Dan Brennan
, MD, Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professor of Renal Diseases, has been appointed to the Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability (ACBTSA) by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Sylvia M. Burwell. The ACBTSA is a federal advisory committee that advises the Secretary of HHS on a range of policy issues related to the safety of blood, blood products, organs and tissues. For solid organs and blood stem cells, the Committee’s work focuses on policy issues related to donor-derived infectious disease complications of transplantation.
The Committee, made up of 23 voting members, represents health professionals, patient advocates and scientists, as well as relevant professional, manufacturing and healthcare organizations. There are an additional eight non-voting ex-officio members from HHS agencies and the Department of Defense.
According to the ACBTSA’s charter, the Committee will advise on a range of policy issues including:
- Identification of public health issues through surveillance of blood and tissue safety issues with national bio-vigilance data tools.
- Identification of public health issues that affect availability of blood, blood products, and tissues.
- Broad public health, ethical and legal issues related to the safety of blood, blood products, and tissues.
- The impact of various economic factors (e.g., product cost and supply) on safety and availability of blood, blood products, and tissues.
- Risk communications related to blood transfusion and tissue transplantation.
- Identification of infectious disease transmission issues for blood, organs, blood stem cells and tissues.
For more on the ACBTSA, click here.