Board of Directors

Chairman:

Merlyn H. Sayers, MBBCH, PhD 

USA

Carter BloodCare’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Merlyn H. Sayers, is a physician with 25 years experience in blood banking and transfusion medicine. 

He was born in Reading, Berkshire, England, and received his medical degree and Ph.D. from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg in 1978. 

He has held position of President and Chief Executive Officer at Carter BloodCare in Dallas/Fort Worth/Waco since its formation in 1998. 

Before coming to Texas, Dr. Sayers spent 15 years in Seattle with the Puget Sound Blood Center where he was also on the faculty at the University of Washington in the Department of Medicine. 

 He has previously held positions of Chairman of the Food and Drug Administration’s Blood Products Advisory Committee, Vice Chairman of the Washington State Board of Health, committee member on the Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability, and Vice Chairman of the AABB's Scientific Section Coordinating Committee. 

Dr. Sayers is also a Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and he is Past President of America’s Blood Centers.

Vice-Chairman:

Ruth M Warwick MB, ChB

UK

Ruth Warwick is qualified in Medicine from Bristol University UK (1973) and specialized in clinical hematology (Royal Free, Hillingdon & Hammersmith Hospitals). Worked in Transfusion Medicine and as Consultant Specialist for Tissue Services for the National Health Service Blood & Transplant (NHSBT) from 1993.  Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians MRCP 1977, FRCP 1997 & Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists MRCPath 1980,  FRCPath 1992.  Immediate past President of the European Association of Tissue Banks (2007-2009), past President of British Association for Tissue Banking (2006-2008), Chairman EC CEN ISSS Workshop on Coding & Traceability of Tissues & Cells (2007-2008). Has had national & international experience in policy setting  such as the founder Chair of the  National Institute for Biological Standards & Controls /UK Blood Services Tissues Advisory Committee for Tissues and Haemopoietic Stem Cells (1995-2001), Consultant for the Council of Europe Expert Group on Organs Tissues & Cells (1999- 2001) & advisory roles for the English Department of Health Transplant Policy Unit & Human Tissue Authority.  She has over 100 published papers, edited volumes including lead editor of a multinational book in Tissue Donation (published 2009), chapters, and letters. 

Treasurer:  

Scott Brubaker, MS, BS, BA, MT(ASCP)  

 USA

Since August of 2004, Scott has held the position of Chief Policy Officer at the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) located in McLean, Virginia. His main duties are to liaison with the FDA, the CDC, and other professional organizations nationally and internationally who are standards-setting or regulating bodies for cell and tissue donation, banking, and transplantation.  He also serves as the office liaison for the AATB’s Standards Committee and Physicians’ Council, and leads the Association’s membership in the creation of new standards and guidance documents.  Prior to joining the AATB, he acquired 18 years of practical experience in tissue banking and organ donation at Virginia Tissue Bank/LifeNet.  Scott regularly provides educational presentations that cover tissue banking and transplant safety. 

Richard E. Brown, MS, BS, BA, MT(ASCP)  

 USA

Richard E. Brown has spent over 35 years in the clinical laboratory, blood banking, and executive administration positions.  He is a retired US Army Colonel who started his career operating and managing military hospital laboratories in small hospitals to Army Medical Centers including the largest US military medical center in Europe.  He specialized in blood banking and had an extensive career technically and administratively directing blood collection first in hospitals and medical centers and then for the entire US Army Medical Department.  He became the Army Blood Program Manager responsible for the collection and transfusion of blood and blood products Army wide.  He was the Alternate Responsible Head for the US Army FDA license, setting up the compliance structure in place 10 years later. He served as blood banking consultant to the US Army Surgeon General for nearly 6 years.  In his final military assignment he directed the individual training of all Army Medical Laboratory Technicians (MLT), Pharmacy Technicians and Radiology Technicians.  He was recruited by the American Red Cross to restructure their manufacturing operation in Atlanta, GA and then went on to their Los Angeles region.  He helped design, build, commission and place into operation the largest blood processing laboratory at that time in the American Red Cross system.  He served as Vice President for Global Laboratory Operations at StemCyte Inc., an umbilical cord blood stem cell bank.  

Secretary:

Suzanne Butch, MA, MT(ASCP) SBB

 USA

Suzanne Butch is the Administrative Manager of the Blood Bank and Transfusion Service of the University of Michigan Hospitals in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree from Central Michigan University.  She is certified as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist and Laboratory Director from the NCA, as a Medical Technologist and a Specialist in Blood Banking from the ASCP and as a Certified Quality Auditor from the American Society for Quality.

She has been active in state, national and international professional societies and edited books on irradiation and information technology in transfusion medicine.  She currently serves as a member of the  AABB Coding and Reimbursement Committee, the AABB Annual Meeting Program Unit, and as chair of the Management Examination Committee of the National Credentialing Agency for Laboratory Personnel. She has served as a member and advisor to the CLSI Committee on Automation and on the US Technical Advisory Group for ISO/TC 212 and ISO/TC 76.

