Written by Christina Crowe

Marisa Marques, M.D., Professor and Medical Director, Transfusion Medicine, attended the American Society for Apheresis annual meeting in Philadelphia, PA, May 4-6, where she received the Francis S. Morrison, M.D., Memorial Lecture Award.

The Francis S. Morrison, M.D. Memorial Lecture is an annual keynote lecture created to keep alive and honor the memory of Francis S. Morrison, MD, a true pioneer in apheresis medicine and a leading apheresis professional. The first lecture was held at the ASFA Meeting in 2002. The award is bestowed upon a member of the Society who has made major contributions to the field of apheresis medicine and an apheresis professional who has made a lasting difference in the field, preferably at the national level.

The title of Marques' talk was, "How I Used The Tools That ASFA Gave Me To Give Back." UAB Pathology Blood Bank/Transfusion Medicine fellow, Dr. Sohaila Soltani (below, group photo, on right), attended the conference. Brooke Bartow, PGY1 (below, group photo, on left), presented a poster at the conference on, "The Evolution of an Apheresis Service: A Partnership with the Blood Bank to Serve the Underserved."

In her own words, she describes the experience of attending the conference and receiving the award:

"I had an overwhelmingly positive experience giving the award lecture, where I shared activities that I participated in when I became an ASFA member, up to serving as President of the society from 2014-2015. I highlighted how I took the opportunities and/or needs of ASFA and turned them into something good for the society as a whole, working collaboratively within ASFA and others. One such example was the organization of the first ASFA regional meeting in Birmingham in 2011, which has been followed by six others in various parts of the country. These smaller meetings allow more people to attend and learn.

Since this award is the highest honor that ASFA gives to someone involved in apheresis, it means the world to me. I did not expect to be recognized with it, and to be part of the list of people who have received this award before me is one of the highest accomplishments of my career. My ultimate goal with the presentation I put together for the award lecture was to inspire other members to get involved and contribute to the world of apheresis. Any one of us can do the same in whichever subspecialty we practice."

Dr. Marques received her medical degree from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, followed by residency in Internal Medicine at the same institution. She moved to the United States with her husband in 1986 to become a Research Fellow at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, for two years. They then moved to Boston, where Dr. Marques continued working as a fellow at Harvard Medical School. In 1993, the couple relocated to Birmingham, where she completed a residency in Pathology and a fellowship in Hematopathology at UAB. Dr. Marques is board certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, with subspecialties in Hematology and Transfusion Medicine/Blood Banking. She has been at UAB since her residency, and is now professor of Laboratory Medicine.

Previous Francis S. Morrison, MD Memorial Lecture Award winners: