Carter BloodCare Announces Leadership Transition

Carter BloodCare, an AABB institutional member based in Texas, has named Barbara J. Bryant, MD, as the organization’s new chief executive officer. Bryant will step into her role Sept. 23, following the retirement of current president and CEO Merlyn Sayers, MBBCh, PhD.

Born in the United Kingdom, Sayers completed his medical education in South Africa and joined the Puget Sound Blood Center (now BloodWorks Northwest) in 1981. He held several positions there before leading Carter BloodCare in 1996. Sayers also held faculty appointments at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, the University of Washington and the UT Southwestern Medical Center.

A volunteer and leader across several professional organizations, Sayers was a long-time member of AABB, America’s Blood Centers, the British Blood Transfusion Society, the International Society for Blood Transfusion and the Alliance for Community Transfusion Services, where he served on and led numerous committees, tasks forces and working groups. Sayers was instrumental for his leadership during the HIV/AIDS crisis, serving as chairman of FDA’s Blood Products Advisory Committee from 1991 to 1994 and on AABB’s Transfusion Transmitted Diseases Committee from 1987 and 1990. He completed several research projects related to transfusion-transmitted diseases, transfusion safety and blood donor recruitment.

Before joining Carter BloodCare, Bryant served as chief medical officer and executive vice president at Versiti, an AABB institutional member based in Wisconsin. Her prior experience includes appointment as chief, Department of Transfusion Medicine and Center for Cellular Engineering, at the National Institutes of Health. In addition, Bryant has held faculty positions at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and previously served as a member of the AABB Board of Directors.

Bryant is widely published and serves on several international, national and regional committees involved in blood banking accreditation, teaching, research and patient management. She is a previous member of the Food and Drug Administration's Blood Products Advisory Committee and the AABB Board of Directors. Bryant has also served as president of the South Central Association of Blood Banks.