2009 Award Recipients

Memorial Awards and Lectureships

2009 Chapman-Franzmeier Memorial Award and Lectureship
2009 Dale A. Smith Memorial Award
2009 David B. Pall Prize for Innovative Research in Transfusion Medicine
2009 Emily Cooley Memorial Award and Lectureship
2009 Hemphill-Jordan Leadership Award
2009 John Elliott Memorial Award
2009 Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award and Lectureship
2009 Tibor Greenwalt Memorial Award and Lectureship
2009 President’s Award
2009 Outstanding Achievement Award – Organization

2009 Awards of Merit

Award of Merit – Business
Award of Merit – Education
Award of Merit – Group
Award of Merit – Individual
Award of Merit – Newspaper
Award of Merit – Promotional Partnerships and Other Media
Award of Merit – Television

2009 AABB-Fenwal Scholarship Awards

SBB Student Awards
SBB Student Award Honorable Mention
TMF Awards

2009 Chapman-Franzmeier Memorial Award and Lectureship
The Chapman-Franzmeier Memorial Award and Lectureship, created in 1983, recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions locally and nationally to effectively enhance the recruitment of blood donors.

Diane de Coning
Independent Consultant
Johannesburg, South Africa

Citation: For demonstrating exceptional worldwide leadership in donor recruitment and retention, including a specific focus with the 25 and under age demographic. She has enthusiastically shared her expertise and creativity with thousands of colleagues around the globe throughout her entire blood banking career.

2009 Dale A. Smith Memorial Award
This award, created in 2002, honors Dale A. Smith, a long-time Baxter Healthcare executive who was responsible for establishing the Fenwal Division of Baxter. The award recognizes groundbreaking work performed in the application of technology to the practice of transfusion medicine by an individual or an institution. Recipient is selected by the National Blood Foundation (NBF) Scientific Grants Review Committee with formal approval by the NBF Board of Trustees.

Dudley W.C. Spencer, PhD
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors
Denco, Inc.
Wilmington, Del.

Citation: For his novel invention of the sterile connecting device, which has made a significant impact on the practice of transfusion medicine.

2009 David B. Pall Prize for Innovative Research in Transfusion Medicine
The David B. Pall Prize for Innovative Research in Transfusion Medicine was created in 2005 to honor Pall Corporation’s founder, whose lifetime research advanced the practice of transfusion therapy. This award recognizes a scientist whose original research resulted in an important contribution to the body of scientific knowledge. Recipient is selected by the National Blood Foundation (NBF) Scientific Grants Review Committee with formal approval by the NBF Board of Trustees.

Lan Zhou, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, Ohio

Citation: For her completed National Blood Foundation funded research entitled, “Regulation of Granulopoiesis by Fucosylated Glycans through Selectin-mediated Adhesion and Fringemodified Notch Signaling Pathways,” which has provided great insight to improving transfusion medicine outcomes.

2009 Emily Cooley Memorial Award and Lectureship
The Emily Cooley Memorial Award and Lectureship began as a lectureship in 1963, and was designated as a Memorial Award in 1983. This award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated teaching ability and has made a major contribution to the field of immunohematology and transfusion medicine or cellular therapies. Recipient is selected by the Annual Meeting Education Program Unit with formal approval by AABB’s Board of Directors.

Mark Alan Popovsky, MD
Associate Clinical Professor
Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center;
Vice President and Chief Medical Officer
Haemonetics Corporation
Braintree, Mass.

Citation: For his distinguished record of accomplishments in the field of transfusion medicine including research, education and clinical practice. He has been an active supporter of the educational mission of AABB through service as associate editor of TRANSFUSION and participation on multiple committees as member and chair. He has played an instrumental role in developing highly successful, innovative programs for training transfusion medicine specialists.

2009 Hemphill-Jordan Leadership Award
This award, renamed in 2005, honors leaders from the blood banking and transfusion medicine community, including Bernice Hemphill, W. Quinn Jordan, and Joel Solomon. The award recognizes an individual who made significant contributions in the areas of administration, quality programs, law and/or government affairs. Recipient is selected by AABB’s Administrative Section Coordinating Committee with formal approval by AABB’s Board of Directors.

William B. Lockwood, PhD, MD
Clinical Professor and Director of Transfusion Services and Tissue/Bone Bank University of Louisville Hospital
Louisville, Ky.

Citation: For providing years of outstanding leadership in the areas of transfusion medicine, coagulation and quality, and for generously sharing his expertise in billing and coding for blood and transfusion services.

