AABB2026: Meet the 2026 AABB Social Media Champions

Behind every AABB Annual Meeting badge is a story.

For some attendees, the meeting introduced them to lifelong collaborators. Others returned home with ideas that changed their practice, advanced patient care or shaped the next step in their careers.

This year, AABB is partnering with eight social media champions from across blood banking, transfusion medicine and biotherapies to share those stories.

Throughout the months leading up to the 2026 AABB Annual Meeting, champions will share personal experiences about how the Annual Meeting has influenced their professional growth, expanded their networks and impacted their work. They'll also share their perspectives and offer insights as the Annual Meeting approaches.

Whether you're attending for the first time or returning to reconnect with colleagues, these firsthand perspectives offer a look at the value of participating in the AABB community.

Meet the 2026 Social Media Champions

• Jasem Albasri, MSTM, SBB(ASCP)^CM, blood bank supervisor at Prince Sultan Military Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  
• Asawari (Asa) Bapat, MBBS, DPB, CPS, PGDHHM, CABP(H), DABRM, FABRM, clinical pathologist; global biotherapies consultant, AABB Consulting Services; founder and CEO, Questar, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
  
• Sophia Bellegarde, MD, MBA, MLS (ASCP)^CM, pathology resident, Harvard/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Mass.
  
• Chloe Homich, MLS(ASCP)SBB, CQA(ASQ), director of immunohematology for Blood Bank of Delmarva and Rhode Island Blood Center; adjunct faculty at University of Delaware, Department of Medical and Molecular Sciences, Newark, Del.
  
• Vasiliki E. Kalodimou, BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, CABP(H), director, flow cytometry-research and regenerative medicine department, IASO Maternity-Pediatric and Research Hospital, Athens, Greece; Assistant professor at the European University Cyprus - Frankfurt Branch.
  
• Shaughn Nalezinski, DCLS, MS, MLS(ASCP)SBB, MLS(AMT), manager, immunohematology reference laboratory, LifeSouth Community Blood Centers; lead medical laboratory scientist, Concord Hospital Health System, Concord, N.H.
  
• Homayemem (Homa) Weli, MD, PhD, MSc, FCAP, assistant professor, transfusion medicine and clinical pathology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Mo.
  
• Nalan Yurtsever, MD, assistant professor of laboratory medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.