Adjunct scientist honoured with 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award

Canadian Blood Services’ national awards program recognizes exceptional contributors to the transfusion and transplantation system. One of the Lifetime Achievement Awards presented as part of the 2024 program recognized the research achievements of Dr. Dean Fergusson.

Dr. Fergusson is the deputy scientific director and senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, where he leads efforts to enhance clinical research both locally and globally. His work focuses on optimizing the use of blood in transfusion medicine. In 2024 for example, publications for which Dr. Fergusson is an author included the SAHARA trial, MINT trial, and HEMOTION trial, each examining restrictive versus liberal transfusion strategies for different patient populations.

As Dr. Fergusson is also an adjunct scientist with Canadian Blood Services and the principal investigator on several projects supported by our competitive funding programs, this blog spotlights a selection of his previous research projects undertaken through support and/or collaboration with Canadian Blood Services.

Researching optimal transfusion thresholds

As Dr. Fergusson’s award bio describes, one of his key contributions is the study of "transfusion thresholds," which has shaped how much blood is needed in surgeries and intensive care units, helping to conserve blood supplies while ensuring patient safety.  

In 2021, funding through Canadian Blood Services’ Graduate Fellowship Program was awarded to Dr. Fergusson and trainee Michael Verret for the project: “Perioperative transfusion threshold: A population-based observational study”. The transfusion threshold refers to the level at which a blood transfusion may be required by a patient, while perioperative means prior to surgery. For red blood cells, the transfusion threshold is based on the amount of hemoglobin in the recipient’s blood and may be taken into consideration alongside informed consent and the physiological, clinical and surgical status for a patient.

With the supervision of Dr. Fergusson, this project sought to better understand current practices around transfusion thresholds in non-cardiac surgery and to explore the effect of different thresholds. A resulting article, published July 2024 in the peer-reviewed journal Transfusion Medicine Reviews, describes significant variation in perioperative practices across surgery type and location and calls for further clinical trials to “demonstrate whether a restrictive transfusion strategy can be safely recommended for patients undergoing noncardiac surgery”. Research that informs the use of restrictive or liberal transfusion strategies is important for optimizing the demand for blood in surgical settings.

Researching donor characteristics

Other research by Dr. Fergusson has also explored the characteristics of blood, such as the impact of donor gender and age on transfusion outcomes. His work has demonstrated that blood from male and female donors is equally effective, influencing transfusion policies in Canada and internationally. 

Notably, a project funded by the Canadian Blood Services – CIHR Partnership Operating Grant Program in 2014 linked donor and recipient data sets with vital statistics information in Ontario to evaluate short and long-term clinical effects of blood donor characteristics for transfusion recipients. More about this project is available in the September 2016 publication in the peer-reviewed journal, JAMA Internal Medicine.

With a similar focus, the randomized trial known as iTADS (short for “innovative Trial Assessing Donor Sex”) undertaken by Dr. Fergusson and team examined donor data from Canadian Blood Services alongside clinical outcomes data to understand whether transfusions from male donors resulted in different outcomes than transfusions from female donors. While the iTADS study concluded there was “no significant difference in survival between a transfusion strategy involving red-cell units from female donors and a strategy involving red-cell units from male donors”, the learnings from this trial have been acknowledged as particularly informative for the development of the upcoming SexMATTERS clinical trial for which principal investigator Dr. Michelle Zeller recently received CIHR funding.

Read more about this research:

• Association of Blood Donor Age and Sex With Recipient Survival After Red Blood Cell Transfusion (JAMA Internal Medicine, September 2016)
• Effect of Donor Sex on Recipient Mortality in Transfusion (New England Journal of Medicine, Apri 2023)

Clinical guideline development

Dr. Fergusson is also a full member of the International Collaboration for Transfusion Medicine Guidelines (ICTMG), a collaborative of expert volunteers from around the globe. His contributions to ICTMG have included: co-chairing the Methods committee, serving on both the executive and editorial committees, and participating in several guideline development groups which included, most recently, the platelet clinical guideline. The publication and dissemination of guidelines that can inform clinical transfusion practice supports the ICTMG’s vision of “The right transfusion, always, everywhere”. Canadian Blood Services is the host for ICTMG’s Secretariat.

Congratulations on this Lifetime Achievement Award, Dr. Fergusson! Read the full bio for Dr. Dean Fergusson on blood.ca. 

About Canadian Blood Services’ Lifetime Achievement Award

Established in 2002, the Lifetime Achievement Award honours individuals whose landmark contributions have significantly advanced the fields of transfusion and transplantation medicine, stem cell, or cord blood research. Recipients are recognized for improving the safety and quality of blood products and making notable advancements in medical practices.

Canadian Blood Services – Driving world-class innovation 

Through discovery, development and applied research, Canadian Blood Services drives world-class innovation in blood transfusion, cellular therapy and transplantation—bringing clarity and insight to an increasingly complex healthcare future. Our dedicated research team and extended network of partners engage in exploratory and applied research to create new knowledge, inform and enhance best practices, contribute to the development of new services and technologies, and build capacity through training and collaboration. Find out more about our research impact.  

The opinions reflected in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Canadian Blood Services nor do they reflect the views of Health Canada or any other funding agency.