, USA.
⁶ Division of Transfusion Medicine, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
⁷ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University Alpert Medical School, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
⁸ Commonwealth Transfusion Foundation, Glen Allen, Virginia, USA.
⁹ AABB National Office, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

PMID: 32930442
DOI: 10.1111/trf.16054

Abstract

AABB hosted the Blood Center Executive Summit on 20 October 2019 during the AABB Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas. The session was sponsored by the Commonwealth Transfusion Foundation, a nonprofit, private foundation whose mission is to inspire and champion research and education that optimizes clinical outcomes in transfusion medicine and ensures a safe and sustainable blood supply for the United States. The Summit focused on the intersection of blood centers and plasma centers. Presenters and attendees explored existing and needed data, regulatory requirements, risks and benefits of different donor models, and future direction of the plasma community and blood centers. The Summit also identified priority issues that warrant further investigation and provide opportunities to drive progress. Introductory remarks provided context for the Summit presentations. Debra BenAvram, FASAE, CAE, Chief Executive Officer, AABB (Bethesda, Maryland), noted that during the past year, she and other AABB staff have had many discussions with blood center executives on key issues and challenges. In these talks, many executives requested that AABB provide programming specifically for this member segment. The Summit is a direct result of those requests, and the AABB supports a fruitful discussion as well as important and actionable next steps. Kevin Belanger, DHS, MS, MT(ASCP)SBB, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Shepeard Community Blood Center (Evans, Georgia), observed that he and his colleagues have seen a decrease in the donor base and, at the same time, an increase in plasma centers. He also noted that the resulting discussions about competition and donor compensation have been muted. The Summit provides a forum for a broad, open discussion that can be the start of something important. As chair of the Summit planning committee, he thanked both panelists and audience members for participating. Bob Carden, Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Transfusion Foundation (Richmond, Virginia), who moderated the Summit, joined BenAvram and Belanger in welcoming participants to the day's presentations. He emphasized the need for data and noted that one outcome of the day would be a list of potential research projects that could be pursued and considered for funding.

Publication types

Introductory Journal Article

MeSH terms

Congresses as Topic*
Societies, Scientific
Transfusion Medicine*