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WHO WE ARE
We are an international consortium of physicians, scientists, epidemiologists, midwives, global health advocates, and industrial partners that have come together to work towards the eradication of the Rh disease.
HOW WIRhE BEGAN
In 2018, a series of events were organized to celebrate the 50th anniversary of RhoGAM (the invention of anti D immunoglobulin). Dr Steven Spitalnik and his peers in the scientific community came to the sad realization that half of the women in the world didn’t have access to information regarding the Rh disease or the life-saving drug anti-Rh(D). On the 29th of March, 2019 the World Initiative for Rh disease Eradication (WIRhE) was born in Rome.
Shown left to right: Mario De Curtis, MD (Università di Roma La Sapienza), Rossella Miccio (EMERGENCY), Salvatore Sciacchitano, MD Ministero della Salute (Italy), Gian Carlo Di Renzo, MD, PhD (University of Perugia/FIGO), Giancarlo Liumbruno, MD (CNS, Rome), Steven Spitalnik, MD (Columbia), Gerard Visser, MD, PhD (University Medical Center-Utrecht/FIGO), Giuseppe Buonocore, MD (Università degli Studi di Siena), Pier Luigi Berti, MD (Azienda USL Valle d’Aosta), Patrice Spitalnik, MD (Columbia), Andrea Dotta, MD (Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù, Rome). Not shown: Kasper Hedegaard (Eldon)
WIRhE'S Board of Directors
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Executive Director
Steven L. Spitalnik, MD
Professor and Executive Vice-Chair of the Department of Pathology & Cell Biology at Columbia University.
In addition to serving as the Medical Director of the Clinical Laboratories at Columbia University Irving Medical Center-New York Presbyterian Hospital, he is an attending physician in Transfusion Medicine and is Co-Director of the Laboratory of Transfusion Biology, which pursues basic and translational research in red blood cell biology.
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Deputy Director
Brie A. Stotler, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Pathology & Cell Biology at Columbia University.
In addition to serving as the Medical Director of the Clinical Laboratories at the Allen Hospital-New York Presbyterian Hospital, she is an attending physician in Transfusion Medicine at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center-New York Presbyterian Hospital. She pursues translational and clinical research in transfusion medicine and has an interest in global health
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Social Media Director
Daniela Hermelin, MD
Assistant Professor of Pathology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Director of Clinical Apheresis and Associate Director of Transfusion Medicine at Saint Louis University Hospital.
Dr. Hermelin serves on the AABB eLearning Committee and is the Assistant Editor of the Blood Bank Guy Essentials Podcast. She received the 2019 AABB President’s Award in recognition of her role as a master educator and her leadership in the use of social media, particularly Twitter, to teach and share knowledge in blood banking and transfusion medicine.
Twitter: @hermelinmd
Website: http://www.blooducation.com
Members
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Gian Carlo Di Renzo MD, PhD
Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Perugia in Italy.
He is Director of both the Reproductive and Perinatal Medicine Center in Perugia and founder of the Permanent International and European School of Perinatal and Reproductive Medicine (PREIS) in Florence. He is also Coordinator of the Educational Platform “Glowm” of FIGO after being General Secretary (2012-2018).
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Isaac Odame, MB ChB, MRCP (UK), FRCPath, FRCPC
Professor and Alexandra Yeo Chair in Haematology in the Departments of Medicine and Paediatrics, and the Director Division of Haematology, all at the University of Toronto, in Toronto, Canada.
In addition, he is the Head of the Haematology Section in the Division of Haematology/Oncology at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He is also the Medical Director of The Global Sickle Cell Disease Network, Centre for Global Child Health.
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Hua Shan MD, PhD
Professor and Medical Director of the Transfusion Medicine Service at Stanford University Medical Center.
She has led multiple, large education and research programs on blood safety and clinical transfusion practice, particularly focusing on improving the practice of transfusion medicine in China.
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Ellen van der Schoot MD, PhD
Professor of Experimental Immunohematology at the University of Amsterdam, and Head of the Department of Immunohematology at Sanquin Research, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Her research focuses on alloimmunization against blood group antigens, with the aim of developing new preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic approaches towards hemolytic transfusion reactions and Hemolytic Disease of the Fetus and Newborn. She has published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles.
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Gerard H.A. Visser MD, PhD
Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics, University Medical Center, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
He is the past President of the European Association of Perinatal Medicine and a member and immediate past Chair of FIGO’s Committee on Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health.
From the latter position, he became one of the initiators of their Rh eradication program.
Honorary Members
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Marcela Contreras, MD
Born in Chile and trained there in medicine but spent the majority of her career in the United Kingdom focusing on immunohematology and transfusion medicine at the National Blood Service for more than 20 years and serving as a Professor of Transfusion Medicine at the Royal Free Hospital Medical School in London.
She is an internationally-recognized in immunohematology and widely known as the co-author of the important text book “Blood Transfusion in Clinical Medicine.” In 2007, she was named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
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John Gorman, MD
Born in Australia, went to medical school there, and then traveled to the United States for his postgraduate training.
While a young faculty member at Columbia University, he collaborated with fellow faculty member, Vincent Freda, MD, and with a protein chemist at Ortho Pharmaceutical, William Pollack, PhD, to develop both the theory underlying immunoprophylaxis for Rh disease and the first Rh immune globulin licensed for human use (i.e., RhoGAM). In recognition of their accomplishments, Drs. Gorman, Freda, and Pollack, along with their British colleagues (Drs. Cyril Clarke and Ronald Finn), received the 1980 Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award.
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Alvin Zipursky, MD
Born in Canada, received his medical training there, and pursued his long academic career, primarily in Toronto, where he is now Professor Emeritus at The Hospital for Sick Children.
He has a long-standing interest in global health, particularly as related to Rh disease; to this end, he founded the Program for Global Pediatric Research in 2004. In addition, he identified the transplacental passage of fetal red blood cells into the maternal circulation, thereby establishing the rationale for the use of antenatal Rh immune globulin to assist in preventing maternal sensitization during pregnancy.
OUR PARTNERS
