In 2023, many AOB authors make outstanding contributions to our journal. Their articles published with us have received very well feedback in the field and stimulate a lot of discussions and new insights among the peers.
Hereby, we would like to highlight some of our outstanding authors who have been making immense efforts in their research fields, with a brief interview of their unique perspective and insightful view as authors.
Outstanding Authors (2023)
Yann Fichou, Génomique fonctionnelle et Biotechnologies, Faculté de Médecine, France
Margaret A Keller, National Laboratories at the American Red Cross, USA
Pooja Rani, St Luke’s Health Network, USA
Mark T. Friedman, NYU Langone Health System, USA
Xiaobo Wu, Washington University, USA
X. Long Zheng, University of Kansas Medical Center, USA
Cheuk Kwong Lee, Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, Hong Kong, China
Lilian Castilho, University of Campinas, Brazil
Saikat Mandal, Hull York Medical School, UK
Carlos Cotorruelo, National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Argentina
Yann Fichou
Dr. Yann Fichou is currently a senior research scientist at the Etablissement français du sang (EFS), i.e. the French Blood Institute, and works in the UMR1078 GGB research unit at the Faculty of Medicine, Brest, France. He graduated in 2006 from the University of Brest, Brest, France, after a one-year internship at the University of Vermont, UVM, VT, USA. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Cochin Institute, Paris, France, he was recruited by EFS in 2010 to work on blood group genetics. Since then, his projects have been organized in four major axes: 1) Technological development: to design, create and adapt tools for molecular typing; 2) Identification and characterization of rare variant alleles: to document the genetic polymorphism of blood group genes and their underlying mutational mechanisms; 3) Molecular epidemiology (with several international collaborations): to describe the nature and frequency of the molecular signature of blood group genes in specific populations/communities; 4) Functional genetics: to elucidate the molecular and cellular mechanisms driving variability in the expression of red blood cell antigens. His work has primarily focused on the genetic polymorphism of the RH blood group system and, so far, he has published over 40 original articles, letters and reviews in the field for the past ten years.
Dr. Fichou thinks academic writing is the end point when a researcher discloses his/her conclusions to his/her peers after a (sometimes long) process of reading, hypotheses, discussions with colleagues, methodological design, experimental analyses, and data interpretation. It is thus a critical exercise summarizing hours of work that will be (hopefully) beneficial and useful to the scientific/medical community; in other words, another brick in the wall of science.
Sharing novelty – in terms of the methodology, technological development, epidemiological data, functional mechanisms, etc. – with the community is a main source of motivation towards academic writing for Dr. Fichou, and, as a researcher, it is in fact a job with the ultimate goal of covering many interesting aspects. As an example, he explains that in the field of blood group genetics, identifying novel gene variants associated with a typical phenotype in specific populations, as well as describing their distribution and frequency, may be definitely important from a fundamental point of view, as it extends the basic knowledge in the field. But also, the findings directly contribute to the design of a dedicated strategy for improving diagnostics that will be helpful for clinicians in the patient management. Far beyond a “simple” description, the importance of such a discovery thus provides solutions extending up to medical applications, illustrating basically the interest in academic writing.
Science advances rapidly nowadays. Dr. Fichou exemplifies, in the past two decades, successive waves of major technological advents in various fields of biology combined to an improved access to bio-informatics resources have considerably changed the scale and timing of data that can be produced. We have been in the so-called the “omics era” (including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics…). Ensuring that your own data are novel and up-to-date definitely requires a constant, careful and proactive attention of the literature, which is also an integral part of the research job. “Actually, I used to worry very much about that when I was a young researcher. And it is critical to remind all young scientists that a key point to be successful in science is ‘read, read, and read’. Nowadays, as a senior scientist, reading as much as possible is still a reflex definitely,” says Dr. Fichou.
