MESSAGE FROM THE ISBT PRESIDENT

Dear colleagues,

The XIXth Regional Congress of the ISBT, Eastern Mediterranean & Europe will take place in March 2009 in Cairo. For the first time, this Regional ISBT Congress will be held in Northern Africa with the rich cultural heritage and background, which bridges and brings together Mediterranean, African, European and Middle Eastern life styles.

The local organising committee chaired by Dr. Moftah and the International Scientific Committee chaired by Dr. El Ekiaby will strive not only for an up-to-date scientific congress including a “state of the art” programme which features important topics and renowned speakers in transfusion medicine and immunohematology, but will also invite experts, who are able to provide us with some insight into upcoming developments in our fast evolving field such as cellular therapy and molecular biology.

The Regional ISBT Congress, held in such inspiring surroundings, will certainly open our minds to novel ideas and solutions for today’s problems and offer a unique opportunity to meet colleagues and to stipulate cooperation’s and future clinical trials, which will move forward the exciting field of clinical hemotherapy and hemovigilance.

New challenges and opportunities in transfusion medicine require an interdisciplinary, region spanning cooperative approach in order to improve local performance by benchmarking and learning form each other. The cosmopolitan culture of the largest city in the Middle East, dating back more than 2.000 years, will surely inspire us to achieve these goals.

As the President of the International Society of Blood Transfusion, I would like to thank all colleagues and friends of Egypt especially Dr. Faten Moftah for having organised the scientific program and to host so many Tranfusionists of the region and all of the world. I am looking forward with curiosity and excitement to the XIXth Regional Congress of the ISBT as well as the very attractive social programme and I am happy to welcome you in Egypt in March 2009.

Prof. Dr. Erhard Seifried
President of the ISBT