We held a Customer Information Day on the 6th of October 2021 aimed at Clinicians, Medical Scientists and Haemovigilance Officers. Please see below for access to some of the  excellent presentations given.

Expanding our Donor Base

Moira Keogh gave a presentation on the frequency of blood groups in our donors, and our urgent need to diversify our donor base.

Moira Keogh is a medical scientist who has worked across the organisation since 2005, starting in Components in the MRTC, then to Virology in Dublin, before moving to RCI for 13 years where she gained extensive knowledge and experience in immunohaematology, and a special interest in rare blood types. She is the chief medical scientist of the Automated Donor Grouping Laboratory which performs all of the blood grouping and extended phenotyping on Irish blood donors.

Research and Development

Dr. Allison Waters gave a presentation detailing on our renewed strategic focus on R&D 

Dr. Allison Waters completed her PhD in Medical Virology in 2006 and has been working at the clinical diagnostic and public health interface for the last 15 years. She is a specialist in virology, public health and molecular epidemiology. Allison is now leading our R&D department, overseeing seeing research spanning our entire service, including donation, testing, blood component production and transfusion.

The challenge of providing appropriate red cell component support for sickle cell disease

Dr Kieran Morris described the everyday challenge of providing matched blood for our individuals with sickle cell disease in Ireland

Dr Kieran Morris works as a Consultant Haematologist with the Irish Blood Transfusion Service and St Vincent’s Hospital.  While a graduate of University College Dublin, Kieran has worked most of his professional life in the NHS with over thirty years’ experience (and his fellowship qualification from the Royal College of Pathologists) in transfusion medicine. Fellow Faculty of Pathologists RCPI. Kieran has held senior leadership roles as Chief Executive and then Medical Director of the Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service. He is very involved in medical education and is lead examiner for transfusion science with the Royal College of Pathologists.

Fetal Genotyping

Dr Diarmaid Ó Donghaile gave a presentation on our the Fetal RhD genotyping service 

Dr Diarmaid Ó Donghaile, is a Consultant Haematologist at the IBTS and St. James’s Hospital Dublin. He completed his post graduate training in Hematology in Ireland, and Transfusion Medicine in the U.S National Institutes of Health. 

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