Speaking of the importance of disclosure of Conflict of Interest (COI), Dr. Fichou considers that excellence in research is fundamentally linked to scientific integrity. When working on a scientific project, independence is definitely the best option to prevent from any potential influence by external factors. “I have always been working in such conditions personally. However, it is true that COI, which may be due to funding bodies, consulting activities, etc., may exist. As I have never been in such a position, I have no experience about the extent to which a COI may (or not) influence research. However, as a reader, I always pay attention to this matter of fact. I consider it is critical that the readers, but also the reviewers at the early stage of submission, can have access to this information in order to have a comprehensive knowledge of the context of the study and to be even more careful of the content of the results and discussion.”
(by Masaki Lo, Brad Li)
Margaret A Keller
Dr. Margaret A Keller is the Executive of National Laboratories at the American Red Cross, overseeing the National Molecular Laboratory, National Reference Laboratory for Specialized Testing, and the National Neutrophil. She is a senior director of the American Rare Donor Program (ARDP) with more than 80 member facilities and more than 100,000 rare donors, and also the ARDP liaison to the Molecular Testing Standards Unit of the AABB and a secretary of the ISBT Working Party on Red Cell Immunogenetics and Blood Group Terminology. Dr. Keller received her PhD in molecular genetics from the University of Pennsylvania and now serves as the adjunct Associate Professor at Thomas Jefferson University and an editor-in-chief of the journal Immunohematology. In addition, she is on the board of South Central Association of Blood Banks and the recipient of the Sally Frank Memorial Award from AABB. Connect with Dr. Keller on LinkedIn.
In Dr. Keller’s view, academic writing is about sharing knowledge to increase understanding to speed advancements and for biomedical writing, to improve health outcomes. Speaking of the qualities an author should possess during paper writing, she holds that strong written communication skills is an ability to provide a foundation and background on which more complex concepts and new content/ideas can be conveyed.
Moreover, Dr. Keller finds it important for authors to disclose Conflicts of Interest (COI). As she puts it, “A conflict may not preclude an author from publishing but simply being transparent with the conflict. Peer-reviewed science should be trustworthy and undisclosed conflicts can erode that trust.”
(by Inga Chung, Brad Li)
Pooja Rani
Dr. Pooja Rani currently works as internist at St Luke’s Health Network Bethlehem PA and has completed her training from Nuvance Health located at Poughkeepsie, New York. She was born in a small town in Pakistan with limited educational resources where she saw a dream to follow her father’s footsteps, a doctor who spent his whole life serving the poor. Dr. Rani did her MBBS from Chandka Medical College, Pakistan and moved to US to take her dream to the next level. She got the opportunity to do research and be co-author on “Genomics-Driven Immunoproteomic” Chapter in Immunoproteomics book at University of Connecticut. She is continuing to dedicate her efforts in field of medicine and more specifically in Hematology/Oncology by writing up variety of rare cases to increase awareness that can ultimately help clinicians. Follow Dr. Rani on LinkedIn and Google Scholar.
Regarding the essential elements of a good academic paper, Dr. Rani holds that academic research is an opportunity to look at an idea via different prism, collect facts and identify keynotes supporting / not supporting one’s hypothesis. Thus, academic paper should be transparent, concise, and logical with enough dataset to support one’s conclusion. And what motivate her to invest efforts on academic writing are her internal drive to learn, solve problems, and more importantly create positive impact in the field of medicine.
Speaking of how to ensure her writing keeps up with the rapid pace of change in the field of research, Dr. Rani says, “Read, Read and Read Is Mantra. I keep myself updated through latest published papers and ongoing research by signing up for Journals and online research forums. It not only keeps you up to date but sometimes end up creating new hypothesis.”
From Dr. Rani’s perspective, it is extremely important to follow reporting guidelines, as that set standard goals and guides for authors to write up a paper. She explains, “From my experience, while writing paper, you are preoccupied with so many thoughts that you want to share through manuscript and can easily sideline other important facts. By using reporting guidelines, author can checkmark requirements one by one and make sure the paper is well organized.”
