ICCBBA is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of leading experts in blood transfusion, cellular therapy, and tissue transplantation from around the world. Board positions are advertised publicly and Board members normally serve six-year terms. The current Board of Directors has members from Belgium, Bhutan, Germany, India, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Board of Directors
Diane Wilson (Chair)
Tim Pruett (Vice-Chair)
Martin Hildebrandt (Secretary)
Zbigniew M. Szczepiorkowski (Treasurer)
Diane Wilson, BSN, MSN/MHA United States |
Diane Wilson is currently a board member of ICCBBA, a member and former Chair of the North American Tissue Banking Technical Advisory Group (NATTAG), a member of the Tissue Engineered Products Technical Advisory Group (TEPTAG), a Medical Advisory and Policy Board Member of the Gift of Life Donor Program, and is the Chairman of the Board for Joint Restoration Foundation, Inc. She is a Registered Nurse and holds an Associate of Science in Nursing degree from Everett Community College, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Phoenix, and a Master’s Degree in Nursing and Health Administration from the University of Phoenix. |
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United States |
Dr. Pruett began his clinical career at the University of Virginia rising from Assistant Professor of Surgery (1987) to Professor of Surgery and Division Chief of Transplantation Surgery by 1996. He was appointed the Strickler Family Professor of Transplantation in 1997. He was the Program Director of the transplantation training program at University of Virginia. As an intensivist, he was co-director of the surgical ICU and established and was Program Director of the Critical Care Training program. In 2009, he moved to the University of Minnesota as Professor of Surgery and Internal Medicine, Chief of Transplantation and the John S. Najarian Surgical Chair in Clinical Transplantation.
Dr. Pruett currently serves as President of American Society of Transplant Surgeons (2016-2017) and previously served as Treasurer of American Society of Transplant Surgeons’ Council (2012-2015). He chairs the ASTS/AST joint committee for Biovigilance and has spoken broadly on legal and system issues that impact to organ transplantation within global healthcare systems. Dr. Pruett was President of United Network for Organ Sharing (2008-2009); Chair of the Membership and Professional Standards Committee (2007-2008) and has represented UNOS in multiple international initiatives.
Dr. Pruett’s research interests have included organ transplantation in patients with chronic viral diseases, the ethics and practice of live kidney donation and allocation, transmissible diseases through organs and infections after organ transplantation. He also has education and infection interests as they pertain to the care of the critically ill. |
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Prof. Dr. Martin Hildebrandt, MD Germany |
Prof. Hildebrandt is member of the working group on blood-associated infections at the German Federal Ministry of Health, Chair of the Ethics Committee of the State of Berlin, advisor to the German Working Group on Chronic Rare Diseases (ACHSE), several academic consortia, and member of the European QP Association, several editorial boards, national and international professional societies. |
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United Kingdom |
Apart from cell and tissue preservation, other principal research interests include corneal transplant outcome in the UK and Sweden, and corneal transplant immunology. Professor Armitage is a founding member and current President of the European Eye Bank Association, a founding member and former President of the British Association for Tissue Banking, a member of the Swedish Corneal Transplant Registry Steering Group, a member of the NHSBT Ocular Tissue Advisory Group, Chair of the NHSBT Eye Bank Subgroup, a member of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists Ocular Tissue Transplant Standards Group, an Associate Editor of the journal Cryobiology, Chair of the ICCBBA Eye Bank Technical Advisory Group (EBTAG), a member of the ICCBBA Standards Committee, a former Secretary of the Society for Cryobiology, and he co-chairs the drafting group for the 3rd edition of the Council of Europe Guide to the Quality and Safety of Tissues and Cells for Human Application. |
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Bhutan |
She has been heading the National Blood Bank at JDW, National Referral Hospital located in Thimphu, Bhutan since 2002. Being the first and only specialist in the field of Transfusion Medicine, her responsibilities include providing technical expertise and policy guidance to the National Blood Safety Program under the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Bhutan.
