Medical Experts

Kevin J. Land, MD
Chief Medical and Scientific Officer

Vice President of Medical Affairs

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 chair of America's Blood Centers' scientific, medical and technology committee; is a member of AABB's donor hemovigilance working group, circular of information taskforce and its TRALI taskforce.  He also sits on Colorado Medical Society's Patient Safety and Professional Liability Working Group.

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 his senior year. Dr. Land completed fellowships in medical informatics and transfusion at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Parkland Memorial Hospital/Carter Blood Care respectively.

His clinical interests include clinical pathology, transfusion medicine, cellular therapies, medical informatics, errors in medicine, system's design, education and patient safety.  Research interests include 1) Evaluation of current HLA platforms to maximize patient safety while reducing TRALI, 2) Evaluating the Performance characteristics, clinical outcomes, and policy implications of screening blood donors for serological evidence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in the U.S. and 3) Resolving Infection in Neutropenia with Granulocytes (RING).

Publications
1. Land KJ, LaSarre M, Straley M.  Worried That Your Laboratory Doesn't Measure Up? Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2009 Mar;133(3):343-5.
2. Land KJ.  A Blood Banker's Wish List for Holidays Yet to Come. AABB News. 10(12):6-8, Dec 2008.
3. Houghton D, Land KJ.  West Nile Virus, Transfusion Medicine ASCP Check Sample TM 08-1 (TM-301); 51(1); 1-17, 2008.
4. Land KJ, Sayers MH.  Points to Consider in the Justification of Autologous Blood Programs.  Haematologia. 2007 92(extra 1): 342-5.
5. Land KJ. Chapter 5, Medications, Vaccinations, and Blood Donations: Factors driving donor suitability strategies. In Eder A & Bianco C (eds), Screening Blood Donors: Science, Reason and the Donor History Questionnaire. AABB press, August 2007.
6. Kumar V, Schneider NR, and Hagler HK (editors). (Land KJ, Assistant Editor/Programmer) Interactive Case Study Companion to Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease, Seventh Edition. Elsevier, July 2004 (http://www.robbinspathology.com).
7. Land KJ, Hagler HK, Dyrved NJ. Virtual Microscope Companion to Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease, 7th edition (Kumar, Abbas, Fausto, eds), Elsevier, July 2004 (http://www.robbinspathology.com).

Daniel R. Ambruso, MD
Medical Director of Research and Education

For nearly 30 years, Dr. Daniel Ambruso has led Bonfils Blood Center's Research Department and has been a 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 deficient or excessive immune response such as transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI).

Additionally, Dr. Ambruso is a practicing pediatric hematologist at Denver's University of Colorado Hospital and The Children's Hospital as well as a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus.

Dr. Ambruso earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. 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 the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Science Center and National Jewish Health in Denver.

Publications

1. Ambruso DR, Knall C, Abell AN, Panepinto J, Kurkchubasche A, Thurman G, Gonzalez-Aller C, Hiester A, deBoer M, Harbeck RJ, Oyer R, Johnson GL, Roos D: Human neutrophil immunodeficiency syndrome is associated with an inhibitory Rac2 mutation.  Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2000;97:4654-4659.

2. Ambruso DR, Cusack N, Thurman G. NADPH oxidase activity of neutrophil specific granules: requirements for cytosolic components and evidence of assembly during cell activation.  Mol Genet Metab 2004;81:313-321.

3. Abell AN, DeCathelineau AM, Weed SA, Ambruso DR, Riches DW, Johnson GL: Rac2D57N, a dominant inhibitory Rac2 mutant that inhibits p38 kinase signaling and prevents surface ruffling in bone-marrow-derived macrophages.  J Cell Sci 2004;117:243-255.

4. Silliman CC, Ambruso DR, Boshkov LK: Transfusion-related acute lung injury.  Blood 2005;105:2266-2273.

5. Hillyer C, Mondoro T, Josephson C, Sanchez-Rosen R, Sloan S and Ambruso DR.  Pediatric transfusion medicine (PTM): Development of a critical mass.  Transfusion 2009;49(3):596-601.

Jacob H. Gildea, MD, MPH
Transfusion Medicine Fellow

Dr. Gildea joined Bonfils in July 2009 as its transfusion medicine fellow. As transfusion medicine fellow, Dr. Gildea is delving into every facet of transfusion medicine practiced at Bonfils as well as at Denver Health Medical Center, the Denver VA Medical Center and University of Colorado Hospital. He is also gaining practical experience in bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell transplantation at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center and Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers.

Dr. Gildea earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Utah in 2000 and a master's of public health from the same institution in 2001. As part of his training he completed an internship at the Institute for Health Care Delivery Research. Dr. Gildea received his medical degree from Penn State University in 2005 and completed a pathology residency at the University of Colorado in 2009.

