AABB is excited to celebrate this year’s recipients of our community’s prestigious awards. In this issue of AABB News, we present brief profiles of the seven leaders who are being recognized this year. All 2025 AABB awards will be presented at the AABB Annual Meeting, taking place Oct. 25-28 in San Diego. Congratulations to all of this year’s recipients!
Every year, one of the highlights of the AABB Annual Meeting is the presentation of the Landsteiner-Alter Award, followed by a lectureship from the recipient. Named in honor of the two Nobel Prize-winning scientists from the field of transfusion medicine – Karl Landsteiner, MD, whose research laid the foundation for modern blood transfusion therapy; and Harvey Alter, MD, whose research led to the identification of the hepatitis C virus – the Landsteiner-Alter Award “recognizes a scientist whose original research has resulted in an important contribution to the body of scientific knowledge” and is considered one of the highest honors in the field of blood and biotherapies.
This year, the prestigious award will be given to Tomas Ganz, MD, PhD, distinguished research professor of medicine and pathology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Ganz is recognized for his field-advancing research, which helped to expand knowledge of innate immunity and iron metabolism. In particular, Ganz’s discoveries of hepcidin and erythroferrone, two iron-regulating hormones, had a critical influence on the study of iron biology; his work helped to advance diagnostic procedures and therapies that have elevated patient care.
“There is no higher honor than being recognized by one’s peers.”
Ganz told AABB News he was proud that his work led to the development of new medications for patients with various medical conditions, including those with hemochromatosis, anemia and polycythemia vera (a rare form of blood cancer). In addition, Ganz’s findings led to a reevaluation of traditional iron therapy and led to optimization of its dosing and timing, which improved treatment options for countless patients with iron deficiency anemia.
2025 AABB Annual Meeting
Monday, October 27, 2025
8:15 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.
Location 20D
Ganz said he was thrilled to be this year’s recipient of AABB’s Landsteiner-Alter Award, particularly because of the two legendary scientists for whom the award is named. “Both Karl Landsteiner and Harvey Alter are giants in medicine and their work benefited millions of people,” he said. “I am awed and inspired by being honored by an award that carries their names.”
He added that he was particularly humbled to receive the award, since he was selected by other leaders in the field. “I am very grateful that my colleagues in blood and biotherapies appreciate our work,” he said. “There is no higher honor than being recognized by one’s peers.”
Tibor Greenwalt, for whom one of AABB’s most prestigious awards is named, was an influential member of the blood community. Among the many notable aspects of his life and career, he was the founding editor of Transfusion journal and was the first person to register for the first AABB Annual Meeting.
It is perhaps fitting that this year’s Tibor Greenwalt Memorial Award be given to another leader who has also had a singular influence on our community: Steven L. Spitalnik, MD, professor of pathology and cell biology, and former executive vice chair for laboratory medicine, at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Spitalnik is being honored for his years of invaluable service and leadership and, in particular, for his indispensable research on red blood cell biology and the glycobiology of human blood group antigens.
“My life and my career have benefited greatly from the support, advice and friendship of many mentors along the way.”
Spitalnik told AABB News that he was honored to receive an award named after such an eminent member of the field. “This recognition is particularly meaningful to me because I knew Dr. Greenwalt a bit when I first started attending AABB Annual Meetings in the early 1980s,” Spitalnik said. “I have distinct memories of him sitting in the front row and listening intently to important presentations, along with his wife, Dr. Pia Glas-Greenwalt, and other luminaries in our field; these were, and remain, heroes to me.”
2025 AABB Annual Meeting
Sunday, October 26, 2025
8:15 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.
Location 20D
Spitalnik has been known throughout his career as an influential mentor to others in the field. He said he was pleased that he could take on this role and feels that he is passing on benefits that he received from mentors earlier in his career. “My life and my career have benefited greatly from the support, advice and friendship of many mentors along the way,” he said. “I am grateful for the many people who have helped and advised me and continue to help and advise me. Mentoring others is meaningful to me as a way of giving back to others, while simultaneously also enriching my own life.”
