Biography
Dr. Tobian is the Director of the Transfusion Medicine Division at Johns Hopkins Hospital and is highly involved with the transfusion medicine community. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Clinical Apheresis and sits on the Editorial Board for the journal TRANSFUSION. Dr. Tobian is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the website Transfusion News. He has served on the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) Board of Directors for the past four years and was just elected to join the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors. Dr. Tobian also has an established global research program that studies transfusion transmitted infections and more recently the use of convalescent plasma to treat or prevent COVID-19. He has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed articles in journals including The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Lancet, Blood and TRANSFUSION. His work has also been featured on the NBC Today Show, BBC World Service, National Public Radio, USA Today and other media outlets.

Talk
Deployment of Convalescent Plasma for the Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19
Passive antibody therapy has been in use for over a century for both post-exposure prophylaxis (e.g., rabies, polio) and treatment (e.g., SARS-CoV-1, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome [MERS], Ebola). Convalescent plasma has emerged as one of the leading treatments for prevention and early treatment of COVID-19, including recent FDA Emergency Use Authorization. Dr. Tobian will discuss the use of convalescent plasma for COVID-19.