David McKenna, Jr, MD
Professor and American Red Cross Chair in Transfusion Medicine, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology

Contact Info
Professor and American Red Cross Chair in Transfusion Medicine, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
Scientific and Medical Director, Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics
Pathologist
St. Louis University School of Medicine, 1997
University of Minnesota (Anatomic and Clinical Pathology), 1997-2001
University of Minnesota (Transfusion Medicine), 2001-2003
University of Notre Dame (Biological Sciences and Philosophy), 1991
Summary
Dr. McKenna holds the American Red Cross Chair in Transfusion Medicine and is Director of the Division of Transfusion Medicine. He also serves as the Scientific and Medical Director of Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics (MCT), the University’s cGMP facility, as well as Laboratory and Medical Director of the University of Minnesota Medical Center Clinical Cell Therapy Laboratory and the director of the fellowship program in Transfusion Medicine/Blood Banking. McKenna is an active AABB member, serving on the board of directors for four years and leading the AABB Cellular Therapy Section Coordinating Committee for several years. He was a key investigator in the NIH-sponsored Production Assistance for Cellular Therapies contract from 2003-2015.
Professional Associations
Research
Research Summary/Interests
Interests include umbilical cord blood research, quality assurance/quality control in cellular therapy, and translational research/clinical scale-up of biotherapeutics.
Publications
- McKenna D. Challenges in the cGMP manufacturing of MSCs for multicenter academia trials. Transfusion (2016);56(4):18S-9S. doi: 10.1111/trf.13565.
- Courville EL*, Singh C*, Yohe S, Linden MA, Naemi K, Berger M, Ustun C, McKenna R, Dolan M. Patients with a history of prior chemotherapy and isolated del(20q) with minimal myelodysplasia have an indolent course. *co-first authors. Am J Clinical Pathol.2016 Apr; 145(4):459-66.
- Hubel A, Spindler R, Curtsinger JM, Lindgren B, Wiederoder S, McKenna, DH. Postthaw characterization of umbilical cord blood: markers of storage lesion. Transfusion. 2015 May;55(5):1033-9. doi: 10.1111/trf.12971. Epub 2014 Dec 19. PMID:25522958.
- Sharma, R. R., Pollock, K., Hubel, A. and McKenna, D. (2013), Mesenchymal stem or stromal cells: a review of clinical applications and manufacturing practices. Transfusion. 2014 May;54(5):1418-37. doi: 10.1111/trf.12421. Epub 2013 Oct 16.
- Koepsell SA, Kadidlo DM, Fautsch S, McCullough J, Klingemann H, Wagner JE, Miller JS, McKenna Jr DH. Successful "in-flight" activation of natural killer cells during long-distance shipping. Transfusion. 2012 May 11. doi: 10.1111/j.1537-2995.2012.03695.x.
- Rabe F, Kadidlo D, Van Orsow L, McKenna D. Establishment of an unrelated umbilical cord blood bank qualification program: ensuring quality while meeting Food and Drug Administration vendor qualification requirements. Transfusion. 2013 Jan 24. doi: 10.1111/trf.12085. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 23347170.
Clinical
Board Certifications
Anatomic Pathology, Clinical Pathology, Transfusion Medicine / Blood Banking