2009 John Elliott Memorial Award
The John Elliott Memorial Award, established in 1956, recognizes an individual who has given outstanding service to AABB by demonstrating a willingness to lend his/her expertise to the association through work on committees, the AABB Board of Directors and other areas. Recipient is selected by AABB’s Scientific Section Coordinating Committee with formal approval by AABB’s Board of Directors.

Connie M. Westhoff, SBB, PhD
Scientific Director
American Red Cross and University of Pennsylvania
Division of Transfusion Medicine
Philadelphia, Pa.

Citation: For her dedication to the field of immunohematology. Dr. Westhoff is a past AABB Board member, past chair of AABB’s Scientific Section Coordinating Committee, and current chair of the National Blood Foundation Scientific Grants Review Committee that distributes more than $500,000 in funding to early-career researchers annually.

2009 Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award and Lectureship
This award was created in 1954 to honor Karl Landsteiner, MD, whose lifetime research laid the foundation for modern blood transfusion therapy. The award recognizes a scientist whose original research resulted in an important contribution to the body of scientific knowledge. Recipient is selected by AABB’s Board of Directors.

Curt I. Civin, MD
Associate Dean for Research; Director, Center for Stem Cell Biology; and Professor of Pediatrics
University of Maryland, School of Medicine
Baltimore, Md.

Citation: For his pioneering research discoveries relating to the cellular and molecular biology of the stem and progenitor cell, including the identification and isolation of the CD34+ progenitor cell, which dramatically improved cellular therapies and bone marrow transplantation.

2009 Tibor Greenwalt Memorial Award and Lectureship
This award honors Tibor Greenwalt, MD, the first registrant at the first AABB Annual Meeting and founding editor of TRANSFUSION. The award recognizes an individual who made major scientific or clinical contributions to hematology and transfusion medicine and succinctly communicated these advances. Recipient is selected by the Annual Meeting Education Program Unit with formal approval by AABB’s Board of Directors.

John W. Semple, PhD
Director of Transfusion Medicine Research
St. Michael’s Hospital
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Citation: For his important contributions to the body of scientific knowledge in immunohematology, particularly in relation to the cellular immune aspects of physiologic and pathophysiologic processes. Dr. Semple’s research has focused on two areas: understanding the cellular immune response to transfusion, platelet transfusions in particular; and understanding the pathogenesis of autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) and the mechanisms of action of its therapies.

2009 President’s Award
This honor recognizes extraordinary public service and contributions by an individual or an organization in the health care arena. The recipient’s work furthers AABB’s goals and mission.

Jerry A. Holmberg, PhD
Senior Advisor for Blood Policy
Executive Secretary of the Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability
Office of the Secretary, Office of Public Health and Science
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Rockville, Md.

Matthew J. Kuehnert, MD, FACP
CAPT, U.S. Public Health Service
Director, Office of Blood, Organ, and other Tissue Safety
Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, NCPDCID, CCID
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Ga.

D. Michael Strong, PhD, MT(ASCP)
Chair
AABB Interorganizational Task Force on Biovigilance
Seattle, Wash.

Citation: For envisioning and championing the United States Biovigilance Network, the first and only national collaboration between government and nongovernment agencies focused on recognizing, reporting, tracking and analyzing adverse reactions and incidents associated with blood collection and transfusion as well as tissue, organ, and cell therapy transplantation. With this collaborative network in place, there is great potential in evaluating the data collected so that best practice recommendations and therapeutic protocols can be developed to improve patient safety and reduce health care costs.

2009 Outstanding Achievement Award – Organization
This award recognizes an organization that, on a national scale, promotes and supports voluntary blood donations.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Los Angeles, Calif.
Nominated by American Red Cross, Connecticut Blood Services

Citation: For its diligent efforts to increase national awareness about the importance of blood donation. “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” continues to air episodes that involve blood donation storylines, and holds numerous blood drives within the communities from which it broadcasts. To date, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” blood drives have resulted in the collection of more than 12,000 units of blood.

2009 Awards of Merit
The Awards of Merit are presented by AABB to media and/or public-spirited groups and individuals who have made significant contributions to blood banking and transfusion medicine at the local level.

Award of Merit – Business
Includes profit and not-for-profit business organizations/corporations. Nominees are judged on their significant participation and support of blood banking and transfusion medicine as compared with other area businesses.

