Carly Olafson of Canadian Blood Services awarded the ICSH Carol Briggs-Smalley Award

May 2023

• Research Technician Carly Olafson awarded the ICSH Carol Briggs-Smalley Scholarship

• Highest number of award entries for 5 years

The International Council for Standardization in Haematology (ICSH) is pleased to announce Carly Olafson of Canadian Blood Services in Canada has been awarded the ICSH Carol Briggs-Smalley Scholarship.

The title of Carly's Project is "Standardization of Hemolysis Measurement in Red Cell Concentrates" and the ICSH is looking forward to Carly starting her project.

Promoted with the help of its corporate partners, affiliates and Wiley Publishing, and with an increase to £10,000 in value, this year saw the ICSH Carol Briggs-Smalley Award highest number of entires in 5 years.

The Carol Briggs-Smalley Scholarship Award was set-up in 2015 to honour the significant contributions Carol Briggs made to the discipline of laboratory haematology.

Each year the ICSH seeks applications from Medical Technologists and Medical Laboratory Scientists on laboratory haematology projects particularly those that are related to standardization in laboratory haematology.

Projects related to standardization in cellular analysis, haemostasis, flow cytometry, haemoglobinopathies and molecular haematology are all considered to be suitable for the award.

The amount of £10,000 GBP is allocated to the successful applicant for expenses related to the project.

The ICSH Carol Briggs-Smalley Award is one of two annual ICSH scholarship awards, this and the ICSH Sam Machin Award.

---

ABOUT ICSH

The International Council for Standardization in Haematology (ICSH) was initiated as a standardization committee by the European Society of Haematology (ESH) in 1963 and officially constituted by the International Society of Hematology (ISH) and the ESH in Stockholm in 1964.

​The ICSH is a not-for-profit non-governmental organisation that aims to achieve reliable and reproducible results in laboratory analysis in the field of diagnostic haematology.

The ICSH coordinates Working Groups of experts to examine laboratory methods and instruments for haematological analyses, to deliberate on issues of standardization and to stimulate and coordinate scientific work as necessary towards the development of international standardization materials and guidelines.

- ends -

New ICSH Guidelines - Point of Care Testing Guidance - Published

07 March 2023

ICSH, the International Council for Standardization in Haematology is pleased to announce the Publication of a new ICSH Guideline.

Written by David A. Fitzmaurice, Geert-Jan Geersing, Xavier Armoiry, Sam Machin, Steve Kitchen, and Ian Mackie.

This guideline has been written on behalf of the International Council for Standardisation in Haematology (ICSH) and focuses on two point of care (POC) haematology tests used within primary care, namely International Normalised Ratio (INR) and D-dimer. Primary care covers out of hospital settings and can include General Practice (GP), Pharmacy and other non-hospital settings.

This guidance is intended for use by health care professionals performing INR or D-dimer tests in those locations (although these guidelines would also be applicable to hospital out-patient settings).

Links to the full publication can be found at the ICSH Publications page - here

Winner of the ICSH Sam Machin Award 2021 announced

ICSH is pleased to announce the winner of the Sam Machin award for 2021.

The standard of the submissions for the award's inaugural year was very high and the judging panel confirmed the winner for 2021 is Dr Katherine Creeper for her project entitled:

"To assess the postoperative changes in fibrinolysis and the utility of tranexamic in patients with inherited bleeding disorders.”

Congratulations to Dr Creeper who will be undertaking this project together with Professor Beverley hunt at St Thomas’ Hospital London, UK with ICSH looking forward to following the progress of her project at the ICSH General Assembly in October 2022.

---

About the Award

The Sam Machin ICSH Scholarship has been established in honour of the significant contributions made by Professor Sam Machin during his tenure as Chair of the International Council for Standardization in Haematology from 2007-2020.

The award is open to medical graduates who are either undertaking specialist haematology training (Haematologist-in-Training) or have completed specialist haematology training in the past 5-years.

The ICSH will support a laboratory-based project that will lead to further standardisation of testing and analysis in haematology. Projects related to standardization in cellular analysis, haemostasis, flow cytometry, haemoglobinopathies or molecular haematology are all considered to be suitable for the award. The Scholarship can be used to support research leading to a higher degree.

It is expected that project outcomes will be published in a suitable peer-reviewed laboratory haematology journal and presented at an international haematology congress. A presentation is required to be given to the ICSH General Assembly on completion of the project and within 2 years of the Scholarship being awarded. The Scholarship is to support purchase of consumables and reagents, small pieces of essential equipment or contribute to staff costs to initiate or underpin a project.

An amount up to GBP 10,000 will be awarded to the successful applicant for expenses related to the project.

Applications for the 2022 Award are expected to open mid-2022, here - https://www.icsh.org/awards