New STBTC CEO to build on organization's strong foundation Blood & Tissue Center Welcome Dr. Kevin Land
SAN ANTONIO (July 23, 2010) — The Board of Directors for the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center (STBTC) announced that Dr. Kevin Land began his tenure as President/CEO and Medical Director of the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center on July 1, 2010. Land previously served as the Chief Medical and Scientific Officer of Bonfils Blood Center in Denver, Colorado and has returned to his native Texas, succeeding longtime STBTC President/CEO, Norman Kalmin, MD, who will oversee operations of STBTC’s testing operation expansion in Atlanta, Ga.
Land joins STBTC with more than a decade of experience in pathology and blood services. While serving as Bonfils Blood Center’s first chief medical and scientific officer, he provided strategic and operational leadership as well as medical and scientific direction related to blood services and products, laboratory testing, donor collection and counseling, hospital relations, expansion of new business and services, and clinical research.
“Dr. Land brings vast experience and a great passion for the industry to the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center,” said Dennis Stahl, Chair of the STBTC Board of Directors. “Dr. Land’s clinical interests in transfusion medicine, cellular therapies, education and patient safety are critical skills as STBTC continues to evolve to meet the needs of our community. His leadership is an excellent fit for the Center as we move into this new era.”
“The South Texas Blood & Tissue Center has a wonderful history of being highly successful, with a strong regulatory and financially sound background,” Land said. “Blood banking as we know is changing. Looking ahead, STBTC has all the building blocks for a great future – strong donor relationships and collections, cellular therapy, tissue, research and development.”
Land’s history in blood banking dates back to his parents, who both worked for blood centers in North Texas and fostered Land’s interest in medicine. After going through his rotations in medical school, he explained that he found that blood bankers “impact their community by helping others be completely selfless – donating for those in need.” He also found and continues to marvel at the ever-changing technologies and new developments of the industry.
Describing the solid foundation of STBTC, Land said his focus will be on enhancing the relationships the Center has with its constituents.
“STBTC has a diversity of services, and we must focus on internal customers, donors, recipients and hospitals,” Land said. “Together, we will continue to strengthen and nurture these relationships.”
Prior to Bonfils, Land served as medical director of Blood Systems Laboratory in Bedford, Texas and medical director of laboratory services for Carter BloodCare in Dallas. He also served on the faculty in the pathology department at UT Southwestern.
Land earned his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of North Texas in Denton and completed his medical degree and his residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He completed a fellowship in medical informatics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and transfusion medicine at Parkland Memorial Hospital/Carter BloodCare. In addition to other activities, Land currently serves as chair of the America’s Blood Centers’ scientific, medical and technology committee and the AABB’s Donor Biovigilance working group. He is also past chair of the Texas Medical Association’s Blood and Tissue Usage Committee. Land is married to Dr. Melissa Land, and they have four children.