Today is World Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Day! To acknowledge, I recommend the following: 1. Type “Tell me the most important thing to know about sickle cell disease in [your city]” into google or your preferred AI 2. Spread the word!

Jose de la Fuente showing data that has traditionally justified adult SCT in pts with sickle cell disease but not thalassemia — iron overload = GVHD = incr mortality. But does age become less reliable a surrogate marker for hemochromatosis in era of oral iron chelators?

Haydar Frangoul presenting on curative therapies for sickle cell disease, often performed in adults, makes a striking statement: these are patients who have been “sick” their entire lives. When they are suddenly free of disease, many are left wondering what to do with their lives, may feel lost

$11 000 per second. Read to see how this compares to the cost of spending elsewhere which has recently been cut for being "wasteful" (humanitarian aid, public broadcasting, paid parental and sick leave, child tax credits, school lunch programs) jacobin.com/2026/03/pent...

University of Toronto graduate and the latest member of the transfusion medicine community, Dr. Lianne Rotin. Welcome to the club ❤️

Donating blood as part of the Sickle Cell Awareness Group of Ontario‘s collaboration with Canadian Blood Services. My own blood isn’t especially rare, but you have to walk it like you talk it when trying to encourage people to donate the first time. See? Easy!

✍️We published a new topic page on medicine and biotechnology— For much of human history, people relied on trial and error to find cures for diseases and health conditions using natural plants and remedies, with little idea of which ingredients worked or why.

From the chair of the federal government’s National Pharmacare Committee of Experts, Nav Persaud does not mince his words. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Adults with SCD and parvovirus B19 infection showed 3 phenotypes: erythroblastopenia, BMN, and vaso-occlusive events. Patients with BMN had longer hospital stay but no differences in parvovirus B19 genotype or diversity across groups. Read here: buff.ly/dNk4xxo

Join Dr. Linda Barnes, Ms. Caroline Wangamati, and me for an interesting discussion of innovations from the Blood D.E.S.E.R.T. Coalition #AABB2025

Please read @cmadocs.bsky.social @rcphysicians.bsky.social

Speak up for National Pharmacare in Canada! Save lives! Save money! @juliedabrusin.bsky.social @mark-carney.bsky.social @cdndrsformedicare.bsky.social @canadahealthwatch.ca @uhn.ca @utoronto.ca @cma-acs.bsky.social

Action alert: The City of Toronto is considering restricting fossil fuel ads. These ads undermine climate action & put everyone at risk. We have a short window of time for the City Council to act. Take action here: cape.ca/action/ban-f...

Save Canadian hemovigilance! We can't improve the safety of blood transfusion if we don't monitor the harms it causes! @canadahealthwatch.ca @cdnhealthcoalition.bsky.social @cmadocs.bsky.social @cstm-scmt.bsky.social chng.it/Ks2BHwWRLC

@utoronto.ca has produced another stellar transfusion medicine specialist: Dr Sheharyar Raza (@transfusion.health). Keep an eye on this one, he is destined for great things

Hemovigilance in Canada is under threat. We continue to add resources and links for advocacy - stay up to date with how you can help. www.transfusion.ca/hemovigilance

Coming back to a long-neglected manuscript is like going back to the gym after you’ve slacked off for the past few months… you dread it, you delay, you find excuses, but then when you actually do it, it’s such a relief and you feel so much better afterwards I need a publishing coach

Congrats to Karina Yazdanbakhsh on receiving the ASH Henry M. Stratton Medal for Basic Science! Her groundbreaking research in transfusion medicine and sickle cell disease is shaping the future of targeted therapies Proud to have her as Co-Chair of the Basic Transfusion Biology WP

Many people wonder if the severity of an acute PE influences VTE recurrence risk and therefore should impact DOAC dose selection? A post-hoc analysis of RENOVE study shows similar rates or recurrent VTE based on PE severity. #ISTH2025

June 19th is World Sickle Cell Awareness Day. Below is a link to a good review article on the subject, and in this thread are my two wishes as a physician who treats the condition: www.healthaffairs.org/content/fore...

The remarkable benefit of exercise was just extended to improved survival after cancer in a randomized trial @nejm.org nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Dr. Natasha Pardy making a passionate argument that patients in rural and remote communities are entitled to the same quality of health care as those in cities -- following equally persuasive presentations by Coleen Moores (hemophilia nurse) and Leonard Duffenais (patient) @cstm-scmt.bsky.social 2025

Dr. Yoelys Cruz Leal presenting her CBS Dana Devine Award Lecture the @cstm-scmt.bsky.social 2025 Annual Meeting on her research distinguishing trogocytosis from phagocytosis. Her focus was on RhIg prophylaxis, but her discoveries may also one day reveal a way to safely transfuse incompatible RBCs

"There is a cohort of talent unlike we have ever seen before that we can compete for." Dr. @bradwouters.com, EVP of Science & Research at UHN, gives CBC's The National an inside look at Canada Leads, an initiative to recruit 100 top early-career scientists.

