ISBER 2023 Outstanding Achievement in Biobanking

- Peter Watson -

Sponsored by Analytical Biological Services Inc.

This award is sponsored

by Analytical Biological Services.

Peter Watson is Director of Biobanking and Biospecimen Research Services (BBRS) BC Cancer, British Columbia, Canada. He is also a Staff Pathologist and Senior Scientist at BC Cancer, Professor of Pathology at the University of British Columbia, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Victoria. In the field of biobanking he coleads the Canadian Tissue Repository Network (CTRNet) that maintains and operates an online biobank resource center, an open-source biobank data-management system, and a biobank certification program. The CTRNet quality assurance programs have >740 biobanks enrolled (~70% Canadian and 30% International from >20 countries). He is also deputy editor for the journal ‘Biopreservation and Biobanking’ and a long standing ISBER member. In his other roles he maintains an active clinical pathology practice and a research laboratory program focused on breast cancer. He is author of over 250 research publications including papers on biobank classification, standards, sustainability, and utilization.

ISBER 2023 Distinguished Leadership and Service Award

- Monique Albert -

Sponsored by MVE Biological Solutions

Monique Albert is the Director, BIOSCAN at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph and is the prior Director of the Ontario Tumour Bank at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research in Toronto, Canada. She has over 20 years of professional experience in the biobanking, health research and pharmaceutical sectors, having held a number of leadership and research roles at OICR, MaRS, the STTARR Innovation Centre at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and the Microarray Centre (both at University Health Network) and in the corporate sector at Cangene Corporation and Affinium Pharmaceuticals. Her academic background combines an M.Sc. in Biological Sciences with a Project Management Professional designation and certification. A believer in the importance of biobanking to the research community, she has been a member of ISBER since 2010 and has served on the Board of Directors in the roles of Secretary and Director-at-Large, Americas, and has volunteered in a number of additional roles, including as Chair of the Governance Committee, member of the Standards Committee, member of the ASCP-BOC Qualification Task Force, the ISBER Internal Audit Tools Task Force, and repeat member of the Scientific Program Committee. She also had the privilege of co-chairing the Scientific Program Committee for the ISBER 2017 Annual Meeting in Toronto. She was previously awarded the ISBER Special Service Award in 2019.

This award is sponsored by MVE Biological Solutions.

ISBER 2023 Special Service Awards

Annemieke De Wilde

Mieke De Wilde is a Master of Science in Biology and Biochemistry from Belgium. She has over ten years of experience in biobanking. She was involved in the practical startup and daily management of the tumorbank in the Antwerp University Hospital. Over the years, she specialized into biobank quality management. She worked as Quality Manager for the Belgian Biobank Antwerp and Biobank Iridium network. She recently started as BBMRI.be Quality coordinator to coordinate a stepwise quality improvement project towards the implementation of ISO20387 in Belgium. She’s involved as a volunteer in ESBB, ISBER and BBMRI-ERIC initiatives focusing on biobank quality management and chairs the ISBER Standard Community of Practice. She’s a national expert for Belgium in the ISO Technical Committee 276 Biotechnology – Working group Biobanking.

Helen Morrin has a background in diagnostic pathology and cancer research and has been involved in biobanking since 2000 developing He Taonga Tapu Cancer Society Tissue Bank at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Her special interest is in ethics, legislation, cultural, and societal issues, impacting biobanking and human specimen research. She has been an active member of ISBER since 2007 and currently serves as Chair of the Science Policy Community of Practice.

Helen Morrin

Rita Lawlor

Prof. Rita T. Lawlor is a Computer Science graduate of Trinity College Dublin with a doctorate in Oncological Pathology .She is co-founder of the ARC-Net (www.arc-net.it) applied cancer research centre and head of the ARC-Net biobank coordinating research activities. She is responsible for research quality in the Department of Engineering and Medical Innovation. She is an IAPP Fellow of Information Privacy. She is a member of the management team of ICGC-ARGO to accelerate research in genomic oncology. Her research interests are in molecular characterization of biobanked samples in the application of individualized medicine.

Emma Snapes

Tamsin Tarling

Tamsin Tarling is the Program Leader for the Canadian Tissue Repository Network (CTRNet), co-leader of the BC Cancer Biobanking and Biospecimen Research Services (BBRS) and Manager of the BC COVID-19 Biobank Network (BCCBN). Tamsin has worked in the field of biobanking since 2011 and has extensive experience establishing biobanks, both disease specific biobanks and campus wide hospital biobanks, her experience encompasses all aspects of biobanking including the consent of patients, specimen collection, management of SOPs and ensuring good governance over the collection, storage and distribution of specimens. In addition, Tamsin has done a significant amount of work in regard to biobank standards, biobank audits and biobank legacy projects. Tamsin is chair of the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) Education and Training.