Society Information

The International Society for Laboratory Hematology (ISLH), non-profit organisation was founded in 1992 by an international group of laboratory professionals, headed by Dr Berend Houwen and Dr Bruce Davis in order to chart new directions for laboratory hematology.

ISLH had its origins back in 1984 where the first meeting on “Technical Innovations in Laboratory Hematology” was held in Lake Louise, Alberta Canada.  The meeting was an outstanding success and heralded the arrival of a new forum for dissemination of information from around the globe on laboratory hematology. The meeting became a must attend event on the calendar for hematology laboratorians culminating in the decision to form ISLH in 1992.

At the time of incorporation as a society it was decided also that a new journal be started again to provide a forum for publication of research and review articles in the broadening arena of laboratory hematology. In 2003 this journal “ Laboratory Hematology” received acknowledgment that it had been officially “indexed” which again was a significant milestone for ISLH.
 
The ISLH, from those humble beginnings and the visions of Dr Houwen and Dr Davis has now grown to the stage where it has near 700 members globally from over 50 countries. It is truly international in all aspects of its business with annual scientific meetings held in the US, Europe and Asia. Another part of this growth has seen the annual scientific meetings grow to the stage where the most recent meeting in Amsterdam (2006) attracted over 700 registrants, more than 200 abstracts and had four concurrent breakfast with the expert sessions.

ISLH has also been instrumental in standards and guidelines development in laboratory Hematology. These include the publication in 2001 of the first flow based reference method for platelet counting and the publication in 2005 of “The International Consensus Group for Hematology Review: Suggested Criteria for Action Following Automated CBC and WBC Differential Analysis. This publication gathered 20 leading hematology laboratorians from around the globe to share their views on slide review and feedback suggest it has been one of the most important laboratory hematology publications in the past 30 years. ISLH also maintains strong ties with the International Committee for Standardization in Hematology (ICSH) and is one of the organizations involved in its resuscitation. 

ISLH has also expanded its repertoire of disciplines to cater for the growing needs of laboratory hematologists. Today ISLH addresses the following sub-disciplines with up-to-date symposia, research and journal reviews on in:

Cellular Analysis
Flow Cytometry
Hemostasis and Thrombosis
Molecular Diagnostics
Hematology Informatics
Hemoglobinopathies
Hemolytic Anemias
Point of Care Testing
Standards and guidelines

The Board of Directors of ISLH invites all professionals in the field of laboratory hematology to join as Members, and to participate in the Society’s activities. ISLH has taken advantage of the electronic era and now provides online access for its members to archived and current articles from the journal, access to abstracts and presentations from previous annual scientific meetings and the opportunity to participate with peers via a discussion forum.

Support ISLH and also enjoy the many benefits associated with the only organization solely dedicated to serving the needs of the ISLH laboratory hematology community.

The many benefits of ISLH Membership include:
Participation in a vital, growing society of laboratory hematology professionals  
Discounted registration for the ISLH annual International Symposium on Technological Innovations in Laboratory Hematology
Subscription to the ISLH official journal
Priority notification of ISLH activities and programs.
On-Line access and retrieval of current and prior journal publications
The opportunity to interact and learn from fellow laboratory hematologists and peers