Name Mark Brecher | ||
Dr Brecher earned his medical degree at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, where he also completed residency training in anatomic and clinical pathology. He completed a blood banking and transfusion medicine fellowship at the Mayo Clinic.
He has served on the faculty of the Mayo Clinic Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology (1988 to 1992) and a faculty member and as a vice chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of North Carolina (1992-2009). Presently, he is an adjunct professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of North Carolina. Since 2009 he has served as the Chief Medical Officer for the Laboratory Corporation of America.
From 2001 to 2005 he chaired the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability. Topics addressed during this period included the emergency response of blood banks to major disasters such as 9/11, bacterial contamination of platelets and insurance coverage of recombinant clotting factors for hemophiliacs. He served as the president of the American Society for Apheresis (2005-6) and has received both the ASFA Lecturer's award (2010) and the Presidential award (2011) for his contributions to the field. His research and advocacy contributed to reducing the risk of bacterial contamination of blood products for transfusion,.