Dr. Narla's scientific interests have long focused on red cell physiology and pathology. In particular, his efforts have contributed to improved understanding of the molecular and structural basis for red cell membrane disorders, developing detailed mechanistic insights into pathophysiology of thalassemia’s and sickle cell anemia, characterizing structural and functional changes induced in red cells by the malarial parasite, plasmodium falciparum and more recently molecular understanding of erythropoiesis with particular emphasis on disordered erythropoiesis in Diamond-Blackfan Anemia and Myelodysplasia. He has authored 340 peer-reviewed publications and 100 review articles and book chapters.

Dr Gemma Crighton is a paediatric haematologist at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne and holds an affiliate role at the Transfusion Research Unit, Monash University. She is the past president of the Australia and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion and has previously chaired the Paediatric Subgroup of the Clinical Transfusion Working Party of the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT). She has been involved in several national and international guideline writing groups and was a member of the expert panel for the TAXI-CAB guidelines.

Anthea is a Paediatric Haematologist with a special interest in Sickle Cell disease and Haemoglobinopathies. She is the Director of the Clinical Haematology Department, Clinical Lead for the RCH Apheresis service, Clinical Lead for the sickle cell program at RCH and honorary fellow in the haematology research group at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. She completed her specialist training in Melbourne, and a clinical fellowship in Sickle Cell disease at Duke University Medical Centre, North Carolina USA. Anthea has completed the ASCP qualification in Apheresis (QIA) and is the chair of the RCH Apheresis Committee. She is the co chair of the Australian Sickle cell Working Group and a member of the International affairs committee for the American Society of Apheresis. Anthea’s clinical and research interests include comprehensive care of children and adults with sickle cell disease/haemoglobinopathies, and advancing clinical apheresis care for children.

Dorine Swinkels is a professor in Experimental Clinical Chemistry at the Iron Expertise Centers of the Radboud university medical center, Nijmegen, and Sanquin Blood Bank, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She is trained as a medical doctor and a (bio)chemist and she specialized in Laboratory Medicine. Her research aims at a better understanding of iron metabolism, in particular the identification and characterization of novel factors that affect dysregulation and toxicity in disorders of iron homeostasis. Her specific expertise comprises the translation of novel findings into diagnostic assays, therapeutic strategies and clinical guidelines that can be implemented in the clinic. She participates in several national and international academic societies and committees in the field of hematology and biomedical iron research and development. In addition to these contributions to scientific research and its administration, she shows particular interest to transfer her knowledge of conventional and novel diagnostic tools for iron disorders to the scientific, clinical and pharmaceutical communities. She also has an engagement for teaching diagnostic medicine and translational research to students in medicine and biomedical sciences.