WELCOME TO THE HAABB!
The Heart of America Association of Blood Banks is a nonprofit, professional organization dedicated to improving Transfusion Medicine by fostering the exchange of information and bringing education opportunities to blood bank and transfusion medicine professionals.  The HAABB hosts two annual meetings for the Kansas City & St Louis areas. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you!

The 2024-2025 HAABB Board of Directors would like thank all those who made recommendations for the 2025-2026 HAABB Board of Directors.  We would also like to thank Laurie Wolf, Beth Jones, and Laura Potter for serving on the 2025 Nominating Committee and providing an excellent slate of nominees.  We are so excited for things to come!


The 2025-2026 HAABB Board of Directors slate of nominees is as follows:

 


President Elect:  Michelle Burgin

 

Vice President:  Megan Dupont


Member at Large #1:  Maxwell VanKirk

 

Member at Large #2:  Andrea Pointer





Nominee Election

The slate of nominees will be presented to the HAABB members at the Annual Business Meeting. The members shall vote to accept or reject the slate of nominees for board of directors as put forth by the nominating committee.  

 Meet the Nominees

President Elect - Michelle Burgin

Michelle Burgin received her certification as a MLT from Michigan Paraprofessional Training institute from Romulus Michigan in 1986. She was a certified MLT through AMT for about 3 years. After which she was eligible to test for her MT certification. In January of 1991 she decided to return to school to work towards her Bachelor’s degree. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg Missouri in May 1997. She has worked at Bothwell Regional Health Center since December 1986 except for 3 years from May 1997-July 2000 where she worked at Capital Region Medical Center. She returned to Bothwell in July of 2000. She took the Specialist in Blood Banking (SBB) course through Gulf Coast School of Blood Bank Technology sponsored by Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center in Houston TX in 2008. She has been certified as a SBB since August of 2009. She has served on the board of HAABB since 2010 holding various positions including Secretary, Member-at-Large, Vice President and President. In her free time, she enjoys crocheting and spending time with her 9 grandchildren.

Vice President - Megan Dupont

Megan Dupont

Member at Large #1 - Maxwell VanKirk

Max VanKirk received his undergraduate degree in Biology from Kansas State University. After college, he moved back to Kansas City and worked for several years as a veterinary technician at a local animal shelter before enrolling in the Saint Luke's CLS program in 2015. He spent one year on night shift at Saint Lukes before moving to his current full time blood bank position in 2017. Outside of work, when not being abused by their two cats, he enjoys spending time with his wife, lots of reading, watching baseball, and fencing. He is also etremely passionate about paleontology and has participated in amateur dinosaur digs in North Dakota for several years.

Member at Large #2 - Andrea Pointer

Andrea Pointer received her Bachelor’s Degree in Clinical Laboratory Science from Missouri State University after completing the North Kansas City Hospital School of Medical Laboratory Science in 2011. She has worked in transplant genetics/immunology, Point of Care, General Lab Supervision/Pre-analytics, Oncology Genomics, and currently serves as Transfusion Services Supervisor at University Health Truman and Lakewood Medical Centers. She has supported laboratory education by serving as faculty with NKCH’s and TMC’s MLS programs, educating physicians through TMC’s Pathology Resident Program, by volunteering with Heart-to-Heart JayDoc clinic, and now, working with HAABB! Her professional passions include focusing on quality patient outcomes, PERFECT documentation practices, and ensuring all transfer pipettes are stored bulb-up, tip-down (if you know, you know!).

In her personal life, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, outdoor recreation, meme culture, vibing to heavy metal, and kinship with every cat in the world.