International Speakers
Shruthi Narayan
Medical Director of the UK's Serious Hazards of Transfusion (SHOT) Programme
Dr Shruthi Narayan, haematologist by background, is the Medical Director of SHOT which stands for Serious Hazards of Transfusion and is the independent, professionally led haemovigilance scheme covering the whole of UK. Additionally, she has a role as a Donor Consultant at NHS Blood and Transplant. Shruthi also chairs the Royal College of Pathologists Transfusion Specialty Advisory Committee. Shruthi graduated from Bangalore Medical College in India and trained as a pediatrician at the esteemed Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, she then completed her haematology specialty training at Manchester, UK and holds a master’s degree in Leadership and Service Improvement. Shruthi is passionate about promoting transfusion safety, is actively involved in education as well as initiating and sustaining improvements in healthcare.
Nancy Dunbar
Assoc. Medical Director Transfusion Medicine Service, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, USA
Nancy M. Dunbar, MD is a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and of Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. She is a board-certified Clinical Pathologist and completed her training in 2009 at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. She pursued subspecialty training in Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine in 2010 at the University of California San Francisco/Blood Centers of the Pacific. She joined the faculty at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH in 2010 and currently serves as the Medical Director of the Blood Bank and Special Coagulation Laboratory and the Associate Medical Director of the Transfusion Medicine Service.
Her clinical research focuses on blood utilization and transfusion safety and includes over 100 peer-reviewed publications. In 2017 she received the RISE Award for “Safety of the use of group A plasma in trauma: the STAT study,” the best paper published in TRANSFUSION’s 2017 volume.
She is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies (AABB), the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT), and the American Society for Apheresis (ASFA). She is also the Section editor for the International Forum for Vox Sanguinis and serves member of the editorial board for TRANSFUSION.
She pursues international collaborative research in Transfusion Medicine as a Scientific Member of the Clinical Transfusion Studies Team in the Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST) Collaborative.
She currently serves on the Board of Director for AABB, a member of the Scientific and Research Advisory Committee (SRAC) for Canadian Blood Services and is an elected member on the Board of Trustees at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
https://doi.org/10.1111/trf.16716
Health NZ - Te Whatu Ora
Lara Hopley - National Chief Clinical Informatics Officer
Dr Lara Hopley is a Specialist Anaesthetist who has of necessity been drawn into clinical information management and the associated creation of virtuous cycles.
- Drive a culture of connectedness, and provide leadership, management, delivery, and support of clinical products.
- Drive continuous quality improvement and product lifecycles in strong partnerships with product advisory and clinical oversight groups.
- Working collaboratively through a partnership with Service Improvement and Innovation, creating a digital landscape that crosses Te Aka Whai Ora, primary, secondary, and community care that is person and whānau led.
NZ Blood Service - Te Ratonga Toto O Aotearoa
Sarah Morley - Chief Medical Officer
Norma Lane - Clinical Governance Development Manager
Norma was a registered nurse by background and was a Director of Nursing in the UK. Norma moved across into the Ambulance and Urgent / Emergency Care sector both in the UK and here in NZ. Norma was the first female and a nurse to hold a Director of Operations role in the UK Ambulance sector.
Norma came to NZ in 2013 and was the National Clinical Operations Director for St John Ambulance and responsible for the front-line emergency response both clinically and operationally.
During Norma’s time with St John, she was incident commander for notable major incidents including the Kaikoura earthquake, Christchurch terrorist attack and the Whakaari white Islande volcanic eruption.
In her many roles Norma’s focus has been on patient safety and implementing continuous quality improvements programmes. Norma joined NZBlood in 2021 as the National Clinical Governance Lead where she has implemented a Clinical Governance framework across the organisation.
Sharon Holdridge - National Quality Manager Operations
Suzi Rishworth - Transfusion Nurse Specialist, Otago
Suzi is a Registered Nurse working as part of a multi-centre Transfusion Nurse Specialist (TNS) / Clinical Nurse Specialist team. Suzi joined NZBS in 2003 when they launched the TNS project. Her role rests at the clinical end of the NZBS ‘vein to vein’ philosophy and focuses upon teaching (including under-graduate and post-graduate programmes), auditing (national and local), policy writing, haemovigilance, incident review, surveillance, CQI, liaison and support. Suzi is based in the NZBS Blood Bank at Dunedin Hospital and covers the Otago and Southland region. Her passion is teaching and translating specialty knowledge into manageable and useable fractions to influence change, enhance transfusion practice, and protect patient safety.
Prior to joining NZBS Suzi spent 14 years working predominately within the fields of Oncology, Haematology and Palliative Care both in New Zealand and the UK, and District Nursing in Central London. She undertook post graduate studies in Cancer Care at the University of Manchester, while working at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, during the 1990s and post graduate clinical teaching papers via the University of Canterbury early 2010s. Suzi is a member of the Australia and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion (ANZBST) and during her tenure has been actively involved in various ANZSBT sub-committees.
Deepak Sadani - Transfusion Medicine Specialist, Waikato
Christopher Corkery - Transfusion Nurse Specialist, Waikato
I became a Registered CpRN in 1987 following a less than enthusiastic career as an electrician. Working with people was my aim and not fixing machines and crawling in roof spaces.
My seven-page job description can be titrated down to a few key points: these include education, policy development, auditing/research and most importantly Haemovigilance.
Group Discussion Chairs
Gustavo Duarte - Clinical Director Patient Services; Transfusion Medicine Specialist
Gustavo Duarte was trained in clinical haematology and transfusion medicine in Brazil. He has been working with Transfusion Medicine and PBM implementation for the last 15 years. In New Zealand, he is the New Zealand Blood Service Clinical Director of Patient Services, overseeing activities involving external customers, such as therapeutic apheresis, stem cell transplant, therapeutic venesection, and blood banks.
Richard Charlewood - Transfusion Medicine Specialist, Auckland
Richard Charlewood trained as a Haematologist in the UK and South Africa. He has worked as a Transfusion Medicine Specialist at New Zealand Blood Service for over 20 years. He has a special interest in computer systems and infectious diseases and is NZBS’s lead specialist for the donation accreditation laboratory that performs the infectious diseases testing as well as the blood management systems.
Gavin Cho - Clinical Director Blood Plasma & Laboratories, Transfusion Medicine Specialist
I trained in Haematology in Auckland (including at NZBS) before heading to Bristol for 2 years of research. After that I worked as a Haematologist in Northwest London for 9 years where I was the consultant responsible for transfusion, and clinical lead for haemoglobinopathies. I was a member of the London Regional Transfusion Committee (which covered about 90 hospitals) for a number of years, including a couple as the chair. Then I moved to NHS Blood and Transplant for 3 years in the blood donation. I have been back at NZBS for the last 5 years as a Transfusion Medicine Specialist and more recently Clinical Director for Blood, Plasma, and Laboratories.