She has been actively involved in the promotion of Voluntary Non-remunerated Blood Donation activities in the capital and nationwide, and her efforts have helped increase the percentage of VNRBD from 30% in 2002, to 90% in 2014 at the National Blood Bank. Her contribution includes creation of the National Blood Policy, Bhutan; Standards and National Guidelines and National Assessment Schemes in Immuno-hematology.
Mahrukh Getshen has been a member of the World Health Organization Expert Advisory Panel for Blood Transfusion since 2010, and is one of the current Vice-Presidents of the Asian Association of Transfusion Medicine (AATM). She is the recipient of the ISBT Runner-Up Award (Individual Category) for Developing Countries, July 2012. She is also an advocate of the rights and dignity of persons with diverse abilities, and dedicates her free time and services as the Vice-Chairperson on the Board of Trustees of Ability Bhutan Society, a civil society organization under the Patronage of Her Majesty, the Queen of Bhutan. She has also been made the chairperson of Bhutan Australia Alumni Association, a voluntary organization comprising of Bhutanese alumni who have studied in Australia through various Australia Awards and scholarships.
She is the recipient of the National Order of Merit Award Silver given by His Majesty of the Kingdom of Bhutan during the National Day celebrations on 17 December 2017. The award recognizes the dedicated and quality services rendered to the throne, people, and the nation. Mahrukh was one of six specialists honored with the National Order of Merit Award. |
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India |
Joy Mammen did his undergraduate studies in medicine (MBBS) and subsequently specialized in Pathology (MD) from the Christian Medical College Vellore (cmch-vellore.edu), India, where he currently heads of the department of Transfusion Medicine. He is trained in Laboratory Informatics and his interest areas are in proficiency testing, laboratory automation, voluntary blood donation and public policy in connection with transfusion practice. Dr. Mammen coordinates two national External Quality Assessment Schemes for Haemostasis and Transfusion Medicine and is a member of the National Blood Transfusion Council of India. He serves on two subcommittees of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for medical instruments. He also consults for WHO for issues related to blood safety. His publications are in the areas of quality assurance, haemostasis, laboratory haematology and transfusion medicine |
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Belgium |
Dr. Kelly Tilleman's research experience started in the field of proteomics where she obtained a PhD in biomarker research in inflammatory arthritides at the University of Ghent in 2007. At that time she combined her scientific enthusiasm with the responsibility of quality manager at an accredited DNA fingerprinting laboratory. As a post-doctoral fellow she collaborated with the group of Prof. Petra De Sutter, where they joined forces in several research projects. Because of Dr. Tilleman's experience as a quality manager and her interest in the wonderful world of reproductive medicine, she was able to start a new career at the department of Petra de Sutter in November 2009. She combined her experience as the quality manager of the fertility centre and the bank for reproductive tissues and cells with scientific research experience in the area of fertility preservation to work towards the goal of optimizing the in vitro maturation of oocytes starting from ovarian cortical tissue. Additionally, and more specifically for fertility preservation in transgender persons, her goal was to develop realistic and innovative fertility preservation for female-to-male transgender persons. From the 1st of July 2018 onwards, Dr. Tilleman has been appointed as the director of the IVF laboratory at Ghent University Hospital. This bank for reproductive tissues and cells was licensed in 2010 and processes and banks gametes, embryos and gonadic tissues. Her fertility centre performs all IVF laboratory processes in medical assisted reproduction, runs a successful fertility preservation program and performs embryo biopsy for pre-implantation genetic testing. Dr. Tilleman currently serves as coordinator of the Special Interest Group Safety and Quality in Assisted Reproductive Technologies (SQART) of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. Additionally, she collaborates in drafting the guide for quality and safety of tissues and cells issued by the EDQM as a Belgian representative, and has participated as project leader of an ART specific work package in EUROGTPII project funded by the Health Program of the European Union. |
[Last Modified: 18 Jun 2020]