J. PETER R. PELLETIER MD, FCAP, FASCP

Dr Joseph Peter R. Pelletier is Medical Director of Transfusion Services at Shands UF Blood Bank; He also holds an appointment as Clinical Professor in the Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine and Anesthesia.

Dr Pelletier was a Medical Technologist graduating from University of Connecticut before entering Medical School at University of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School. He did internal medicine Residency at Wright-Patterson In Dayton Ohio and Practice 3 years at Tinker AFB in OK. He entered Anatomic /Clinical Pathology Residency at Wilford Hall Medical Center before completing a Blood Bank Fellowship at Yale New Haven Hospital. He is board certified in these 4 specialties.

Dr Pelletier is a retired AF Colonel with 23 years of service. He held AF appointment as Consultant to AF/SG in Pathology and Transfusion Medicine. He was also the Department of Defense representative to the HHS Advisory Council on Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability. He was also awarded Grand Master Status in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology. He joined UF on 1 September 2014.

As Medical Director Transfusion Service Dr Pelletier responsible for ensuring the Quality Assurance and Control plan is carried out in an appropriate manner for the blood bank. Medical Director provides continuous feedback to the Manager and other technical staff in order to provide better patient care and meet the needs of patients and customers. Medical Director provides clinical consultation to medical staff and intervene in complex quality or patient care issues. Medical Director provides guidance and direction in the selection of instruments, test, methods, kits and computer software. Medical Director is required to review and approve validation of instrumentation or software, new and revised procedures as well as evaluating and determining the type of blood products will be made available for the patient. Medical Director is responsible for overseeing the implementation and adherence to the quality program. This is to include periodic monitoring and review of quality documents (Proficiency Testing, Incident /Variance reports, SUF Quality Improvement Reports, Patient Safety Reports for SUF and Transfusion Committee Dashboard Reports.

Dr Pelletier’s research interests are in the areas of Pathogen reduction/inactivation, massive transfusion protocols’ blood program management/utilization, treatment of infectious disease with passive immunization, and use of alternative blood.