Karen Williams Memorial Lectureship

The SCABB awards and lectureship program is an important part of the Association and the Annual Meeting.

What better opportunity to remember, honor, and celebrate the life of another one of the Association’s heroes, Karen Williams? Karen lost a valiant fight to ovarian cancer and passed away on March 1, 2006, just months before she was to accept the gavel and preside as SCABB’s 49th President. Karen’s illness forced her to resign from the Board of Directors in January, and her absence at this year’s annual meeting left a significant void in our Association’s leadership and in our hearts.

Karen was not only a valued member of the SCABB Board of Directors, respected colleague and friend, but she was also a cherished Chiron employee who was dedicated to her profession. Karen’s leadership and commitment to serving her customers promoted blood safety throughout the country.

To support continuing education in blood safety and to honor Karen’s memory, Chiron endowed the Karen Williams Memorial Lectureship. The lectureship, which was funded by the Chiron Foundation and supplemented by Chiron, a Novartis company, was established to facilitate the ability of the South Central Association of Blood Banks to attract highly qualified speakers to the Annual Meeting by providing an annual monetary award to cover travel and conference expenses, and a speaker honorarium. A total of $20,000 was granted to fund the lectureship over the next ten years.

Each year, a merit based lectureship will be awarded to an independent expert in the area of blood safety who is selected by the SCABB Technical/Scientific Program Committee and approved by the Association’s Board of Directors. The recipient of this annual award, will present the Karen Williams Memorial Lectureship as part of the Annual Meeting’s educational program. The lectureship is intended to update annual meeting attendees on current issues and developments related to the improvement of blood safety. The first lectureship will be awarded at the Association’s 2007 Annual Meeting.

The lectureship award was proposed, developed, and became a reality through the efforts of Dr. Andrew Heaton, Chief Medical Officer, Chiron, a Novartis Company; Jay Grover, President, Chiron Foundation; and many of Karen’s colleagues at Chiron including: Neil Gunn, Ed Collum, Cathy Chinard, and Michelle Porte. The Karen Williams Memorial Lectureship exemplifies the commitment of the Chiron Foundation and of Chiron to ensure the safety and availability of the blood supply and to promote the highest standards of care for blood donors and recipients.

Ed Collum, Chiron Director of Sales and Karen’s “boss”, announced the lectureship at the South Central’s 48th Annual Awards Banquet. Ed also delivered a touching eulogy that recognized Karen’s professional achievements and celebrated her life. Joe Williams, Karen’s husband, was in attendance for the announcement and was presented with an engraved plaque to commemorate the lectureship. Joe has been invited to attend the 2007 Annual Meeting as South Central’s special guest when the first Karen Williams Memorial Lectureship will be delivered. Paula Kelley presented a plaque to Ed Collum on behalf of SCABB in appreciation of the Chiron’s generous endowment.

Karen Williams was proud that she was going to become the first “regular” medical technologist, MT(ASCP), to become president of the SCABB. We know that she would be equally proud to have a lectureship named in her honor. Karen will be greatly missed and lovingly remembered for her dedication to her profession, joy of life, love of family and friends, and her sense of humor, laugh, and beautiful smile.