At this year’s AABB Annual Meeting, the prestigious Emily Cooley Memorial Award will be given to a well-known and influential member of our community: Michael F. Murphy, MD, FRCP, FRCPath, FFPath, professor of transfusion medicine at the University of Oxford and consultant hematologist for NHS Blood & Transplant and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Murphy, who served as the 2018-2019 AABB president and previously served as a member of the AABB Board of Directors, as well as various other AABB committees, is being recognized for his “many years of strong and generous leadership in the blood and biotherapies field, both in the United Kingdom and throughout the world.” He is also being lauded for his important role as an educator, researcher, mentor and essential leader in the field, as well as his decades of work in the field, which led to critical advancements in transfusion safety and clinical practice.
“It is very meaningful and humbling for me to win the Emily Cooley Memorial award and to follow in the footsteps of previous winners of this award who are amazing people—giants in our field.”
Murphy said he is honored to be selected for the Emily Cooley Memorial Award and shared the recognition with his colleagues. “It is very meaningful and humbling for me to win the Emily Cooley Memorial Award and to follow in the footsteps of previous winners of this award who are amazing people—giants in our field,” he told AABB News. “It is recognition for the achievements and work done in many years of collaboration with colleagues in the Oxford hospitals, NHS Blood & Transplant, as well as organizations throughout the world, in efforts to improve the safety and quality of transfusion practice.”
2025 AABB Annual Meeting
Monday, October 27, 2025
3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Location 33
Murphy said he was enthusiastic about the opportunity to deliver his Emily Cooley lecture in San Diego. “I have heard many great Emily Cooley Memorial Award lectures in past years, and I look forward to the great honor of giving my own,” he said. He added that attending the AABB Annual Meeting was always a highlight for him every year and he appreciates the many benefits of attending. “I look forward to learning from others and, of course, to connecting with many old friends from around the world, as well the AABB staff. I also look forward to participating in the AABB Foundation’s 5K Run for Research on the Sunday morning and enjoying the company of others doing the same.”
Since 1982, AABB has bestowed the Sally Frank Memorial Award every year at the AABB Annual Meeting to an influential leader who has made important contributions to immunohematology. This year, this award will be given to Thierry Peyrard, PharmD, PhD, responsible person for the quality and safety of blood products, director of medical affairs and research at Etablissement Français du Sang (EFS, France).
Throughout his career, Peyrard has made extraordinary contributions to advancing immunohematology. His research helped to identify 10 novel blood group systems and expanded our understanding of many red cell antigens. Importantly, Peyrard’s research helped advance therapeutic options for patents with rare blood types and others who were previously considered “complex cases” by health care providers. Additionally, Peyrard has long been known as a leader in the field who prioritized collaboration and training of younger generations. He is well-respected for mentorship of others and for being a generous collaborator in his research projects.
Peyrard told AABB News he was deeply honored to be this year’s Sally Frank Memorial Award recipient. “Receiving this award from AABB is a deeply meaningful honor – both professionally and personally,” he said. “Being recognized by a medical association of such distinction carries particular significance. AABB has played a key role in my development, not only for the intellectual community it fosters, but also for the many opportunities for networking, mentorship and collaboration it has provided throughout my career. Being acknowledged by an organization that has played such a formative role in my academic and personal development makes this award particularly special.”
“Being acknowledged by an organization that has played such a formative role in my academic and personal development makes this award particularly special.”
2025 AABB Annual Meeting
Monday, October 27, 2025
2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Location: Room 33
Peyrard also discussed his role as a mentor and stressed that he benefited as a mentee earlier in his career. “I have been fortunate to have incredible mentors throughout my career – in France, Switzerland and in the United States – and I see it both as a responsibility and a privilege to pay that forward,” he said. “I believe that sharing knowledge, whether in the classroom or across borders through international collaboration and contribution to education sessions at congresses, is one of the most powerful ways to advance our field.”
Peyrard added that he is a regular attendee at AABB Annual Meetings and is looking forward to joining the blood and biotherapies community in San Diego in October. “As always, it will be a real pleasure to meet and talk with many colleagues and people who have become true friends at the AABB Annual Meeting,” he said. “My very first AABB Annual Meeting was in Miami Beach in 2006, and I was as excited as I was stressed at the idea of meeting illustrious figures in the world of immunohematology. But I was warmly welcomed by everyone I met and immediately formed my first connections. This Annual Meeting in San Diego will be the fifteenth one I have attended – and receiving this award there will give this meeting a very special significance.”
One of the field’s renowned leaders in quality and cellular therapies will receive this year’s Hemphill-Jordan Leadership Award. The 2025 honoree is J. Wade Atkins, MS,MLS(SBB), CAPB(H), CQA, supervisor of the Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health.
