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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
James P. AuBuchon, MD, to Begin Leading the Blood Center in September 2008
APRIL, 18 2008, SEATTLE — Puget Sound Blood Center’s Board of Trustees announced today the selection of James P. AuBuchon, MD, as the successor to Richard B. Counts, MD, as the Blood Center’s president and CEO. Dr. AuBuchon will begin his tenure September 1, 2008, following Dr. Counts’ retirement August 31, 2008. Dr. Counts’ retirement follows 35 years of service at the Blood Center.
Dr. AuBuchon is a national and international leader in transfusion medicine who since 2002 has served as Chair of Pathology at Dartmouth-Medical School in New Hampshire. A 1978 graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, Dr. AuBuchon completed an anatomic and clinical pathology residency at the University of Wisconsin and was a Senior Staff Fellow in the Department of Transfusion Medicine at the National Institutes of Health for two years. There he initiated work on the effects of plasticizers on red cell storage. Following his fellowship, Dr. AuBuchon was the director of several regional blood centers and served at the national headquarters of the American Red Cross for 6 years.
Dr. AuBuchon came to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center as the Medical Director of the Blood Bank and Transfusion Service in 1990. He has pursued several lines of research, continuing his work on component storage system improvement and extending his interest in practical improvements in blood safety through defining the cost-effectiveness of a variety of proposed interventions. He has worked closely with clinicians to promote improved transfusion practices through the Transfusion Committee and implemented innovative approaches to reduce the two greatest risks of transfusion, bacterial contamination and mistransfusion.
“The Board of Trustees’ selection of Dr. AuBuchon as president and CEO will mean continued Blood Center leadership dedicated to research and to the communities that make up Western Washington,” said Richard B. Counts, president and CEO, Puget Sound Blood Center. “Dr. AuBuchon has an extraordinary record as a leader in transfusion medicine and blood research. I’m confident Dr. AuBuchon will lead the Blood Center to growth and innovation in blood and tissue services and to significant research progress.”
As an industry leader, Dr. AuBuchon has served on a number of committees and task forces. He was a member of the Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1997-2000). He served the AABB as chair of the Scientific Section Coordinating Committee (1998-2002) and a district director (2003 – 2007) on the Board of Directors; he became the Secretary/Treasurer in October, 2007. He chaired the Transfusion Medicine Resource Committee of the College of American Pathologists from 2003 to 2007, and he chaired the Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion Collaborative, an international research group dedicated to improving transfusion safety and efficacy, from 2002 to 2006. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1999.
Puget Sound Blood Center is an independent, community-based blood center with a long and unique tradition of blending community volunteerism, medical science and research to improve patients’ lives. Patients with leukemia, cancer, burns, hemophilia and traumatic injuries depend on the breakthrough discoveries made by Blood Center scientists. Internationally recognized as a leader in transfusion medicine, the Blood Center operates the world's largest transfusion service, serves patients in more that 70 hospitals and clinics in 14 Western Washington counties and provides tissue and transplantation support to 185 hospitals across the Northwest.
If you have any questions please contact Michael Young at 206-292-6589 or pager 206-540-6189.
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