CONSORTIUM

Connecting the World to Protect Mothers and Babies

Our mission is to eradicate Rh disease around the world. This objective can be reached through three types of actions.

  • Encourage ongoing life-saving projects.
  • Enable healthcare workers to care for mothers and babies by providing them with the appropriate tools and guidelines.
  • Empower Rh- mothers and families by giving them access to fundamental information about Rh disease and prevention.

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

  • 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.

  • 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

  • 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

Honorary Members