AABB

This month, AABB's accreditation and quality team reunited at our office to say goodbye to Major Nicholas Greene, MLS (ASCP), center, as he completed his training with industry assignment through the Armed Services Blood Program (ASBP).

Greene joined AABB last year through the U.S. Army's Long Term Health Education and Training Program to deepen his understanding of accreditation, standards and the regulatory landscape shaping transfusion medicine.

During his time with AABB, he contributed to the development of BBTS and IRL assessment tools and supported projects that help strengthen the resources AABB provides to accredited centers and the field. He was promoted to the rank of major on June 1.

Thank you, Nick, for your many contributions to AABB and to the colleagues who had the opportunity to learn alongside you. We are grateful to the Armed Services Blood Program for its continued partnership in strengthening quality, safety and readiness across the field.

Salam dari Kuala Lumpur! 🇲🇾

AABB is attending the ISBT Congress this week, where transfusion medicine and blood banking professionals from around the world are coming together to share knowledge, discuss emerging challenges and explore advances in the field.

If you're attending, stop by the AABB booth to meet our team and learn more about our educational resources, publications and programs.

We look forward to connecting with colleagues throughout the meeting.

Amy Cohen expected to cry when she crossed the finish line of the 2025 New York City Marathon.

Instead, she stood in stunned silence.

After three years of training, Cohen had just become the first sickle cell warrior to complete a marathon.

The moment carried the weight of a lifetime: an inherited blood disorder diagnosed before birth, years of painful crises as a teenager, a treatment journey that helped her regain stability and a goal that once seemed impossible.

On World Sickle Cell Day, we're sharing Cohen's remarkable story and her message to other sickle cell warriors: "If I can do it, you can too."

Read her story in the June issue of AABB News:
https://bit.ly/4vWjgke

The Technical Manual is more than a publication. It is the collective knowledge of our field.

When cases are complex and there is no obvious answer, transfusion medicine professionals turn to the Technical Manual for trusted guidance, built on the expertise of generations of professionals advancing practice.

Transfusion medicine has evolved. The Technical Manual has evolved with it.

The next chapter begins this July.

Patients with cancer face an elevated risk of perioperative thrombosis, which has contributed to concerns about using tranexamic acid during surgery.

A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that a hospital policy of administering TXA during major noncardiac surgery reduced RBC transfusions without increasing venous thromboembolism.

More than 60% of surgeries included in the trial were performed for oncologic indications, and investigators said the findings provide reassurance that TXA can be safely administered to patients with cancer undergoing major noncardiac surgery.

Read more on the AABB Newsfeed: https://bit.ly/4exMuiC

Doreen Rowell-Tetteh always knew she wanted to become a mother.

But living with sickle cell disease meant confronting difficult questions about how pregnancy could affect her health, what it might mean for her baby, and how to build the right care team to support them both.

In the latest issue of AABB News, Rowell-Tetteh shares her experience navigating two high-risk pregnancies and reflects on the importance of having a care team that communicated, coordinated, and stood by her every step of the way.

Read the full story: https://bit.ly/44fJTEV

Not everyone gets a birthday celebration more than a century later. 🎉🩸

Today, we celebrate Karl Landsteiner, born 158 years ago, whose discovery of the ABO blood group system transformed medicine forever.

We also recognize the donors whose generosity helps save lives every day.

Blood is an essential medicine that only comes from volunteer blood donors.

On World Blood Donor Day, AABB joins the global community in recognizing the generosity of those who donate blood and help ensure patients have access to life-saving transfusions.

Thank you to all who give. ❤️

World Blood Donor Day is this Sunday, and there's still time to take part in the AABB Foundation's virtual 5k or 1-mile run and walk.

Thank you to everyone who is already stepping up to support the AABB Foundation's work to advance research in transfusion medicine and biotherapies. Congratulations to our current 5K leaders!

Whether you walk, run, roll or pedal, every mile helps raise awareness of the importance of blood donation and supports research that benefits patients and donors around the world.

Join us by June 14: https://bit.ly/435XuhC