How Transfusion Moved from the Margins to the Mainstream of Medicine, from World War II to the Pandemic

The book summarizes the important developments in blood banking and transfusion medicine made from the end of World War II in 1946 through to the impact of the pandemic in 2021. Some of the important topics covered include the development of component therapy, improvements in blood preservation, evolving clinical uses of blood components, policy debates, the impact of the emergence of HIV infection and blood safety, the rising influence of more "corporate" business models, and COVID-19 effects.The book surveys important developments over these 75 years, through four very different but intertwined lenses: the evolving science, the resulting evolution in medical practice, how the social environment and the blood banking field affected one another, and the political and public policy issues that arose. It is the social dimension in particular that distinguishes this work from other writings.Practitioners, scientists and scholars in transfusion medicine and blood banking will find the book useful, as will others in related fields such as oncology, emergency medicine, public health, and health care public policy.