Atkins, a longtime AABB member and distinguished leader in the field, is being recognized for his “role in leading advances in quality in transfusion medicine and biotherapies for decades.” Throughout his career, Atkins’s work has been instrumental in advancing quality and supporting the field. He played an integral role in developing multiple essential resources for the field, including the AABB Standards for Cellular Therapies, the Circular of Information for the Use of Cellular Therapy Products, and various cellular therapy handbooks and education tools. In addition, his work on AABB committees helped to advance quality and share best practices across the field.
“This year, I am excited to celebrate this award with all my colleagues who have so freely welcomed me into their circle, mentored, coached, and taught me many things throughout the years and have allowed me to re-share these lessons with others.”
Atkins said he was deeply honored to have been chosen to receive this year’s Hemphill-Jordan Leadership Award. “Being named the recipient of the Hemphill-Jordan award is an overwhelming honor,” he told AABB News. “To be recognized by my peers – who are all are great teachers, mentors, leaders and role models – as an outstanding leader means that my service to this community of such passionate care providers, seems to have made a lasting impact – or at least an impression.”
2025 AABB Annual Meeting
Sunday, October 26, 2025
5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Location: 29
Long known for his focus on quality standards for the field, Atkins was pleased that the award recognizes his work in this capacity. “Quality does not come by chance, but by a very systematic approach for lowering risk of harm to others,” he said. “Understanding, developing and implementing systems that function is an exciting challenge and a great puzzle to piece together. I have been a student of the science and art of crafting quality systems for more than 30 years but learn something new almost every day. To be allowed to share those lessons with others is a great honor and privilege.”
Atkins added that in addition to receiving his award, he looks forward to connecting with his fellow AABB members at the AABB Annual Meeting in October. “I am really looking forward to hearing about all the new and exciting advancements from science and innovation in the sessions at this year’s meeting,” he said. “I most enjoy the collaborations and project ideas that are generated in impromptu meetings between sessions and at lunch or dinner. This year, I am excited to celebrate this award with all my colleagues who have so freely welcomed me into their circle, mentored, coached and taught me many things throughout the years and have allowed me to re-share these lessons with others.”
This year’s recipient of AABB’s John Elliott Memorial Award is a familiar face to many in the blood and biotherapies field: Yvette Tanhehco, PhD, MD, MS, CABP, associate professor of pathology and cell biology, medical director of the cellular therapy laboratory, and assistant medical director of transfusion medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York Presbyterian Hospital.
Tanhehco is recognized this year for her many years of “strong leadership, commitment and critical contributions to the blood and biotherapies community.” In particular, Tanhehco is being lauded for her work on various AABB committees – many of which she has chaired – that has resulted in important benefits for the field, including the publication of critical research and valuable education initiatives.
“My committee work has enabled me to contribute to projects and publications that have helped advance the field.”
Tanhehco has been a member of AABB for most of her career and has been very active in committees and other interest groups. She told AABB News that this work was instrumental in making her career more fulfilling. “I enjoy being part of a group of committed individuals working toward a common goal,” she said. “My committee work has enabled me to contribute to projects and publications that have helped advance the field. It has allowed me to network with my colleagues and get to know experts in the field. I have made a lot of friends outside of my institution throughout the years through AABB – many of whom have been there to help guide me through challenges in my career.”
2025 AABB Annual Meeting
Monday, October 27, 2025
12:05 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Location: 29
Tanhehco said she was honored and humbled at her selection as the 2025 John Elliott Memorial Award recipient. “I am deeply grateful for having been chosen for this award,” she said. “It is a recognition and appreciation for my contributions to the AABB community and the field of blood banking, transfusion medicine, apheresis and biotherapies.”
She added that she is looking forward to attending the AABB Annual Meeting in San Diego this October. “I always look forward to the education sessions and reconnecting with friends, many of whom I would otherwise not see in person,” Tanhehco said. “The AABB Annual Meeting is always a great place to learn about current issues, practices and trends.”
The Dale A. Smith Memorial Award is presented every year at the AABB Annual Meeting to recognize a leader in the field who has performed “groundbreaking work performed in the application of technology to the practice of transfusion medicine or biotherapies.” This year’s recipient is Raymond P. Goodrich, PhD, professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and pathology at Colorado State University.
