M.A. Blajchman, MD, FRCP(C) qualified as a physician in 1964 at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. His post-graduate training was in internal medicine at the Graduate Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and in hematology at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London, England. Dr. Blajchman is currently Emeritus Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Pathology at McMaster University, as well as Medical Director of the Southern Ontario Centres of Canadian Blood Services. In September 2007, the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute appointed Dr. Blajchman as Chairman of the Transfusion Medicine and Hemostasis Clinical Trials Network, a collaboration of 17 US clinical centers.

Dr. Blajchman has published or has in press over 360 articles and book chapters relating to both Transfusion Medicine and hemostasis. He is also the Section Editor for the Transfusion section of BloodMed.com, and the founding and current Editor of the journal Transfusion Medicine Reviews, in its twenty-second year of publication. Dr. Blajchman remains active in several contemporary research areas relating to aspects of Transfusion Medicine and hemostasis, including hemostatic function of novel components, allogenic transfusion, blood safety, critical care patient treatment, and clotting factor interactions.

In his more than 30-year career, Dr. Blajchman has received many awards and honors. These include: in 2003, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Canadian Blood Services; in 2004, the Foundation Lectureship for the Royal College of Pathologists, London, England, and the Emily Cooley Award and Lectureship, also in 2004.

John D. Roback, MD, PhD is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Emory University. He serves as Co-Director of the Emory Center for Transfusion and Cellular Therapies and the Emory University Hospital Blood Bank, and is Director of the Stem Cell Processing Laboratory. Dr. Roback’s investigations of human, and animal models of CMV, focusing on regulation of leukocyte tropism and viral replication and latency, have resulted in four seed grants and Dr. Roback’s designation as a National Blood Foundation Scholar in 2000. He has also served as Co- or Principal Investigator on 3 R01 grants covering transfusion-transmitted CMV infections and development of novel methods to improve immune function after BMT. Dr. Roback has received 13 awards to develop improved technologies and diagnostic services for blood typing, antibody screening and compatibility testing; work which has resulted in 2 patents. He has authored or co-authored 35 research articles, 12 review articles, 23 book chapters, and has served as editor of three major transfusion medicine textbooks. He is also an active teacher and recipient of the Golden Apple Teaching Award as the best teacher in Clinical Pathology in 2003. In addition, Dr. Roback is Medical Director of the Emory Medical Technologist Training Program, Chair of the AABB Clinical Transfusion Medicine Committee, member of the AABB Abstracts Selection Committee, previous Chair of the National Blood Foundation Grants Review Panel, member of the TRANSFUSION editorial board, and Editor of the AABB Technical Manual. He served as Co-Chair of the NHLBI Global Blood Safety and Availability Strategic Planning Committee in 2006.

Dr. Reem Al Radwan, MD is currently General Director of the Administration and Medical Director of Kuwait Central Blood Bank, where she also acts as a consultant in transfusion medicine. The Kuwait Central Blood Bank is the only collection facility in Kuwait where blood is collected, processed, tested and distributed to all hospitals in government, private and military sectors. Since 2004, Dr. Radwan has been head of the committees responsible for maintaining the blood bank’s AABB accreditation. Dr. Radwan is a member of the Board of the Medical Laboratory Department of the Ministry of Health, the Board of Clinical Pathology at the Faculty Medicine of Kuwait Institute for Medical Specialization, and ICCBBA’s Middle East and Europe Technical Advisory Group (MEETAG). In her capacity as a member of the Scientific Committee of the Gulf Cooperative Council, Dr. Radwan is responsible for evaluating new technology for potential dissemination to other Gulf Nations. In addition to transfusion medicine, Dr. Radwan’s interests encompass hematology, hemostasis and pediatric hematology and she has been a frequent invited speaker at Kuwait University and at conferences throughout the Middle East. She has publications in the area of apolipoprotein E and has had numerous presentations at AABB, ISBT and local conferences. Dr. Radwan was educated at Kuwait University, London University and the Royal College of Pathologists in London. She holds a certificate in Transfusion Medicine from The Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh and is currently a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists (FRCPath) – Transfusion Medicine.