Conference Speakers

Dr. Michael Busch earned his MD and PhD degrees at the University of Southern California followed by residency training in Pathology, Laboratory Medicine and Transfusion Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). He is currently Director Emeritus of Vitalant Research Institute (VRI), previously Blood Systems Research Institute (BSRI) and Vice President for Research and Scientific Affairs at Vitalant, a national network of blood centers and donor testing laboratories. He is also a Professor of Laboratory Medicine at UCSF. Dr. Busch is the current President of the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT).

Dr. Busch’s major research interests include:
1) Detection, epidemiology, pathogenesis and laboratory evaluation of transfusion-transmitted infections (HIV, HBV, HCV, HTLVs), and blood safety implications of new and emerging potential transfusion-transmissible infectious diseases (e.g., West Nile Virus, Dengue and Zika Viruses, chikungunya virus, T. cruzi, babesia, SARS-CoV-2;
2) Mechanisms and prevention of immunological consequences of transfusions, including transfusion-induced immune modulation, viral reactivation, microchimerism, graft-vs-host disease, transfusion-related acute lung injury and alloimmunization;
3) Mechanisms of HIV persistence following anti-retroviral treatment (ART) and development, validation and application of assays to quantify HIV reservoirs in ART-suppressed subjects in the context of cure research interventions;
4) Blood donor demographic, genetic and RBC- and platelet-component metabolic characteristics that impact blood cell integrity and function following processing and storage, and the efficacy of RBC and platelet transfusions in different recipient populations; and
5) Use of blood donors in surveillance of infectious and non-infectious diseases relevant to public health (e.g., serosurveillance for SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses).

Dr. Busch has published >750 peer-reviewed original scientific articles and >150 review articles, editorials and book chapters. He has led >90 NIH, CDC, FDA and industry funded major research programs supported by >$160M in extramural funding.