Professor Erica Wood AO is a Haematologist and Transfusion Medicine Specialist. She is Head of the Transfusion Research Unit and Co-Director of the Division of Acute and Critical Care in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University.

She is an NHMRC Leadership Fellow (Level 2), and leads the NHMRC-funded Blood Synergy research program and the NHMRC OPTIMAL Centre of Research Excellence in improving immunoglobulin use.

Erica also works as a Consultant Haematologist at Monash Health and holds an honorary Consultant Haematologist appointment at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre/Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre.  

Erica is chair of the World Health Organization's Advisory Group on Blood Regulation, Availability and Safety; a member of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Transfusion Medicine; the WHO Working Group on Haemovigilance Tools; the WHO Guideline Development Group on Anaemia and the WHO Guideline Development Group on Human Milk Banking.  She has served as a WHO regional advisor in blood safety. 

Erica is a past President (2020-22) and member of the Board of the International Society of Blood Transfusion and a member of several of its working parties, including global blood safety, clinical practice, haemovigilance and transfusion-transmitted infections.  She currently chairs the ISBT Awards and Prizes Committee. 

Erica is a past President of the International Haemovigilance Network, promoting haemovigilance world-wide and supporting haemovigilance systems in their work.  In 2022 she was awarded the IHN Medal for her service to IHN and to haemovigilance internationally.  

Erica is a past President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion and in 2016 she was invited to deliver the Ruth Sanger Oration at the Society's Annual Scientific Meeting - the Society's highest honour.  She was a member of the ANZSBT Research Advisory Committee from 2016-26.

Between 2012 and 2015 Erica served as Chief Examiner in Haematology for the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, and she was Associate Chief Examiner from 2008-2012.  

Erica is a founding member of 'Blood Matters', a Victorian Department of Health transfusion practice improvement and patient blood management collaborative, and between 2016-2013 she chaired its Serious Transfusion Incident Reporting (STIR) haemovigilance program.  

In the past she has held senior roles with the American Red Cross and the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. 

In 2013 Erica was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to support her work in patient blood management practice and research. 

The Transfusion Research Unit (TRU) at Monash University operates a number of regional and national registries to evaluate clinical practice and patient outcomes for important blood disorders, including massive transfusion, aplastic anaemia and other bone marrow failure syndromes, fetomaternal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FMAIT), haemoglobinopathies (thalassaemia and sickle cell disease), thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), lymphoma and myeloma.  The TRU also performs clinical trials, systematic reviews, health economics analyses and a number of other research and teaching activities across the spectrum of blood diseases.  This work is supported by the NHMRC (including through two 5-year Synergy Grants 2020-2024 and 2025-2029, and the Centre for Research Excellence in Optimising Immunoglobulin Use 2023-2027), the Medical Research Future Fund, national blood services, Australia's National Blood Authority, and a wide range of industry, community and philanthropic partners. 

In 2020, Erica was awarded the inaugural Fiona Stanley Prize at the NHMRC Research Excellence Awards for the top-ranked 2019 Synergy grant application. 

In June 2023, Erica was appointed as an Officer in the Order of Australia (General Division), recognising her "distinguished service to transfusion medicine and haemovigilance, to haematology, and to national and international organisations." 

Erica was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences in 2023, in recognition of her role as "an international authority on blood transfusion and Australia’s leading expert in transfusion practice and research." See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac6R84II0Bk

More information is available at: https://www.monash.edu/medicine/sphpm/units/transfusionresearch