Michael P. Busch, M.D., Ph.D.

Current Positions:

• Director, BSRI
• Vice President, Research and Scientific Affairs,
  Blood Systems Inc., Scottsdale, Arizona
• Professor of Laboratory Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

Contact Information:
270 Masonic Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94118
Phone: (415) 749-6615
Fax: (415) 775-3859
Email: mbusch@bloodsystems.org

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Education:

• B.Sc., Pharmacology, University of California, Santa Barbara
• M.Sc., Experimental Pathology, University of Southern California
• M.D., University of Southern California (magna cum laude)
• Ph.D., Experimental Pathology, University of Southern California

Research Interests:

• Understanding transfusion-transmitted viral infections; including the risks of established and emerging agents and the consequences of infections in donors and recipients.

• The development and implementation of improved laboratory methods for detection, evaluation, management and prevention of blood-borne infections.

• Understanding the body’s immune response to transfusion, organ transplant and pregnancy, including the mechanisms of tolerance and graft-vs.-host disease, donor white blood cell (leukocyte) proliferation and microchimerism.

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Background:

Michael P. Busch, M.D., Ph.D., is one of the world’s leading transfusion medicine scientists. He publishes prolifically, and is well-known for his innovative and productive research. Dr. Busch is an acknowledged national leader in laboratory issues as they apply to transfusion-transmitted diseases. He has advanced the general knowledge of viral dynamics and virus-host interactions, and has been instrumental in bringing nucleic acid technology (NAT) to practical application.

A pioneer in tracking the transmission of HIV infection in the nation’s blood supply, Dr. Busch was on the front lines during this national health crisis. His research in the mid-1980s led to an accurate calculation of the window period for HIV infection and the first accurate estimates of the risk of HIV transmission by transfusion in the United States. His efforts were central to the formation of national policy and have been applied to other emerging pathogens including HCV, HBV and West Nile virus (WNV).

WNV has spread rapidly throughout the United States since its detection in New York City in 1999. Dr. Busch was a pivotal figure in documenting the risk of transfusion of WNV, developing and implementing new technology for the detection of the virus in the nation's blood supply, and creating public guidelines for blood centers.

In addition to his leadership and design of many key studies in transfusion medicine, Dr. Busch is a member of the Transfusion Transmitted Disease Committees of the American Association of Blood Banks and American’s Blood Centers; and the Research and Development Advisory Committee of the Canadian Blood Services. He serves ad hoc for several European government and international task forces, and also sits on several World Health Organization panels. He is an associate editor of the medical journal “Transfusion” and serves on the editorial board of “Transfusion Medicine” and advises on the editorial board of the “Journal of Human Virology.”

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Publications:

Stramer SL, Glynn SA, Kleinman SH, Strong DM, Caglioti S, Wright DJ,
Dodd RY, Busch MP, for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Nucleic Acid Test Study Group. [REDS] Detection of HIV-1 and HCV
infections among antibody-negative blood donors by nucleic acid
amplification testing. N Engl J Med, 351(8):760-8, 2004.

Kuhns MC, Kleinman SH, McNamara AL, Rawal BD, Glynn SA, Busch MP.
Lack of correlation between HBsAg and HBV DNA levels in blood donors who test positive for HBsAg and anti HBc: Implications for future HBV screening policy. Transfusion, 44:1332-9, 2004.

Busch MP, Glynn SA, Stramer SL, Strong DM, Caglioti S, Wright DJ,
Pappalardo B, Kleinman SH, for the NHLBI-REDS NAT Study Group. A new
strategy for estimating risks of transfusion-transmitted viral
infections based on rates of detection of recently infected donors.
Transfusion, 2004 (in press).

Glynn S, Wright D, Kleinman S, Hirschkorn D, Tu Y, Heldebrant C, Smith
R, Giachetti C, Gallarda J, Busch MP, and the NHLBI Retrovirus
Epidemiology Donor Study (REDS). Intermittent low-level viremia in early hepatitis C virus infection. Transfusion, (in press).

Busch MP, Tobler LH, Saldanha J, Caglioti S, Shyamala V, Linnen JM,
Gallarda J, Phelps B, Smith RIF, Drebot M, Kleinman SH. Analytical and
clinical sensitivity of first generation West Nile virus RNA screening
and confirmatory assays. Transfusion, 2004 (in press).

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