Among her professional concerns are the use of bar coding and streamlining laboratory operations. To this end she has worked since 1990 on various committees and organizations to promote the electronic crossmatch and furthering the use of automation in the transfusion service. She has been a member and chair of  ICCBBA’s America's Technical Advisory Group (ATAG).

Faten Moftah, MD

 EGYPT

Faten Moftah is currently the Director General for the National Blood Transfusion Services, Ministry of Health (MOH) in Egypt since 1999.  Not only is she the Director General, she also sits as the Chairperson on the Board of Directors.  She is the chair of the Egyptian Fellowship Board for Transfusion Medicine, the Chair of the National Advisory Committee for Blood Transfusion, and the Chair of the Scientific Committee of Blood Consumables in the National Pharmaceutical Regulator.  She is a member of ICCBBA’s Middle East and European Technical Advisory Group (MEETAG) and the International Society for Blood Transfusion (ISBT), where she served as the Regional Director from 2002 to 2006.  She currently is a consultant for The World Health Organization (WHO), an executive member of the Arabic Speaking countries Transfusion Medicine Courses (ATMC) and a member of the Arab Association of Transfusion Medicine.

Ineke Slaper-Cortenbach, PhD

NETHERLANDS

Ineke C.M. Slaper-Cortenbach is the Director of both the Gene and Cell Therapy Facility and the Stem Cell Transplantation Laboratory at the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMC Utrecht) in the Netherlands. She has nearly 25 years of experience as laboratory director of a stem cell transplantation lab and her current focus is on Mesenchymal Stromal Cells and translational research.

At the UMC Utrecht, she works closely with investigators and clinicians from different divisions in the Regenerative Medicine Program. 

She has been involved in several professional organizations and has served as the president and vice-president of JACIE (Joint Accreditation Committee of ISCT and EBMT).

Her present activities include

• Co-chair of the FACT/JACIE processing standards committee
• Representative for ISCT in AHCTA (Alliance for Harmonisation of Cellular Therapy Accreditation)
• Regional vice president-elect for ISCT in Europe
• Member of the Board of ISCT-Europe
• Chair of the ISCT European Legal and Regulatory Affairs Committee
• Editor of the journal Cytotherapy
• Chair of the scientific committee of the second ISCT-Europe regional meeting (Belgirate 2010)
• Co-chair of the scientific committee of the annual ISCT-meeting in 2011

Since 2009, she has been a member of the Expert Group on Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products of the Medicines Evaluation Board (CBG) in the Netherlands. She is also the current chair of the International Cellular Therapy Coding and Labeling Advisory Group.

D. Mike Strong, MD

USA

Dr. Strong graduated from Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA and received his PhD from The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He served 20 years in the Navy where he was involved in transplantation, tissue and blood banking He retired in 2007 as COO at the Puget Sound Blood Center where he founded the Northwest Tissue Center in 1988. He has served on Advisory Committees for FDA, NIH, IAEA and HemaQuebec and has lectured around the world. He is the recipient of the DeGowin Lectureship in Blood Banking from the University of Iowa, the Distinguished Lectureship Award from the South Texas Blood and Tissue Bank and five lifetime achievement awards including: from AATB, ABC, APASTB, AABB and UBS. He has served as a consultant for CDC, the IAEA, the WHO and Canadian Blood Services. He is Past President of AABB and past Chair of the AABB U.S. Biovigilance Network Steering Committee. He is currently coordinating the WHO Project NOTIFY.

Diana Teo, MD

SINGAPORE

Diana Teo graduated from National University of Singapore in 1982 with an M.B.,B.S. degree. Obtained Master of Science degree in Medical Immunology from the University of London, followed by Membership of the Royal College of Pathologists, UK in 1993, and Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists in 2001. Accredited by the UK General Medical Council Specialist  Register in the Speciality of Immunology, and Certificate of Specialist Accreditation, Ministry of Health, Singapore in the Speciality of Pathology. Awarded the Singapore National Day Honours Public Administration Medal  (Silver) in 2008.

 Appointed Director, Centre for Transfusion Medicine, Health Sciences Authority (HSA) since January 2003, and the Group Director, Blood Services Group, HSA since August 2008.  Chairman of the HSA Professional Board since January 2009. The Blood Services Group is the national blood service in Singapore, and is AABB accredited in blood banking and transfusion medicine and ASHI accredited in tissue typing. The Blood Services Group is also a WHO Collaborating Centre for Transfusion Medicine. Other relevant appointments include the Ministry of Health Specialist Training Committee for Haematology, President of the Singapore Society of Haematology from 2002 to 2004,  Member of the Board of Directors (Asia-Pacific Region Director) for International Society of Blood Transfusion, Vice Chair of the Asia Pacific Blood Network, Member of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel for Transfusion Medicine, and Member of the Board of Directors for ICCBBA.  

Main interests within Transfusion Medicine include organizational and quality systems in blood transfusion services, blood safety, and global development in transfusion medicine.