Blood and Bone: The quarantine chronicles

Abstract

In the midst of the chaos of the global pandemic, the online daily webinar series Blood and Bone was created. The series started with a blank schedule on a google doc and, with enthusiasm and participation from the hematopoiesis and hemostasis/thrombosis communities, was quickly filled through September 2020. In the absence of any editing of the speaker list, a diverse, well‐balanced, and scientifically exciting program emerged. The seminar is hosted on Zoom and live‐streamed on YouTube daily, and can accommodate up to 1000 attendees. Attendance has topped over 600 and averages 200 to 300 people daily; this has been sustained for 10 weeks. In addition, there is a weekly Thursday trainee series that hosts three 20‐minute seminars. In this forum, we reflect on a series that allowed global scientists to come together to help shape chaos into an opportunity for community and growth.

Goodbye 2020, hello to our future

“…At Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis , we waived article publication charges and published original COVID‐19 research and articles that raise hypotheses relevant to treatment 9 . We studied the authorship gender gap during the first COVID wave 10 and published articles on new ways to disseminate science 11 . Dobson and Wolberg eloquently discussed scientific silver linings of COVID‐19 and considered the impact on institutional racism and increasing diversity in science 4 .…”

Moving towards online rheumatology education in the era of COVID-19

“…Thus, all such materials require curating by experts. Importantly, YouTube can serve as a platform for live streaming educational meetings and engaging numerous viewers in interactive education [ 41 ]. Similar functionality is also offered by Facebook [ 42 ].…”

COVID‐19 pandemic perspectives: A scientific silver lining?

“…9 Although there was a technological learning curve for many, these programs have enabled scientists to give presentations, defend dissertations, collaborate, and mentor students with greater global reach than we have ever had. Notably, videoconferencing has also shown key advantages over traditional tel- The virtual Blood and Bone series has seen attendance topping 600, 10 and the ISTH had record-breaking participation in the virtual form of its annual meeting in July 2020 (12 149 attendants vs 9515 attendants at the previously best-attended annual meeting in Berlin in 2017). Although also enhanced by the lack of registration charges for these events, trends like these suggest videoconferencing and virtual programming should continue even after faceto-face interactions have resumed.…”