Stacey Greeley presenting her Buchanan Award Lecture at the @cstm-scmt.bsky.social Annual Meeting. She joked that the audience might struggle with her Newfoundland brogue, but we understood perfectly as she described the rewards and challenges of providing transfusion support to rural hospitals

Dr. William Sheffield giving his QuidelOrtho award speech at the 2025 annual @cstm-scmt.bsky.social meeting. He reviewed his career focus on serpins, plasma and albumin, work that has done much to advance the fields of transfusion medicine and hemostasis. Funny, humble and very impressive 👏

American doctors look to relocate to Canada to avoid the Trump administration www.npr.org/sections/sho... @npr.org 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀 ⇢ CanadaHealthwatch.ca 🍁

Can we rationalize the way we give diuretic prophylaxis before transfusion? Colleagues @uhntoronto.bsky.social incl talented co-fellow Dr. Rotin and @jacobpendergrast.bsky.social have made a substantial stride in dose modelling to target urine output onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1... #medsky

Was orienting a PGY2 to my clinic, chatting as I always do in a collegial, informal manner, and at the end, he says “Dr. Pendergrast , I just wanted to mention: you trained my Dad!” He showed me a picture of someone who is now an established transplant nephrologist #feelingold

This was a fun interview :-) Reminiscing on residency: Dr. Jacob Pendergrast canadianhealthcarenetwork.ca/reminiscing-...

Do your homework, but you will find you can make a very good living here, largely free from the moral injury of having to deny care to the uninsured, and in an environment where research and academic inquiry are respected and funded.

ASH decries HHS restructuring and CDC layoffs. The Blood Disorders Division addresses SCD, thrombosis, hemophilia, thalassemia, and more. Millions' health is at stake; ASH urges immediate action. #Fight4Hematology #HemeSky #MedSky

‘100 calls per month’: Why U.S. doctors are looking to move to Canada globalnews.ca/news/1110905... @kdangerfield.bsky.social 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀: CanadaHealthwatch.ca/newsletter 🍁

They are just disappearing people off the street. Having a hard time thinking about literally anything else.

📢 ASH stands up for science! 🩸🧪🔬 Today, ASH joined fellow advocates at the @standupforscience.bsky.social rally to support continued investment in scientific research and innovation. Let’s protect the future of #medicine, #research, and #patientcare together! 🙌💉 #Hematology #Hemesky #Medsky

Because 👏 science 👏saves 👏 lives👏 Amazing to see everyone come together today at the @standupforscience.bsky.social rally! ASH is here to protect science and advocate for the funding and support that drives innovation in #hematology and beyond. 💪🩸

Incredible synergies result when blood suppliers and sickle cell advocacy groups team up — each side needs the support of the other to achieve the common goal of safe and effective transfusion therapy. Thank you CBS and SCAGO for hosting a fantastic evening 🇨🇦

Ever wanted to know the ins and outs of putting together a research team? Join us on March 20th! www.transfusion.ca/Events/Canad...

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada adds Education, expands Healthcare, and retains STEM occupations in its 2025 Express Entry categories. More:

Rubio terminated 5800 USAID contracts – more than 90% of its foreign aid programs – in defiance of the courts. Here’s a list of just some of the lifesaving awards that were terminated. Nearly all were Congressionally mandated. They’ve saved millions of lives. 🧵

UHN, Canada’s top hospital, is ranked third in the world for the second year in a row by @newsweek.com! This 2025 ranking solidifies UHN’s Toronto General Hospital as the top publicly-funded hospital in the world. Read the full report here: www.newsweek.com/rankings/wor...

An inspiring evening hosted by @uhntoronto.bsky.social honouring the Princess Margaret Hospital hall-of-fame inductees: Gary Rodin, David Mccready, Armand Keating, Donna Reece, Patrick Gullane, Steven Gallinger, Bernard Cummings, and Frances Shepherd

Canada lures US doctors amid authoritarian shift canadahealthwatch.ca/newsletter/2... @nicktsergas.ca 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀: CanadaHealthwatch.ca/newsletter 🍁

We shouldn’t mince words. Trump’s gutting of USAID will leave some of the world’s poorest to die in agony. Those responsible are some of the world’s richest. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/08/w...

With Helen Ziavras at the Thalassemia Foundation of Canada’s annual gala. Helen was the first Canadian patient with beta thal major to have a child of her own, which shows how much things have changed for what was once considered a pediatric diagnosis

Mind-boggling wreckage. Among the lifesaving programs now disrupted by Elon’s attack on @USAID: phase 1 trials for a possible HIV vaccine.

Interesting back story on development on a novel analgesic — “man on fire syndrome” in Alabama, “firewalkers” in India, linked by one pain receptor protein medicine.yale.edu/news-article...