(by Inga Chung, Brad Li)
Mark T. Friedman
Dr. Mark T. Friedman is a Clinical Associate Professor of Pathology and a Medical Director of Transfusion Medicine and Therapeutic Apheresis Services at the NYU Langone Health System, NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine in Mineola, New York, USA. He received his medical degree from the combined seven-year BS/DO program at the New York Institute of Technology/NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed residency training at Northwell Long Island Jewish Medical Center and fellowship training at the New York Blood Center and is certified by the American Board of Pathology. He has over 25 years of experience practicing transfusion medicine at both the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, where he also served as a residency program director, and at his current position. His research focuses on patient blood management as it relates to appropriate blood product utilization and patient outcomes. He also focuses on projects involving resident training in clinical pathology.
Dr. Friedman indicates that the three elements of logos, ethos, and pathos apply to any good academic paper; that is, the writing must be logical, credible, and persuasive. He generally regards a good academic paper as one that is relevant to current medical practice, well organized in design and format, and presents accurate results and conclusions that are supported by the data, providing new insights into the field. It should include a focused discussion that is well-referenced and free of bias and conflicts of interest. A timely review article may also be of high interest in updating one’s knowledge of a topic, but care must be taken to ensure that it presents a balanced view. Ultimately, good academic papers may not provide definitive answers to a problem, but they generate further discussion and consideration among the scientific community.
Dr. Friedman notes that we are in a time where scientific information spreads rapidly and nearly constantly, given the expansion of scientific journals and media outlets in which publications are presented electronically. As a result, it can be quite challenging for an individual to keep a tab on all of the scientific advancements that are ongoing in any given field of study. In fact, he comments that, at times, just the vast bombardment of emails he receives each week regarding scientific updates can seem overwhelming. To manage this, he has found that continuous learning and networking with colleagues through organizational committees, online interest group discussion boards and social media, and attendance at national/international conference meetings has helped him to ensure that his writing stays up-to-date and relevant in providing new insights into the field of his research. In addition, he believes that any academic project always starts with a thorough review of the literature to acknowledge existing work in the field of study as well as to identify any critical knowledge gaps that need to be addressed.
In Dr. Friedman’s opinion, in order to be an effective author of anything, be it fiction or academic manuscripts, one must have a passion for writing. What he finds most fascinating about academic writing is the entire process of creating, from generating a question that needs to be answered to data collection and tabulation, analysis, and finally, reflecting upon the study findings to formulate a cohesive conclusion and generate discussion points. He further comments that when we collaborate with colleagues, either within the same specialty or across specialties, within the same institution or across institutions, a unique team bond is formed that draws upon each individual co-author’s strength and knowledge in contributing to the manuscript. He adds, “Perhaps most exciting is that after months or even years, one finally sees the fruits of their labor in the published study, knowing that one has contributed to advancing the field!”
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Xiaobo Wu
Dr. Xiaobo Wu is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Rheumatology Division of the Department of Medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine. He obtained his medical education at Tongji Medical University in Wuhan, China, and received his research training at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA (WUSM). His scientific journey started in Prof. Shi Liangru’s lab at the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, where he studied differentiation antigens on the surface of immune cells. He was part of the team that contributed to the development of the first therapeutic mAb in China, WuT3, to prevent transplant rejection. He joined the Departments of Pathology and Medicine at WUSM to study FDCs and anti-GBM glomerulonephritis in 1990. He contributed to the characterization of Cr2-/- and Crry-/- mice, and he established a membrane-associated mechanism of complement homeostasis in collaboration with Drs. Hector Molina and John Atkinson. They are currently using mouse models to study complement activation and its application in human diseases and therapeutics.
The main functions of academic papers, whether original articles or commentary reviews are devoted to documenting scientific discoveries and stimulating further exploration of the unknowns of the natural world. In Dr. Wu’s view, the original data presented in research articles not only contribute to peers pursuing ongoing projects but also serve as historical documents for students learning how to become excellent scientists. Comprehensive reviews written by experts serve as excellent resources to become aware of specific narrow fields and also stimulate new ideas.
