Celebration Marks Global Blood Safety Pioneer's Career and Legacy

The Vitalant Foundation celebrated a major fundraising milestone and the remarkable career of one of the world's leading blood safety researchers at a special event honoring Dr. Michael P. Busch on July 24 at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.

The event, generously underwritten by Vitalant and the University of California San Francisco Department of Laboratory Medicine, brought together more than 140 distinguished colleagues, collaborators, donors, family and friends to celebrate Dr. Busch and the fund in his name that surpassed its initial fundraising goal of $1 million. Honoring Dr. Busch's four decades of groundbreaking scientific leadership, the Dr. Michael P. Busch First Response Fund will provide annual support for rapid-response pilot projects at Vitalant Research Institute (VRI), advance key scientific priorities, support trainees and collaborators, and help establish the foundation for larger research initiatives funded by national and international partners.

“Dr. Busch’s extraordinary 40-year career has transformed Vitalant and leaves an indelible mark on the field of transfusion medicine, driving advances that continue to benefit patients and save lives around the world,” Vitalant CEO David R. Green said. “The Dr. Michael Busch Legacy Fund is a fitting tribute to a career defined by innovation, leadership and service.”

One of the world's foremost experts in blood safety and infectious disease research, Dr. Busch helped lead the development of universal HIV and West Nile virus screening for blood donations and was a founding leader of the National Institutes of Health's Recipient Epidemiology and Donor Evaluation Study (REDS) program. Throughout his career, he has authored more than 750 peer-reviewed scientific publications and played key roles in dozens of large-scale research studies that have advanced blood safety worldwide.

"Lives are saved not only by the discoveries we make, but how quickly we make them," Dr. Busch said. "When the next moment comes, may curiosity have the resources to become discovery, and discovery have the chance to save lives."

Corporate support of the Dr. Michael P. Busch First Response Fund to date includes Abbott Transfusion Health Institute, Fresenius Kabi, Grifols, Hearst Foundations, Roche Blood Safety Solutions and Terumo BCT. 

Secure, tax-deductible contributions to the Dr. Michael P. Busch First Response Fund can be made at vitalant.org/legacy.