Medical Experts

Kevin J. Land, MD
Chief Medical and Scientific Officer

Dr. Kevin J. Land joined Bonfils Blood Center as its first chief medical and scientific officer in September 2007. In addition to serving as the blood center's regulatory head, Dr. Land provides medical and scientific direction related to high-quality products and components, laboratory testing, donor collections and counseling, hospital relations and clinical research.

Prior to joining Bonfils, Dr. Land served as medical director of Blood Systems Laboratory in Bedford, Texas; medical director of laboratory services for Carter Blood Care in Dallas; and served on the faculty in the department of pathology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center also in Dallas.

Dr. Land currently serves as the vice chair of America's Blood Centers' scientific, medical and technology committee; is a member of AABB's donor hemovigilance working group, cellular therapies standards committee and its Circular of Information taskforce. He also previously chaired the Texas Medical Association's blood and tissue usage committee.

After earning his bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas in 1990, Dr. Land completed his medical degree at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 1995. He then fulfilled a residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas where he also served as chief resident for one year. Dr. Land completed fellowships in medical informatics and transfusion at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Parkland Memorial Hospital/Carter Blood Care respectively.

Daniel R. Ambruso, MD
Associate Medical Director and Research Director

For nearly 30 years, Dr. Daniel Ambruso has led Bonfils Blood Center’s research department and has held the title of associate medical director for as many years. His research interests include, but are not limited to, antibody-mediated disorders of red cells, platelets and neutrophils; alloimmunization in response to red cell and platelet transfusions; neutrophil function and disorders of excessive immune response such as transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI).

Additionally, Dr. Ambruso is a practicing pediatric hematologist at Denver’s University Hospital and The Children’s Hospital as well as a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center (UCDHSC).

Dr. Ambruso earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Georgetown University in Washington and his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine in Rochester, N.Y. He completed his pediatric residency at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Rainbow Babies’ and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio and fellowships in Hematology/Oncology and Immunology at UCDHSC and National Jewish Center in Denver.

D. Joe Chaffin, MD
Associate Medical Director

Dr. Chaffin joined Bonfils Blood Center as an associate medical director in 2006. He is also employed as an anatomic and clinical pathologist and medical director of the blood services division at the North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley.

Chaffin earned his bachelor’s and medical degrees from Loma Linda University School of Medicine. He later completed a transitional internship at Letterman Army Medical Center in San Francisco and anatomic and clinical pathology residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. Chaffin is a board-certified blood banking and transfusion medicine specialist.

Roberto Gianani, M.D.
Transfusion Medicine Fellow

Dr. Roberto Gianani, a native of Rome, joined Bonfils Blood Center as its Transfusion Medicine Fellow in June 2007. During his one-year fellowship with Bonfils, Dr. Gianani will receive hands-on practical and clinical laboratory training in the areas of transfusion medicine and blood banking which will include rotations both in the blood center and at four of Bonfils' partner hospitals.

After earning his degree in medicine in 1989 and subsequent specialization in endocrinology and metabolic diseases in 1994 from the University of Rome School of Medicine, Dr. Gianani came to Denver where he completed a residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center (UCDHSC) followed by a two-year fellowship in pediatric pathology at The Children's Hospital, Denver. He was also named research fellow, and later, assistant professor in the department of pathology and a faculty member of the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes an affiliate of the UCDHSC. Dr. Gianani's interests include storage of blood cells and tissue for transplantation.

Christopher Colton Silliman, MD, PhD
Associate Medical Director and Independent Investigator

Dr. Christopher Silliman joined Bonfils as a research fellow in 1990 and was later appointed to associate medical director in 1998. In addition, over the last 12 years, Dr. Silliman has received independent funding for grants and fellowships from the Margery Wilson Memorial Transfusion Medicine Fellowship, The Bugher Scientific Fellowship, the National Blood Foundation, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Institute of Health. Dr. Silliman is also currently a tenured professor in the department of pediatrics and has a joint appointment in the department of surgery at the University of Colorado at Denver School of Medicine.

His research interests include inflammation via the innate immune system, receptor mediated signaling in neutrophils, lipid biochemistry and transfusion medicine with an emphasis on transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI). Dr. Silliman has published more than 130 papers in peer-reviewed journals, has presented 75 papers at national meetings and has been an invited speaker numerous national and international meetings or symposia. In addition, he reviews for some 15 medical and basic science journals and is a study section member for the Small Business Innovation Research, National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute and reviews grants for the National Blood Foundation.

Dr. Silliman earned a bachelor’s degree from Haverford College in Haverford, Pa. in 1981 and was awarded doctor of medicine in 1985 and a doctor of philosophy in cell biology in 1987 from Tulane University in New Orleans. Dr. Silliman completed his residency training in general pediatrics at The University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, Va. in 1989 and his fellowship training in pediatric hematology-oncology-bone marrow transplantation at University of Colorado at Denver School of Medicine.