Speaking of how to avoid biases in one’s writing, Dr. Wu points out that, first of all, we have to read and understand as many scientific research articles as possible. Then, we have to critically evaluate the importance of each article regarding its contributions to observe and generate the ideas. To him, facing the facts is the most important thing to avoid biases, which also requires personal integrity in the process. He thinks it is important to give fellow scientists credit based on their original articles rather than through someone’s comments.
“Our article, selected as one of the outstanding authors, was a group effort where complement biologists worked together with rheumatologists and nephrologists. This points out the importance of team spirit in scientific research and writing. We are in a digital age where disinformation is routine, so as scientists, we have the duty to tell the scientific truth to the wider public. Effectively communicating to the public has demonstrated its vitality during the pandemic by reducing the fear of the virus and promoting the usage of valid vaccines,” says Dr. Wu.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
X. Long Zheng
X. Long Zheng, MD, PhD, is the Russel J Eilers Professor and Chair of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas. Following completion of his residency and fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, he was appointed as assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the coagulation laboratory at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Subsequently, he was recruited to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, serving as the Division Director of Laboratory Medicine. More recently, he is named the Chair of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Over the past decades, his laboratory has made seminal contributions toward the understanding of the structure-function and regulation of ADAMTS13 protease and the pathogenesis of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. They have published more than 135 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Zheng is serving in leadership roles in many professional societies, editorial boards, and various study sections of the National Institute of Health. Connect with him on LinkedIn and X @DrXLongZheng.
In Dr. Zheng’s opinion, essential elements of a good academic paper include an interesting topic, a novel and significant problem to study, good experimental design and execution, consistent results from different angles, clear and concise presentation, and in-depth discussions of the results (e.g., helping readers to understand the meaning of the findings and potential pitfalls).
Science advances rapidly day by day. To ensure his writing is up-to-date, Dr. Zheng suggests performing the following steps: Keep up with current literature; do a PubMed search frequently during experimentation and prior to writing the manuscript, knowing what is done and not; make sure one is familiar with all published articles in the subject of one’s writing; and, last but not least, cite those relevant articles.
“Scientific writing is hard and needs time to think about the plot, story, and ultimate message you are trying to convey to your readers. Write short sentences or use the language most readers can understand. Revise your manuscripts many times before submission. Ask someone else in the lab who is unrelated to your project to read the manuscript to see if he/she understands what you are trying to say,” says Dr. Zheng.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Cheuk Kwong Lee
Dr. Cheuk Kwong Lee is a specialist in haematology and haematological oncology in Hong Kong. He moved to the Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service in 1999, where he became the head of the Blood Collection and Donor Recruitment Department. He has developed interests in transfusion microbiology and donor health and medicine. He has made extensive contributions to understanding and implementing preventive measures in minimizing transfusion-transmitted bacterial sepsis. He is also actively involved in studies to understand and minimize donation-related vasovagal reaction and donors’ haemoglobin and iron. He further expands his roles towards public health including monitoring infectious diseases in society and health promotion. In the past few years, he and his team have been actively working to raise awareness and knowledge of the territory on blood supply, blood transfusion, and patient blood management. For the latter, he is also working on the clinical indicators to establish a baseline, monitor the trend of improvements, and lately, on health economics.
AOB: What are the essential elements of a good academic paper?
Dr. Lee: I believe many scientific articles can have their value in contributing and advancing our knowledge. However, what makes an article good and distinguishing from others is its impact in providing useful information that could fill the present gap. As such, the article should not only have an attractive title that prompts the audience to explore and read in detail, but the methodology, results, and discussions should also be sound and fulfill either the purpose of being novel or innovative or knowledge gap-filling. At the same time, the discussions should provide insight into applications into real-world practice.
AOB: What are the qualities an author should possess?
