Establishment and Structure of the International Consortium for Blood Safety (ICBS)
On September 24th and 25th, 1998 a group of leading blood bankers, virologists and public health experts were invited, as a task force, by Dr. Alfred Prince to attend a meeting to discuss the establishment of the International Consortium for Blood Safety (ICBS). The group comprised of:
1-Zarin Bharucha, Tata Memorial Hospital, India
2-Celso Bianco, New York Blood Center, USA
3-Michael Busch, Irwin Center, Blood Centers of the Pacific, USA
4-Mark Dewyngaert, New York Blood Center, USA
5-Anthon du P. Heyns, South African Blood Transfusion Service, South Africa
6-Feng Gao, Shanghai Blood Center, China
7-Robert Jones, New York Blood Center, USA
8-David Mvere, President, Africa Society of Blood Transfusion, Zimbabwe
9-Alfred Prince, (Chairman), New York Blood Center; USA
10-Milton Tam, PATH, USA
11-Girish Vyas, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
In addition, Dr. Jean Emmanuel, Director, Blood Safely and Clinical Technology, WHO attended the ICBS meeting as an observer. Three specialists from both the NIH and CDC also attended to provide ICBS with input, technical assistance and support.
It was agreed that Alfred M. Prince MD, be elected the Chairman of ICBS. Mark DeWyngaert Ph.D. was chosen to be the Executive Secretary.
The formation of ICBS was officially announced by Dr. Prince for the first time at the Advances in Transfusion Safety meeting sponsored by the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine and by the International Association of Biological Standardization in Geneva, Switzerland, which was held in San Francisco from March 18-20, 1999.
The Consortium is composed of a limited number of members and institutional liaison members who support the efforts of a diverse group of experts and organizations allied in the field of blood safety and who offer their expertise to developing countries. The Consortium also has task forces and working groups for specific areas and functions.
In June 1999 after receiving funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, it became possible for ICBS to organize itself and begin an active planning phase to implement country projects and activities aimed at improving blood safety in the developing world.
In July 1999 an Executive Director was sought for ICBS and in October of that year Mohamed El-Nageh MD, Ph.D. was appointed to the post effective November 20, 1999.
Within a relatively short period ICBS gained recognition with the majority of international organizations and institutions dealing with blood safety. Eighteen of these organizations have liaison members to ICBS.
During 2001 a restructuring of the membership was undertaken to include more members from the developing world, while maintaining the limited numbers of members. Some former members became liaison members of ICBS for their institutions while others became consultants to continue their contributions to ICBS’ efforts and activities. The founder and Chairman of the Consortium (Dr. Alfred M. Prince) decided to step down and a new Chairman, Dr. Cees Th. Smit-Sibinga was elected for the next two years effective October 1, 2001. Responding to the unanimous vote of ICBS members, Dr Prince agreed to continue as Honorary Chairman and Member of the ICBS Executive Team.
In order to maximize resources and to enable capable and willing institutions to contribute to ICBS’ efforts and to the improvement of blood safety in the developing world, the ICBS members decided during their 3rd Annual Meeting to establish co-operative arrangements i.e. Collaborating Centers with key institutions in both the developed and developing world to support ICBS’ activities and to provide a roster of technical experts and laboratories to assist ICBS in meeting its goals.