Fellowship Program

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited Transfusion Medicine Fellowship at Hoxworth Blood Center, the second oldest, and only University-affiliated Blood Center is designed to offer physicians career development training which will enable them to assume leadership positions as Directors/Medical Directors of regional or community blood centers or hospital transfusion services.

Specialties with increased use of component products such as HemOnc, Anesthesia, and Surgery meld well with a Transfusion Medicine Fellowship. Although this is a subspecialty of Pathology, our program invites various specialties to explore the diverse and multi-discipline interactivity Transfusion Medicine offers.

The program’s faculty members represent special interests within the general field of Transfusion Medicine. Active research interests of the faculty include, platelet hemostasis, optimization of blood component storage, pathogen reduction of blood products, hematopoietic stem cell biology in health and disease, and microenvironment control of hematopoiesis.

Hoxworth is located on the grounds of the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center; a unit within the College of Medicine comprised multi-disciplinary specialties for Graduate Medical Education where collaboration between units fosters quality learning experiences across the residency and fellowship programs.  The University of Cincinnati situated within the city limits, boasts a reputation of educating prominent health care professionals, along with supporting cutting edge research.

Fellows are based at the Blood Center, with local rotations to University of Cincinnati Medical Center (UCMC) and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) for hospital transfusion experiences, elective Coagulation focused studies, and Blood Utilization Meetings. Additional elective rotations to community hospital transfusion services are also scheduled. 

The fellowship year is intended to develop and enhance the unique competencies of the blood bank physician.  Clinical interaction opportunities are encountered during consultation with clinicians of varied specialties using the blood center services of histocompatibility, Therapeutic Apheresis, or Immunohematology Reference Laboratory.  Affiliations with UCMC, CCHMC and community hospital customers offer clinical case management and interaction in both pediatric and adult populations with cancer care, trauma, stem cell transplantation, solid organ transplantation, and special component requests.  Opportunities are provided to develop management, communication, and teaching skills through mentoring of physicians on clinical rotations in Transfusion Medicine. Scholarly activity is encouraged through interaction with QI projects, and involvement in ongoing clinical research.  Candidates with a special interest in research may wish to continue the program for an additional year. Such requests are reviewed on an individual basis.

Candidates completing the year of fellowship training will be eligible to apply for the sub-specialty examination in blood banking given by the American Board of Pathology (ABP) if other ABP criteria are met. It is expected all trainees will successfully take the board exam.

The fellow is exposed to all operational aspects of a Blood Center as well as Transfusion Practice at hospital transfusion services for pediatric and adult populations. A didactic lecture series integrated with departmental interaction with blood center staff and faculty provides exposure to broad range of experiences in the following:

• Quality Systems
• Regulatory Compliance
• Inspection, Accreditation and Licensing
• Donor Recruitment
• Donor Selection 
•  Whole Blood and Automated Collections
• Designated, Autologous, and Matched Donor Programs
• Component Manufacturing and Storage
• Infectious Disease Testing and Donor Deferrals
• Inventory Management
• Serological Testing and Pre transfusion Testing
• Immunohematology
• Transfusion Support/Practice for various populations 
• Complex Serological Testing and Interpretation
• Blood Utilization
• Trauma and Massive Transfusion Protocols
• Cellular Therapies
• Histocompatibility
• Solid Organ Transplant Support
• Stem Cell Collections and Processing
• Therapeutic Apheresis Procedures

Fellows participate in educational conferences, lecture series, daily operational and ThAph Rounds, weekly Clinical Update and Case study sign outs from UCMC and Immunohematology Reference labs.

Professional Development
Each fellow is expected to investigate a clinical, technical, or management problem; gather and analyze data; develop solutions; and present a summary report to the Hoxworth staff. Submission of the abstract, poster or publication to a national meeting is encouraged. Funds are provided for attendance at a relevant conference.  

Learn more about benefits offered to UCHealth employees.

Dr. David Oh, Fellowship Program Director/Chief Medical Officer David.oh@uc.edu

Dr. Jose Cancelas, CEO/Director of Hoxworth Blood Center Jose.Cancelas@uc.edu

Margaret Simon, Program Coordinator Margaret.Simon@uc.edu