Christopher D. Hillyer, MD was named President and CEO of New York Blood Center (NYBC) effective September 1, 2009. With a strategy of "service, leadership, quality and innovation", he plans, with colleagues worldwide, to advance transfusion medicine, customer service and patient care at NYBC and beyond. In this position, Dr. Hillyer also serves as the chief scientific officer of the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute and the National Cord Blood Program.

Previously a tenured professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, the Division of Hematology/Oncology in the Winship Cancer Institute, and the Aflac Cancer Center, Department of Pediatrics, all at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Hillyer was awarded the Emory Distinguished Service Professor of Pathology, an endowed professorship in 2008. In those capacities, he served as director of the Emory Center for Transfusion and Cellular Therapies with responsibility for all aspects of clinical and academic transfusion medicine at Emory's seven principal hospitals. From 1994 to 2009, Dr. Hillyer served as a medical director for the American Red Cross where he was recognized with two Tiffany Awards for Excellence for his work in advancing national blood transfusion service structure and function, both throughout the United States and in Africa.

Dr. Hillyer is chief editor of five textbooks in transfusion medicine, associate editor of the AABB Technical Manual 16th edition and its companion in cellular therapies, and author of over 100 peer-reviewed articles pertaining to transfusion, blood donor characteristics, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), cytokines, and herpes viruses, most notably cytomegalovirus (CMV), as well as more than 40 book chapters. Nationally recognized as an expert in hematology and blood transfusion, Dr. Hillyer also is a past-president, board of directors of AABB (formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks) and a former trustee of the National Blood Foundation (NBF).

Dr. Hillyer has received wide recognition in blood banking, transfusion medicine and hematology, has been awarded ~$50M in research and contract funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), NBF and other agencies. In addition, he has served as programs director and Principal Investigator (PI) of a program project grant entitled Mechanisms and Interventions of Serious Hazard of Transfusion, PI of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's (NHLBI) Transfusion Medicine/Hemostasis Network and the nation's premier blood donor epidemiology study group, REDS-II, as well as several other R and T mechanism awards. Currently, his research foci include improving participation by underrepresented minorities in blood donation programs, the molecular biology of the allo- and autoimmune responses to blood transfusion, massive transfusion for traumatic injuries, transfusion in regions hyperendemic for malaria, and the biology of CMV transmission in neonates. Internationally, Dr. Hillyer is a co-principal investigator of the Emory/AABB/ARC $12M contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide technical assistance to five developing African nations under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

In the past 10 years, Dr. Hillyer has served as chairman, or been a member of, many NIH Study Sections or Scientific Review Panels. He holds 18 patents (or patents pending), and is a cofounder of Transfusion & Transplantation Technologies, Inc. (3Ti), a biotechnology venture involved in design, production and testing of automated immunohematology and transfusion medicine-related platforms. Dr. Hillyer is highly regarded as a speaker and has been asked to present to committees of the FDA, HHS, Congress and other governmental bodies throughout the world. He is an associate editor of the journal TRANSFUSION and serves on several other editorial boards including the journal BLOOD. Dr. Hillyer is board certified in four specialty areas including transfusion medicine, hematology, medical oncology and internal medicine. He received his BS from Trinity College (1980), and his MD from the University of Rochester School of Medicine (1984), with postgraduate training and fellowships in hematology-oncology, transfusion medicine and bone marrow transplantation at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston.

Dr. Hillyer is the proud father of five children and lives in New York City with his wife and two youngest children.