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“Blood products as pharmaceuticals: Should that be our goal?” (Tibor Greenwalt Memorial Award and Lectureship)

AM25-SN-03-L - “Blood Products as Pharmaceuticals: Should that be our Goal?” (Tibor Greenwalt Memorial Award and Lectureship)

Sunday, October 26, 2025
8:15 AM - 9:15 AM  PT
Room: SDCC 20D

    Award Acceptance(s)

  • Steven L. Spitalnik, MD

    Professor
    Columbia University
    New York, New York

    Disclosure information not submitted.

    • Program Chair(s)

  • Sandra J. Nance, MS, MASCP, MLS(ASCP), SBB (she/her/hers)

    -Adjunct Assistant Professor
    University of Pennsylvania, Division of Transfusion Medicine and Therapeutic Pathology
    LANSDALE, Pennsylvania

    Disclosure information not submitted.

    • Award Presenter(s)

  • Don Siegel, MD, PhD (he/him/his)

    Professor and Director, Transfusion Medicine & Therapeutic Pathology
    University of Pennsylvania
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    Disclosure information not submitted.

Many advances in blood transfusion therapy over the last ~50 years have enabled the use specific blood products to target specific disease processes more precisely, with a goal of obtaining better patient outcomes. As one example, this is especially true since advent of the use of recombinant Factor VIII to treat patients with hemophilia A. However, one could argue that more needs to be done with complex “biologicals,” such as platelet products and packed red blood cells. This lecture will explore how approaches from pharmacology may be useful for producing complex blood products that function more like well-defined pharmaceuticals, thereby enhancing the practice of precision transfusion medicine to improve patient care. 

Learning Objectives:

  • Learn the components of the “medical model of a pharmaceutical”
  • Describe how a unit of packed red blood cells fits the “medical model of a pharmaceutical” 
  • Be able to define “precision transfusion medicine” 
  • Describe different aspects of the “transfusion quality” of a blood product