Dana Devine

Dana Devine (1956-2024) was an American-born Canadian blood transfusion researcher and the president of AABB. She was the editor-in-chief of Vox Sanguinis from 2012 to 2020. Devine was also the Chief Scientist at Canadian Blood Services In 2015, she was elected as a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. In 2022, she was elected as the President of the Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion Collaborative.

Education Under the direction of Dr. Wendell F. Roose, Devine received her Ph.D. in immunology from Duke University in 1986. She previously completed a bachelor's degree in biology and a master's degree in marine biology, both at Boston University. As director, she was instrumental in the development of the CBS’ accomplished Centre for Innovation, including its netCAD Blood4Research facility in Vancouver which is recognized globally for its work to drive innovation in transfusion medicine by collecting blood for research in blood collection, manufacturing, and storage. Other countries are taking inspiration from this model, including the U.S. and Australia. Her work at CBS included improvements to testing for transfusion transmitted infection, donor and transplantation services, surveillance and epidemiology, and improvements to platelet unit manufacturing processes. In 2021, she became its director.

Devine was elected president of AABB in 2020 and took office in October 2021. An AABB member since 1998, Dana recognized the challenges that the field was facing, including the maintenance of a stable and adequate blood supply, ensuring a sufficient and well-trained workforce, and advancing research. As President, Devine committed to being an advocate for research in this field, suggesting that the challenges being faced could be addressed through innovation.

Devine's research specialties were in blood system management and quality improvement, She attended her first BEST meeting in 2002, subsequently joining the Conventional Components team under the direction of Dr. Sherrill Slitchter and Nancy Heddle. as well as research using Raman spectroscopy to assess the quality of stored red blood cells.

Devine was a member of various boards for biotechnology companies and blood operators. Devine was the chair of the medical advisory board for Macopharma, a transfusion product company based in Lille, France. She sat on the research advisory boards for blood operators, including the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, Vitalant, and the Bloodworks Northwest (formerly Puget Sound Blood Centre). Her publications have garnered over ten-thousand citations. Her most cited paper is title "Clinical outcomes following institution of the Canadian universal leukoreduction program for red blood cell transfusions", with over 400 citations. She died on November 12, 2024. In 2024, Canadian Blood Services and the Canadian Society of Transfusion Medicine jointly introduced the Dana Devine Award to further careers in transfusion research.