President's Award

Professor James Isbister

Professor James Isbister is Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Sydney, Adjunct Professor, University of Technology, Sydney and an emeritus consultant Hematologist at Royal North Shore Hospital of Sydney. Prof Isbister graduated from the University of NSW in 1967 and did his postgraduate training at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney and the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, London. He has been associated with Royal North Shore Hospital of Sydney since 1980, being head of department of hematology and transfusion medicine from 1982-1996.

Prof Isbister's contributions to Hematology and Transfusion Medicine are extensive. He has over 100 publications in the scientific literature and is the author of three textbooks on hematology and transfusion medicine and contributes chapters to several major textbooks. Professor Isbister has a special interest in medical teaching and is in regular demand as a national and international speaker, being well known for some of his iconoclastic views. He emphasizes the importance of regular interaction and information exchange of hematological and transfusion medicine knowledge with other medical specialties. Throughout his career he has been contributing to education programs in the Asia Pacific regions, especially, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong. He has been a travelling lecturer for numerous organizations, the most recent being the Royal College of Australasia overseas visiting Professor.

He has had a wide range of research interests, particularly in transfusion medicine and patient blood management. He was involved in setting up the first cell separator aphaeresis unit in a general hospital in Australia, with a particular interest in therapeutic plasma exchange, and was on the team that did the first allergenic bone marrow transplant in Australia. He is passionate about the appropriate, safe and cost effective use of blood component therapy and has been a long time advocate of patient blood management.

He has been an examiner and board of education member for the post graduation colleges and was chief examiner in hematology and transfusion medicine for the Royal College of Pathologist of Australasia from 1989-1995. Professor Isbister is a past-president of the Australian and New Zealand Aphaeresis Association and was president of the 8th congress of the World Aphaeresis Association held in Perth in 2000.

Prof Isbister is currently Chair of the Advisory Committee and Board Member of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. He is a board member of the Society for the Advancement of Blood Management (SABM) and the Medical Society for Patient Blood Management.

Prof Isbister's contributions have been acknowledged by his peers by life membership of the Hematology Society of Australia and New Zealand and the Australian and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion. He was the Carl De Gruchy orator for the Hematology Society in 2000 and the Ruth Sanger Orator for the Blood Transfusion Society in 2004. In 2000 his contributions to Transfusion Medicine in Australia and New Zealand were acknowledged by his receipt of the Peter Schiff award.

It is SABM's honor to present the seventh President's Award to Professor James Isbister at the Annual Meeting.