CenterPoint Energy Houston, Texas

Nominated by Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center

Citation: For its exemplary and continuous commitment to saving lives in the Gulf Coast region. With multiple locations around the Houston area, CenterPoint Energy commits to hosting regular blood drives at all of its company locations, resulting in employees donating more than 4,500 units of blood each year. The company expresses its gratitude to each sites’ blood drive coordinator by hosting an annual awards banquet for these individuals. CenterPoint Energy also provides in-kind contributions to the blood center’s “Power Of Life” high school program, which accounts for more than 20 percent of the area’s mobile blood collections.

Award of Merit – Education
Includes high schools, vocational schools, colleges, universities, and other educational facilities with outstanding participation in blood drives and a general support of blood banking within the community.

Brenham High School Brenham, Texas

Nominated by Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center

Citation: For its 30-year support of an exceptional high school blood program. Its 2008 “Exceed the Need” blood drive surpassed all previous donation records set by the high school, collecting a total of 572 units from 483 donors. That same year about one-third of all blood donations given in the city of Brenham were made at Brenham High School blood drives.

Award of Merit – Group
Recognizes the efforts of groups, such as chambers of commerce and civic and religious organizations, for their significant participation and support of blood banking.

United States Air Force Basic Military Training 737th Training Group, Lackland Air Force Base San Antonio, Texas
Nominated by the 59th Laboratory Squadron

Citation: For providing tireless and historical blood donation support that has greatly assisted with fulfilling the blood needs of the San Antonio region, including military families, wounded warriors and civilians. The USAF Basic Military Training donations allow shipment of more than 12,000 blood products annually to military operations worldwide. Throughout the past 10 years, USAF Basic Military Training has held 1,500 blood drives, which have resulted in the collection of 131,139 whole blood units and 9,843 apheresis products. Awards

Award of Merit – Individual
Recognizes an individual who, on a local level, promotes and supports voluntary blood donations. The award recognizes the single greatest contribution, by non-blood bank employees, to enhance the field of blood banking and transfusion medicine.

Jackie Johnson
American Red Cross
Clemmons, N.C.

Nominated by American Red Cross Carolinas Blood Services Region

Citation: For her steadfast altruism as a blood drive sponsor, passionate intern, dedicated volunteer and enthusiastic advocate; and for personalizing the blood donation message by bringing her story of survival to her region.

Award of Merit – Newspaper
Recognizes newspapers for inclusion of feature articles and public service announcements (PSAs), as well as response to blood emergencies.

St. Augustine Record St. Augustine, Fla.

Nominated by Blood Center of the St. Johns - The Blood Alliance Citation: For its outstanding efforts in educating the community about the importance of blood donation. In 2008, this newspaper published a total of 72 news items and feature articles for purposes of helping to ensure a stable blood supply for the surrounding community. In addition, the paper sponsored two blood drives, and a member of its staff joined the blood center’s advisory board.

Award of Merit – Promotional Partnerships and Other Media
Recognizes promotional partnerships, special events and alternative media outlets that promote public understanding of blood banking and transfusion medicine via creative means. This category includes deserving organizations that significantly support blood donation, but do not quite fit into the Business or Group categories.

Baskin-Robbins™ San Diego, Calif.

Nominated by BloodSource

Citation: For its 23-year promotional partnership with blood collection facilities across the nation to help encourage blood donations. Throughout the years, the company has distributed coast-to-coast more than 3.5 million “Pint for Pint” ice cream and “Pound for Pint” coffee certificates to assist with blood collection recruitment efforts.

Award of Merit – Television
Recognizes television stations that respond to blood emergencies and provide media exposure, including creative involvement and air time for coverage of blood banking and transfusion medicine topics.

Univision 19 and TeleFutura 64 Sacramento, Calif.
Nominated by BloodSource

Citation: For its commitment to increasing awareness about the need for blood donors within the Hispanic community through education and recruitment. In eight years, the Univision 19 and TeleFutura 64 blood drive has grown from 263 donations to 2,620 with regional Hispanic blood donations increasing from 6.4 percent to 10 percent.

2009 AABB-Fenwal Scholarship Awards
The AABB-Fenwal Scholarship Awards, supported by Fenwal Inc., are awarded to persons accepted for enrollment, enrolled in, or recently graduated from an accredited Specialist in Blood Banking (SBB) program or accredited Transfusion Medicine Fellowship. These scholarships, initiated in 1992, promote interest in research, development, and continuing education in the field of transfusion medicine.

SBB Student Awards
Leslie Cooper, MT(ASCP)SBB
Rebecca Lam

SBB Student Award Honorable Mention
Dee Gribble, MT(ASCP)SBB

TMF Awards
Eldad A. Hod, MD
Sumithira Vasu, MD