News & Events | Blood Center Director Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

MAY 15, 2000 — D. Michael Strong, PhD, operations director for the Puget Sound Blood Center and a research professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, recently received the prestigious Thomas F. Zuck Lifetime Achievement Award. This award, bestowed by America's Blood Centers (ABC) at it's annual meeting, recognizes Dr. Strong and Sally Caglioti, vice president of Blood Systems in Arizona, for their remarkable achievement in the implementation of nucleic acid testing (NAT) for half of the nation's blood supply. NAT employs a new form of testing technology to improve the safety of the blood supply through screening that directly detects the genetic material of viruses like hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV, the virus which causes AIDS.

Because NAT testing is more sensitive than current screening tests, it may reduce the window of infectivity by as much as 60 days for HCV and 11 days for HIV. This test can detect the presence of the virus before the body has time to produce antibodies to the infection.

"Dr. Strong and Ms. Caglioti are two of the most impressive leaders in blood banking today, notes Dr. Thomas Zuck, a pioneer researcher in the blood banking industry. "Together they oversaw implementation of the most complex and far-reaching event in blood screening history. In less than a year they helped take NAT testing out of the reference lab and into the real world of ABC's member blood centers, under the largest research protocol ever carried out under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Their collaboration with Roche and Chiron/Gen-Probe made transfusions even safer by reducing the window period for HCV and HIV," said Zuck.

Dr. Strong is a graduate of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington and received his PhD from The Medical College of Wisconsin. He joined the Puget Sound Blood Center in 1988, to establish the Northwest Tissue Services following 20 years in the Navy, where he served as director of transplantation research for the Naval Medical Research Institute and director of histocompatibility laboratories for the Army/Navy Transplant Program. As a Navy Program Manager, he was responsible for assisting in the establishment of The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). He was named director of operations of the Blood Center in 1994. Dr. Strong is recognized internationally as one of the world's leading experts in cell cryopreservation and tissue banking.

Founded in 1944, Puget Sound Blood Center provides blood, tissue and specialized laboratory services to the majority of patients in Western Washington.

Founded in 1962, America's Blood Centers (ABC) is the national association of nonprofit, independent community blood centers. ABC members are licensed and regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and provide half of the nation's blood supply.

Thomas F. Zuck is considered a living legend in the blood banking industry. A graduate of Yale Law School in 1958 and Hahneman Medical College in 1963, he then joined the Army where he rose to the rank of Colonel in 1978. In 1985, the Army loaned him to the FDA where for two years he served as director of the division of blood and blood products. Since 1987, Zuck has been director of the Hoxworth Blood Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Zuck has been a pioneer researcher in blood clotting, new anti-coagulants and blood substitutes. He was instrumental in bringing the independent blood centers into FDA compliance.