Dr. Lee: There are a few qualities an author should possess, which include an open mind to explore and learn new things, eagerness and willingness to dig into details that may be applicable to his or her own work, creativity to try out potentially interesting ideas on his or her own works, and not giving up during one’s writing or submission. Quite often, there are chances that your area of interest or research potential may be limited at initial thought. However, if one has an open mind and willingness to look at things from different angles or dimensions, one can always identify areas that can be explored further. I often work by turning some new or even old ideas into our present practices in order to look for room for improvement or new practices. By doing so, I often generate new angles to address the research or work-related area of interest. On the other hand, the reviewer’s comments may sometimes be nasty and give you negative feelings, but very often, they do help you grow, so never give up!
AOB: Why do you choose to publish in AOB?
Dr. Lee: AOB has established a good platform for the dissemination of haematology and blood transfusion papers. Over the years, I have read good articles published in AOB that are worth reading and referencing. When I decided to submit in AOB, the primary consideration was relevance to the subject area of my paper and whether the publication could enhance knowledge sharing among the audiences I intend to disseminate. AOB fulfills both, and the review is efficient and fast.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Lilian Castilho
Dr. Lilian Castilho is a Professor at the University of Campinas, a Senior Researcher at the Red Cell Research Laboratory, and the Director of the Molecular Immunohematology Laboratory at Hemocentro-UNICAMP-Campinas-SP, Brazil. She holds a Master's and Ph.D. in Immunohematology, with a Post-doctorate in Molecular Immunohematology from the New York Blood Center (NYBC), USA. Additionally, she has completed a specialization at the Centre National de Référence pour les Groupes Sanguins (CNRGS) in France. With experience in immunohematology and blood group genetics, she has worked in laboratories in Brazil and served as a consultant for the American Red Cross in the USA. She is the co-author of more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, 13 book chapters, and one book. She is also an advisor for master's and Ph.D. students, having supervised and concluded 30 theses. Additionally, she is a member of scientific committees and editorial boards and serves as a reviewer for several scientific journals. Connect with Dr. Castilho on LinkedIn.
The primary purpose of academic writing, in Dr. Castilho’s opinion, is to communicate research findings, complex ideas, arguments, and information in a clear, concise, and organized manner within the academic community. Academic writing serves as a dynamic link between research and clinical practice and particularly in the form of research articles and papers, it is a primary means of sharing new discoveries and advancements in various medical fields. This dissemination of information can lead to the adoption of innovative clinical practices and contribute to improvements in patient care. Writing a good academic paper is an iterative process that involves multiple drafts and revisions. Each stage is crucial to the overall quality of the work. It is important to take the time to plan, organize, and refine the paper to ensure it meets the standards of academic excellence.
From Dr. Castilho’s perspective, keeping one’s writing up-to-date and contributing new insights to a field of research requires a proactive approach. By consistently engaging with the academic community, staying informed about the latest research, and incorporating new methodologies, one can contribute meaningful insights and keep one writing up-to-date in a rapidly advancing scientific landscape.
In addition, Dr. Castilho highlights that it is crucial for authors to disclose any potential Conflict of Interest (COI) when submitting research papers or articles for publication. A COI arises when an author's financial, personal, or professional interests could potentially bias their work or the interpretation of their findings. Disclosing these conflicts helps maintain transparency, ethical standards, and the integrity of the scientific process.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Saikat Mandal
Dr. Saikat Mandal currently works as an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow, Medical Oncology, Hull York Medical School and as an Internist at Hull University Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, Hull, UK. He started his medical training at Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research, Kolkata, India. Following that, he completed his Transfusion Medicine training at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, India, and achieved an MD in Transfusion Medicine. His training at AIIMS laid the foundation of his research interest. He worked in the capacity of consultant transfusion medicine in different hospitals in India and finally moved to the UK to complete his passionate journey to get trained in haematology and oncology. His current primary research area is wet lab research: on pancreatic cancer, funded by National Institute of Health and Care Research, UK. At the same time, he is continuing his transfusion medicine works by writing review articles and perspectives in different international and national journals. Connect with Dr. Mandal on Twitter and LinkedIn.
