In Memoriam: Celso Bianco <scp>MD</scp>: 1941‐2018

Celso Bianco MD, passed away on 16 August 2018 in Bethesda Maryland, after a long illness. He is survived by his wife, Maria, two brothers, three children and five grandchildren. Celso will be remembered by all of us for his many and varied contributions to transfusion medicine, not only in the United States, but globally. Dr. Bianco came to the United States in 1969 from his native Brazil after graduating from Escola Paulista de Medicina (Medical School of Sao Paulo) with an MD degree in 1966 and completing an internal medicine residency at the Hospital Sao Paulo in 1968. When he came to the United States, he began a research career in immunology at NYU, subsequently joining the faculty at the Rockefeller University and then SUNY Downstate in New York City where he was a full professor in Pathology. His research, at NYU with Dr. Nussenzweig, focused on lymphocyte surface receptors and their role in the immune response, at Rockefeller University with Dr. Cohn and at SUNY he focused on monocyte cell biology and receptors. Celso entered the blood community in 1982 at the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute of the New York Blood Center, where he became an expert in transfusion medicine, eventually being appointed as the centre's Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs. His positions at NYBC brought him to the Council of Community Blood Centers (ABC's original incarnation) at the beginning of the AIDS tragedy and subsequently he joined the headquarters of America's Blood Centers. At ABC, he chaired the Scientific, Medical and Technical Committee and participated on many others. He was ABC's President in 1999-2000 and its Executive Vice President 2000-2012, until his retirement. He was central to our reaction to the threat of AIDS to transfusion safety. Dr. Bianco helped shape both the response of the Blood Center and that of the greater blood community to AIDS and also to subsequent blood safety threats and policy initiatives. Celso served the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a member of its Blood Products Advisory Committee from 2008 to 2012. His informal service to the agency was measured in countless extended conversations with great and sustained impact, leveraging collegial relationships with the leadership in the Office of Blood Research and Review. He was a member of the Department of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability from 2002 to 2006 where he was an early champion of risk-based decision making – before that label became fashionable. The number of U.S. and international organizations, committees, working parties and consultations to which he volunteered his singular fund of knowledge and ability to foster consensus is too long to enumerate. They include his long tenure on the AABB Transfusion-Transmitted Diseases Committee, Chair of the Canadian Blood Services (CBS) Scientific & Research Advisory Committee for 16 years, along with many similar bodies. Celso was a prominent member of the International Society of Blood Transfusion, serving on the Board of Directors and becoming the society's President for 2014-2016. His knowledge, skills and personality benefitted the society and its membership to no end. His service was recognized through an honorary membership of the Society. He mentored a generation of community blood bankers (both medical directors and non-physicians) during challenging times with uncanny prescience, not to mention grace, kindness and uncommon sense. He mentored professionals not only from North America, but also from Europe, South and Central America and Eastern countries. The respect of his peers is exemplified in the many honours they have accorded him. A sample includes the Thomas F. Zuck Lifetime Achievement Award and Emeritus Membership from ABC and Canadian Blood Services’ Lifetime Achievement Award. Through his entire expatriate professional career, he never lost a deep love for his homeland, travelling often to Brazil to participate in their debates about the best ways to fulfil our fundamental mission – supporting delivery of the best possible care to the patients we serve. His continuing relationship with Brazil included: joint studies with his colleagues there; working with AABB to establish an accreditation programme for Brazil, and managing ‘Best of the ISBT’ sessions for the Brazilian transfusion community. He encouraged and helped his friends and colleagues to enjoy the hospitality, friendship and collegiality of Brazil. Throughout, Celso has been a consummate colleague, mentor and friend. Many of us learned from him and became better people through his tutoring and his example. His wisdom was boundless, and his affect was gentle. Through his humanity and empathy and his measured approach to the resolution of controversial issues, he was seen as a peacemaker. He always had a creative resolution for problems. He had a zest for life, and the capacity to draw his friends and colleagues into that enthusiasm. At the end of the day, none of this captures Dr. Bianco's signal contributions to transfusion medicine. To so many, from the donors at the New York Blood Center to world-renowned biomedical investigators, he was simply the brightest, most accessible, giving, authentically humble and kindest colleague in our lives. His unfailing sense of humour in the face of the blood community's frustrations kept us on an even keel. His passing will leave an unfillable void in our profession, but his accomplishments, warmth and humanity will be cherished in our memories.

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