It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Dr Dana Devine. Please see the following tribute from Ed Conway, Director of the Centre for Blood Research. CSTM is honored to continue our partnership in supporting the lasting tribute to Dana through the Canadian Blood Services Dana Devine Award program. This program recognizes promising scientists in a field related to transfusion science and medicine, blood banking and blood biotherapies.
Dear colleagues and friends,
It is with deep sadness that I share the news that Dr. Dana Devine, a long-time friend, colleague, and founding member of the UBC Centre for Blood Research (CBR), passed away on November 12, 2024.
Born in Massachusetts, Dana started her research career in marine biology as an undergraduate student at Woods Hole. As her curiosity shifted to exploring the causes of human disease, she joined the Duke University lab of scientist and hematologist, Wendell Rosse. It is there that she completed her PhD in immunology and established a life-long passion in deciphering the intricacies of platelets and their role in blood clotting and immunity.
Recognized as a rising star, Dana was recruited to the Department of Pathology at UBC, and rapidly moved up through the ranks to full professor. Along the way, she also joined the newly created Canadian Blood Services (CBS), where she held key leadership roles, including its first VP of Medical Scientific & Research Affairs and later, Chief Scientist.
In the late 1990s, Dana and four other forward-thinking UBC scientists, saw a chance to create a UBC-based multidisciplinary centre devoted to blood research - an entirely novel concept at the time. With a strong sense of purpose, she and her colleagues raised tens of millions of dollars from government, industry and private donors, and recruited a cadre of superb clinicians/scientists across many fields to create what is now the world-renowned Centre for Blood Research. In no small measure, the success of the CBR, for which she served a term as director, can be attributed to Dana's vision and efforts.
Dana's leadership in transfusion medicine science, education and training was well known nationally and internationally. She served on several boards and as president of the American Association of Blood Banks, editor-in-chief of the journal
Vox Sanguinis, and president of Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST).
At UBC, Dana was an active member and professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, serving for years as the director of graduate studies. Her lab was filled with enthusiastic researchers, technicians and students who valued her guidance and support, as they found meaningful positions in academia and industry. Indeed, her research and training leave a legacy that will impact for generations. Dana will be missed but forever remembered as a dear friend and colleague.
If you wish, the family has requested that donations be made to the
Dana Devine Education and Training Fund. Your gift will honour Dana's legacy by supporting the program she was so proud of and will have a lasting impact by advancing research and education at the UBC Centre for Blood Research.
Sincerely,
Ed
Edward M. Conway, MD, PhD
Director, Centre for Blood Research
UBC Professor of Medicine