The WAA held its first Congress in Japan in 1986. Since that time, the Congress has been sequentially rotated through Asia, the Americas and Europe and occurs every 2 years when possible.
Crown Prince and Princess Takamata
1st International Congress of the World Apheresis Association
May 20 – 23, 1986 Tokyo, Japan
The ASFA & WAA 2026 Joint Meeting was successfully held on April 22–24, 2026, in Denver, Colorado, bringing together experts and professionals from around the world to share the latest advancements in apheresis and strengthen international collaboration.
| Congress | Date | Location | President Name, Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | May 20-23,1986 | Tokyo, Japan | Gerard Rifle, FRANCE |
| II | May 18-20,1988 | Ottawa, Canada | Gail Rock, CANADA |
| III | April 9-12, 1990 | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Cees Th. Smit Sibinga, NETHERLANDS |
| IV | June 3-5, 1992 | Sapporo, Japan | Gioro Avanzi, ITALY |
| V | March 9-12, 1994 | Houston, USA | Tetsuzo Aguishi, JAPAN |
| VI | November 11-14, 1996 | Florence, Italy | Francis S. Morrison, USA |
| VII | October 9-13,1998 | Sao Paolo, Brazil | Mauro Valbonesi, ITALY |
| VIII | July 25-28, 2000 | Perth, Australia | Horst Klinkman, GERMANY |
| IX | September 7-10, 2002 | Paris, France | Thomas Price, USA |
| X | May 5-8, 2004 | Miami Beach, USA | Peter Ivanovich, USA |
| XI | March 2-4, 2007 | Yokohama, Japan | Loic Guillevin, FRANCE |
| XII | March 17-20, 2009 | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Noritoshi Shibua, JAPAN |
| XIII | September 1-4, 2010 | Interlaken, Switzerland | Bernd Stegmayr, SWEDEN |
| XIV | September 13-16, 2012 | Istanbul, Turkey | Robert Weinstein, USA |
| XV | April 2-5, 2014 | San Francisco, USA | Hiroshi Tsuda, JAPAN |
| XVI | April 27-29, 2016 | Paris, France | Paolo Perseghin, ITALY |
| XVII | September 14-17, 2022 | Istanbul, Turkey | Fevzi Altuntas, TURKEY |
| XVIII | September 11-13, 2024 | Yogyakarta, Indonesia | Hans Vrielink, NETHERLANDS |
| XIX | April 22-24, 2026 | Denver, CO, USA | Joseph Schwartz, USA |