Goodrich, a longtime member of our association and current member of the AABB Board of Directors, is being recognized for his pioneering research, which led to the development and implementation of pathogen-reduction technology. Goodrich’s work helped lead to important advancement in blood safety worldwide and is linked to reductions in the risk for transfusion-transmitted diseases. In addition, his research has led to lasting contributions in helping to ensure that blood is safe and available for more patients in need.
Goodrich told AABB News he was honored and humbled to receive this award, but that many collaborators throughout his career made it possible. “Winning this award is the culmination of a journey that started in 1989, when we first formulated a concept of approaching blood safety in a different way than had been traditionally utilized,” Goodrich said. “It represents a recognition of the work – not just my own – but also that of many colleagues who spent countless hours in the commitment to help patients by providing blood products with a reduced risk of disease transmission.”
“Winning this award is the culmination of a journey that started in 1989, when we first formulated a concept of approaching blood safety in a different way than had been traditionally utilized.”
Goodrich added that he was accepting the award on behalf of the many people in the field who worked toward the shared goal of a safer blood supply. “Accepting this award is not on my behalf alone, but also in recognition of the efforts made by many in order to make this technology available,” he said. “As I have aged, I look back and realize how difficult it is to truly accomplish anything in a full and meaningful way. I stand amazed at how far we have come and so grateful that this is a journey that I had the opportunity and blessing to share with so many outstanding scientists, medical professionals, colleagues and friends.”
This award also carries a personal facet for Goodrich, since he met Dale A. Smith many years ago. “Very early in my career, I had the great pleasure to meet Dale,” Goodrich explained. “We spent time discussing pathogen-reduction technology and how it might be applied to blood products to address blood safety in a proactive way. It was an honor for me to be part of those discussions. To me, receiving an award named in honor of Dale. A Smith is humbling and also incredibly gratifying, especially knowing what he did to advance the field and how we take much of his work addressing blood safety for granted today. It is important to remember what it took to get here.”
Every year, the AABB Foundation presents the Award for Innovative Research to a scientist whose original research has resulted in important contributions to the body of scientific knowledge in transfusion medicine or biotherapies. This year’s honoree is David Roh, MD, assistant professor of neurology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
Roh is being recognized for his 2020 AABB Foundation-funded research on red blood cell contributions to coagulopathy and cerebral oxygenation after intracerebral hemorrhage. Roh’s novel research and his findings have led to important new understandings about coagulation, hemostasis and cerebral oxygen delivery and have helped to advance treatments for patients with intracerebral hemorrhage. In the five years since Roh was awarded his AABB Foundation grant, he has worked on 27 studies that were published in peer reviewed journals; he served as the primary investigator for five of these studies.
“As a neurologist, winning this award is an extraordinary honor and a testament of AABB and the blood and biotherapies community’s incredible support for inter-disciplinary collaborations and investigator career development.”
“Through this research, we've established that anemia plays a causal role in acute ongoing bleeding risk in the initial hours after intracerebral hemorrhage, as well as downstream impaired cerebral oxygen delivery leading to secondary ischemic brain injury that occurs over the ensuing hours to days,” he told AABB News. “Given anemia’s bimodal role in worsening outcomes for patients who have experienced an intracerebral hemorrhage stroke, we believe this supports assessing whether anemia treatments and prevention strategies can be implemented to improve these patients' outcomes.”
Roh said he was honored to have been recognized by the AABB Foundation. “As a neurologist, winning this award is an extraordinary honor and a testament of AABB and the blood and biotherapies community’s incredible support for inter-disciplinary collaborations and investigator career development,” Roh said. “Through the support of the AABB Foundation, I've established trusted collaborators, mentors and friends in the transfusion community that have helped me develop a unique investigative niche at the intersection of transfusion medicine and stroke care that I hope will translate into novel treatment approaches that can improve hemorrhagic stroke patient outcomes.”
Roh added that he was pleased to be able to attend the 2025 AABB Annual Meeting in San Diego in October. “I'm looking forward to seeing friends and collaborators in person while learning about novel blood products and transfusion approaches that may have implications in hemorrhagic stroke care,” he said.
Transfusion is AABB’s scholarly, peer-reviewed monthly journal, publishing the latest on technological advances, clinical research and controversial issues related to transfusion medicine, blood banking, biotherapies and tissue transplantation. Access of Transfusion is free to all AABB members.
Learn More About Transfusion Journal
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To submit news about the blood and biotherapies field to AABB, please email news@aabb.org.
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