Author: Cees Smit Sibinga

Cees Th. Smit Sibinga, MD, PhD, FRCPEdin, FRCPath is a specialist in Internal Medicine, subspecialties in Hematology and Transfusion Medicine and professor of International Development of Transfusion Medicine at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Groningen, NL. He has been the Director of the Regional Blood Bank Noord Nederland in Groningen for 25 years (1976-2001). The Blood Bank Noord Nederland has been WHO Collaborating Center for blood transfusion, WFH International Hemophilia Training Center since 1993 and ICBS Collaborating Centre since 2001. In 2001 he created IQM Consulting for International Development of Quality Management of Transfusion Medicine as a service to the developing world and became Director of Sanquin Consulting Services and the newly established Academic Institute for International Development of Transfusion Medicine (IDTM) in Groningen. The institute is an initiative of the WHO Department of Blood Safety and Clinical Technology, the University of Groningen and the Netherlands Sanquin Blood Supply Foundation. Also he became vice-president of the AABB Consulting Services Division (2001-2006) focusing on development of Quality Management Systems in developing countries who express a need and served AABB as the Senior Medical Advisor. Prof. Smit Sibinga has been and still is active in many international functions, teaching and training positions in transfusion medicine and hemophilia care. He is and has been instrumental in numerous international development programmes, advising and guiding Governments in national blood safety reform programmes. He is the organiser of 28 annual International Symposia on Blood Transfusion in Groningen, and the author/editor of over 300 scientific publications and 36 books on transfusion medicine aspects. He was the founding father of ESFH (1981) and a co-founder of WAA (1984) and is a Fellow in Transfusion Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Pathologists in London, UK. Currently he serves WHO as an Member of the Expert Committee for Blood Transfusion and was the co-ordinator for the European Region of the WHO Quality Management Training courses. Cees Th. Smit Sibinga, MD, PhD, FRCP Edin, FRCPath Director IQM Consulting De Gast 46, 9801AE Zuidhorn, NL gsm : +31-6-2223.4325 e-mail : c.sibinga@planet.nl