David McKenna, M.D., Medical Director

David H. McKenna, M.D. received a B.S. from the University of Notre Dame and an M.D. from Saint Louis University School of Medicine.  Dr. McKenna received post-graduate training at the University of Minnesota (residency, lab medicine and pathology; fellowship, transfusion medicine, with emphasis on cellular therapy). 

He recently joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota and is assistant professor of lab medicine and pathology and medical director of the Clinical Cell Therapy Lab at University of Minnesota Medical Center-Fairview, and Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics. He is actively involved with the National  Heart, Lung, Blood Institute-sponsored PACT (Production Assistance for Cellular Therapy) group, as the University of Minnesota was recently designated one of three national somatic cell processing sites. 

Dr. McKenna is a member of the International Society for Cellular Therapy, the American Association of Blood Banks, and the American Society of Hematology, and is a Scientific Member of the Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST) Cellular Therapy Team. 

His interests include umbilical cord blood research, quality assurance/quality control in cellular therapy, and translational research/clinical scale-up of biotherapeutics.