ORGANIZATION 11TH TERM (2019－2021)

Presidential Address: International Society for Apheresis: 2019-2021

It is my great honor to be elected President of the International Society for Apheresis (ISFA) for the 2019-2021 period. ISFA is an international organization that brings together over 500 physicians and investigators from more than 50 countries who are committed to the development, promotion and clinical application of apheresis technologies (1-10).

These last few months have seen a sharp increase in the use of specialized blood purification techniques as the COVID 19 pandemic has been identified as the cause of deadly syndromes of septic shock, fulminant cytokine production, severe pulmonary insufficiency and widespread intravascular coagulation. Specialized apheresis techniques such as the targeted removal of endotoxin and cytokines have been employed worldwide.  Some of these techniques have been heretofore unavailable in the US and the COVID pandemic has convinced the FDA to allow their use on a compassionate basis. Added to techniques of targeted toxin removal is the collection and administration of convalescent plasma to passively provide protective antibodies obtained from COVID 19 patients who have survived their infections.  The increased use of these varied apheresis techniques will undoubtedly add immeasurably to our understanding of how to remove or negate the deleterious effects of systemic inflammatory mediators. In addition, guidelines for the dialysis community regarding current status and infection control in dialysis units are also critical at this time (11).

Although many medical meetings have been canceled or converted to “virtual meetings” due to the pandemic, ISFA and the American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) have agreed to explore the possibility of a joint meeting to be held in Minneapolis in May of 2021. In these negotiations, ISFA is pleased to have Dr. Bruce Sachais as our representative. Dr. Sachais is a distinguished clinician and a former president of ASFA and is in an excellent position to be the Congress President for the proposed ASFA-ISFA meeting.

As the President of ISFA, I am pleased to invite all those with interest in apheresis to join our Society at this time of increased activity and innovation.

Sincerely,

Andre A. Kaplan, MD, FACP, FASN

Professor Emeritus

University of Connecticut School of Medicine

President of ISFA, 2019-2021.

President

Andre Kaplan (USA)

President-elect

Bernd Hohenstein (Germany)

Immediate Past-President

Yoshihiro Endo (Japan)

Congress President

(13th America)

Andre Kaplan (USA)

Vice President

• Bruce Sachais (USA)
• Volker Witt (Austria)
• Hidenori Matsuo (Japan)

Secretary Treasurer

Tohru Tani (Japan)

Editor-in Chief

Tadao Akizawa (Japan)

Regional Offices

• America: P. Malchesky, P. Moriarty, A. Torloni
• Europe: W. Szpirt, J. Klinkmann, W. Ramlow
• Pan-Pacific: K. Yamaji, K. Lin