An Update on the Activities of the International Society for Laboratory Hematology, 2026

As President (JLF) and Past President (TIG) of the International Society for Laboratory Hematology (ISLH), we are happy to report the major activities and accomplishments of ISLH as a follow-up to our last editorial.1 As we continue our recovery from the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, our members and society have met these challenges and we have now held our third hybrid meeting, which in May 2023 was held in North America in the vibrant city of New Orleans in conjunction with the North American Specialized Coagulation Laboratory Association (NASCOLA). ISLH has continued to develop and support projects, including our dedicated database on laboratory hematology guidelines, development of educational webinars, and a full complement of online learning resources. First, we recognize the vital contributions of the ISLH Executive team. We are joined by a roster of talented and dedicated laboratory professionals who have volunteered their expertise in support of our society. Katrien Devreese is currently Vice President (VP) of Scientific Communications and served as co-program director for the 2023 XXXVIth International Symposium on Technical Innovations in Laboratory Hematology in New Orleans, Louisiana. She also continues to lead our Bylaws Committee. Ruth Padmore continues her hard work as VP of Education and has led a group of highly engaged colleagues on the Education Committee. Olga Weinberg continues as Treasurer and works with SPLTrak to assure that our society's finances continue to be healthy. Karen Moffat, VP of Membership Engagement, has continued to lead our growing online collection of laboratory hematology guidelines. Karen has worked with the membership committee's work to promote ISLH on social media and continue to advance our organization's visibility. She also serves as an important voice for continued inclusivity of ISLH for all members of the laboratory hematology community, including medical technologists and other clinical laboratory scientists, laboratory hematologists and pathologists, trainees, and other laboratory personnel. Giuseppe D'Onofrio and Ian Mackie have continued their efforts to grow our society's journal, the International Journal of Laboratory Hematology (IJLH), as Editors-in-Chief and are supported by an excellent team of associate editors, editorial board members, and our Wiley publishing team led by Claire Dowbekin. Likewise, the ISLH Executive Committee is supported by our Board of Directors and Councilors, including our ISLH Conflict of Interest Officer Samia Rizk and newly appointed Corporate Advisory Committee Chair, as well as the International Council for Standardization in Haematology (ICSH) liaison, Simon Davidson. We thank all these individuals for the important work they have performed on behalf of our society. We would also like to acknowledge the groups and individuals who have supported our current Congress. For 2024, we partnered with the Société Française de Thrombose et d'Hémostase (SFTH), for our return to Europe. The 2024 symposium in Nantes will have an exciting lineup of speakers from Europe and around the world, highlighting the newest innovations and approaches to investigations in laboratory hematology. I am indebted to the hard work of our Co-Program Directors, Katrien Devreese and Pierre Toulon. The team engaged the Chairs, Vice Chairs, members of the ISLH Scientific Committees, and SFTH to generate an outstanding scientific program including two Special Plenary sessions on (1) the current projects of the ICSH (schistocyte identification, validation of hemostasis laboratory developed tests, measuring uncertainty in laboratory tests) and (2) the challenges of laboratory hematology practice in lower-income countries, and our Presidential Symposium. The speakers in this year's Presidential Symposium are: (1) Gina Zini (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, and Fundazione Policlinico Agostino Gemelli, Italy) who is the 2024 Berend Houwen Award winner and (2) Theodore (Ted) Warkentin (McMaster University, Canada) who is the Wallace H Coulter Award speaker. We also planned for robust and exciting poster and oral abstract sessions, which would not be possible without the diligent input of our volunteer reviewers who reviewed the near-record number of abstract submissions from around the world. We are thankful for the many individuals submitting their latest work for presentation at ISLH 2024. As per usual, oral and poster publications presented will be published in abstract form in an electronic supplement of IJLH. This editorial appears in the 2024 annual Educational Issue of IJLH which is freely accessible and will contain state-of-the-art reviews and articles submitted by our ISLH 2024 speakers. We are grateful to our guest Co-Editors, Archana Agarwal and Pierre Toulon, Co-Editors-in-Chief Giuseppe D'Onofrio and Ian Mackie, our IJLH editorial board and reviewers, and the dedicated Wiley publication team for this collaborative effort. The continuing rise in the impact factor of IJLH coupled with the growth in article citations and downloads reflects the value and impact of IJLH to laboratory hematology. Thank you for continuing to support IJLH. We are also very pleased to report on the continuing (and growing) collaborations between ISLH and other organizations. Our Board of Directors and Councilors, and other society leaders, have been pivotal to the continuing success of these activities. ISLH continues to be an affiliate member of the International Council for Standardization in Haematology (ICSH); https://icsh.org/. Our society's journal, IJLH, is a preferred means for disseminating the ICSH's highly impactful recommendations. Within the past year the IJLH has published ICSH-sponsored guidelines and recommendations on laboratory measurement of factor VIII and FIX type I inhibitors2 and quality control practices for blood cell counters.3, 4 We look forward to further fruitful collaborations among the ICSH, ISLH, and IJLH. ISLH continues its relationship with the European Hematology Association (EHA). Following another successful joint ISLH-EHA Laboratory Workshop held at the EHA annual meeting in Frankfurt in June 2023, the ISLH has agreed to participate in a Workshop at the 2024 EHA annual meeting which will be held in Madrid in June 2024. ISLH is also a participating society of the Thrombosis Haemostasis Societies of North America (THSNA) which hosts a scientific conference every other year in North America. Cathy Hayward serves, through her past and present service in THSNA and ISLH, as an important bridge between these two organizations. ISLH continues to play an important role in highlighting laboratory perspectives to THSNA, and THSNA has also been a very important revenue source for ISLH. ISLH continues its important partnership with the International Clinical Cytometry Society (ICCS) with representatives from ICCS serving on our Cellular Analysis Scientific Committee. As in years past, a joint ISLH-ICCS Flow Cytometry session was held during the 2023 ISLH Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Additional collaborations are in place with (1) the Pakistan Society of Hematology (PSH) with Cathy Hayward giving a plenary lecture in 2023 facilitated by Saleem Ahmed Khan; (2) the Turkish Society of Hematology (TSH); (3) the Japanese Society for Laboratory Hematology (JSLH); (4) the Korean Society for Laboratory Medicine (KSLM) and (5) the South African Society of Haematology (SASH). In conclusion, we acknowledge the many members of ISLH who have volunteered their time and talent to help us make these goals a reality, and to help our society achieve its goal to advance the science and practice of laboratory hematology. The many valuable relationships that ISLH has established with other important laboratory hematology and laboratory medicine organizations have helped us to further our goals. Our organization is grateful for the contributions that so of you have made and will continue to make to ISLH and its journal. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Data sharing not applicable to this article as no data sets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

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