Publications
1. Gildea JH, Lillehei KO, Golitz LE, Kleinschmidt-DeMasters BK. Benign cylindroma causing transcalvarial invasion in a patient with familial cylindromatosis. Clinical Neuropathology 2007;26(3): 125-130.
2. Westhafer J, Gildea J, Klepeiss S, Clarke L, Helm K. Age distribution of biopsied junctional nevi. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 2007;56(5):825-7.
3. Wendelboe AM, Hegmann KT, Biggs JJ, Cox CM, Portmann AJ, Gildea JH, Gren LH, Lyon JL. Relation Between Body Mass Indices and Surgical Replacement of Knee and Hip Joints. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2003; 25(4), 290-295.

Tuan N. Le, MD
Medical Director of Clinical Services

Dr. Tuan Le joined Bonfils Blood Center as the medical director of clinical services in July 2009. Prior to joining Bonfils, Dr. Le served as medical director of transfusion services at Denver Health Medical Center. He also worked as a transfusion medicine specialist at The Children's Hospital from 2000 to 2007.

After earning his bachelor's degree in molecular biology from the University of Colorado in 1989, Dr. Le completed his medical degree at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (UCHSC) in 1993.  He then fulfilled a residency in pathology at UCHSC prior to his transfusion medicine fellowship at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Conn.

His clinical interests include therapeutic apheresis, blood management, education and patient safety.  Research interests include 1) Peripheral blood progenitor cell collection management, 2) Massive transfusion protocols and 3) Blood utilization review strategies.

Publications

1. Le T, Lane P et al.  Erythrocytapheresis using an implantable dual lumen port in sickle cell patients.  J. Clinical Apheresis 18:75, 2003.
2. Foreman NK, Schissel D, Le T, et al. A study of sequential high dose cyclophosphamide and high dose carboplatin with peripheral stem-cell rescue in resistant or recurrent pediatric brain tumors. J Neurooncol. 2005; 71(2):181-187.
3. Sidhu RS, Le T, et al. Midpoint CD34 measurement as a predictor of PBPC product yield in pediatric patients undergoing high dose chemotherapy.   J. Clin. Apheresis. 2006; 21:165-168.
4. Sidhu RS, Le T, et al. Study of coagulation factor activities in apheresed thawed FFP kept at 1-6ºC for five days.  J. Clin. Apheresis. 2006; 21:224-226.
5. Nuss R, Cole L, Le T, et al.  Pinch-off syndrome in patients with sickle cell disease receiving erythrocytapheresis.  Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2008;50:354-356.

Christopher Colton Silliman, MD, PhD

Senior Independent Researcher

Dr. Christopher Silliman joined Bonfils as a research fellow in 1990 and was later appointed as an associate medical director in 1998. In addition, 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 General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. 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 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, written 24 invited reviews and chapters, has presented 80 papers at national meetings and has been an invited speaker at 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 both the Small Business Innovation Research, and the Erythrocyte and Leukocyte Biology, National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute, NIH.

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 Doctorate 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 in 1992.

Publications

1. McLaughlin NJ, Banerjee A, Kelher MR, Gamboni-Robertson F, Hamiel C, Sheppard FR, Moore EE, Silliman CC. Platelet-activating factor-induced clathrin-mediated endocytosis requires beta-arrestin-1 recruitment and activation of the p38 MAPK signalosome at the plasma membrane for actin bundle formation. J.Immunol. 2006 Jun 1;176(11):7039-50.
2. Silliman CC, Curtis BR, Kopko PM, Khan SY, Kelher MR, Schuller RM, Sannoh B, Ambruso DR. Donor antibodies to HNA-3a implicated in TRALI reactions prime neutrophils and cause PMN-mediated damage to human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells in a two-event in vitro model. Blood 2007 Feb 15;109(4):1752-5.
3. Kanter J, Khan SY, Kelher M, Gore L, Silliman CC. Oncogenic and angiogenic growth factors accumulate during routine storage of apheresis platelet concentrates. Clin.Cancer Res. 2008 Jun 15;14(12):3942-7.
4. McLaughlin NJ, Banerjee A, Khan SY, Lieber JL, Kelher MR, Gamboni-Robertson F, Sheppard FR, Moore EE, Mierau GW, Elzi DJ, et al. Platelet-activating factor-mediated endosome formation causes membrane translocation of p67phox and p40phox that requires recruitment and activation of p38 MAPK, Rab5a, and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase in human neutrophils. J.Immunol. 2008 Jun 15;180(12):8192-203.
5. Kelher MR, Masuno T, Moore EE, Damle S, Meng X, Song Y, Liang X, Niedzinski J, Geier SS, Khan SY, et al. Plasma from stored packed red blood cells and MHC class I antibodies causes acute lung injury in a 2-event in vivo rat model. Blood 2009 Feb 26;113(9):2079-87.