In Dr. Mandal’s opinion, academic writing is part of a complex process of finding, analysing and evaluating information and finally planning and producing it in a structured way. To his knowledge, it is an effective communication of complex ideas, allowing scholars to share their research findings, insights, and theories with their peers and the wider academic community. Academic writing generates critical thinking among the researchers and helps to generate a deep understanding of a topic, which ultimately creates the urge to develop the research question. Therefore, it has a crucial role in the further development of science.
Dr. Mandal points out that academic writing requires criticality; It is not enough to just describe or summarise evidence available in literature, but it is essential to analyse and evaluate the information in order to build own arguments. Critical writing also involves critical thinking and reading. To ensure the criticality of the writing, he believes it is important to make the argument and position clear through thesis statement or hypothesis, make the flow logical, include adequate reference, paraphrase sufficiently, identify any gaps or limitations in the existing research, make proper recommendations based on the research, and agree/disagree with scholars’ arguments and evaluate their ideas and theories.
“Academic writing can translate research findings into practical applications that improve patient care, treatment outcomes, and healthcare practices. It allows me to have lifelong learning on the latest developments, trends, and controversies in the field. Finally, it fosters networking opportunities, interdisciplinary collaboration, and knowledge exchange,” says Dr. Mandal.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Carlos Cotorruelo
Carlos Cotorruelo is currently a Principal Research Scientist at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) of Argentina. He also serves as a Full Professor of Immunology at the Faculty of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences of the National University of Rosario, and he is the Head of the Laboratory of Immunohematology of the "Centenario University Hospital”. He is a member of the Ibero-American Cooperative Group for Transfusion Medicine (GCIAMT), and he is currently part of the working group (within the GCIAMT) focused on the development of a registry of rare donors. As part of this collaborative work, his laboratory actively participates in the molecular characterization of rare phenotypes that are being found not only in Argentina but also in other Latin American countries, where molecular techniques are not yet established as routine tools. Dr. Cotorruelo received a Master’s degree in Immunohematology and a PhD in Clinical Biochemistry from the University of Rosario. He has completed postdoctoral training at the Blood and Tissue Bank of Barcelona (Spain) and the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Blood Groups of the State University of Campinas (Brazil). His field of research focuses on molecular immunohematology and has made great contributions to the elucidation of the blood group genes polymorphism in the population of Argentina, with special emphasis on the RH blood group system. He also participates in the advisory committee of prestigious journals as a reviewer of scientific papers. He has given numerous lectures at national and international conferences. He continually participates in the training of new scientists through the supervision of doctoral and master's theses.
In Dr. Cotorruelo’s view, publication is an essential part of research and is fundamentally motivated by the desire to reveal novel findings. Academic writing helps scientists analyze and clarify their thinking, synthesize their ideas, and communicate them with others. It is the way to show the scientific community all the work carried out during the investigation of a given topic, the state of the art, the objectives and the experimental design that will support the conclusions obtained after generally a long and hard period of work. Also, he deems that academic writing is the glue that holds together scientific research and represents the primary channel for communicating scientific knowledge. It makes possible to share the results of researcher’s investigations with colleagues, making them usable for further research work. He believes particularly in the field of biomedical sciences, publications of findings obtained during research can contribute to the diagnosis and treatment of patients and improve their well-being. Academic writing is essential to provide “grains of sand” that, together with other contributions, will update, increase and accelerate knowledge.
According to Dr. Cotorruelo, academic writing becomes critical when we provide novel data. Therefore, it is essential to be permanently updated through a detailed review of the literature. This is also part of research work and actually takes quite a bit of time. Fortunately, current access to literature is immediate, which makes this task somewhat easier. Young researchers should also keep in mind that they must learn and acquire the skills necessary to achieve good academic writing.
“Academic writing represents the finishing touch to our research work. It is the icing on the cake. It means that we have been able to draw conclusions from our experiments and that, per se, gives us great satisfaction,” says Dr. Cotorruelo.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)