Colleagues and Friends,

The holiday season is upon us, and for those of us in the U.S., the Thanksgiving holiday is just around the corner. Thanksgiving is a time for gathering with our family and friends and reflecting on all that we’re grateful for (and, yes, eating way too much delicious food).

It is in that spirit that I’d like to share my gratitude and thanks to our amazing ASTCT membership, volunteers and leaders. The following is just some of what we’ve accomplished through the support of our amazing members and volunteers this year:

• Through your participation in our committees and SIGs, we’ve developed top-notch educational content, including 24 webinars on topics like sickle cell, CAR T, and access to transplant
• Launched a new ASTCT Content Committee, and recruited a new Nucleus medical editor, to ensure we’re publishing timely, relevant content
• Started a new monthly Twitter chat series around our Transplantation and Cellular Therapy journal articles, which are averaging 13,500 direct impressions for each chat – and growing
• Several new engaging conversations have been published to our ASTCT Talks podcast, with a new series coming in 2022 focused on discussing and preserving our community’s history
• Significant increase in our social media presence and engagement, thanks to all of you continuing the conversation online
• As of this month, we’ve reached 3,000 members – a new milestone for our community! – in part thanks to all of you spreading the word about the value of ASTCT

Finally, if you’re considering ways of giving back this holiday season, please consider donating to our ASTCT Giving Campaign. This campaign is dedicated to promoting research, education and training in the field of transplantation and cellular therapy. Every gift plays a critical role in improving patient outcomes and fostering the professional development of our members. This is a great way to give back to the community that has meant so much to all of us, both professionally and personally.

Wishing those of you in the U.S. a wonderful Thanksgiving – and a happy holiday season to all of you.

Stella Davies, MBBS, PhD

Tags: SIG, Social Media, President, journal, message, board of directors, november, gratitude, content committee, transplantation and cellular therapy, giving campaign