Posted 3 September 2026
Professor Louise Purton has been appointed President of the International Society for Experimental Hematology (ISEH), the world’s largest society devoted to experimental haematology.
Louise took up the role at the close of the society’s annual meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, having served the previous 2 years as Vice President and President Elect. She is the first Australian woman to lead the society.
At the Frankfurt meeting Louise also chaired the Scientific Program Committee, which was responsible for delivering the scientific content of the society’s flagship annual event.
ISEH brings together researchers and clinicians working on the biology of blood and bone marrow, from the fundamental behaviour of blood stem cells through to the causes and treatment of blood cancers and bone marrow failure. Its annual meeting is a key gathering point for the field internationally.
Louise leads the Stem Cell Regulation Lab at SVI, where her research focuses on how blood stem cells are regulated in the bone marrow and how that regulation goes wrong in blood diseases and blood cancers.
SVI Director Professor Fabienne Mackay congratulated Louise on the appointment.
“To be elected to lead ISEH is a considerable honour, and one Louise has earned through many years of contribution to the society and to the field. We are very proud to have her leading this international community from SVI.”
Stem Cell Regulation
Our laboratory does discovery through to translational research, with an ultimate goal to improve therapies for patients with different diseases that affect blood cell production. We study how blood cell production is regulated, both by proteins made by the blood cells themselves and by proteins made by the bone marrow microenvironment, which is the factory where blood cells are produced.
Lab head: Professor Louise Purton
Available for Student Supervision