Our Leadership

Brigid O’Neill LaGier

Brigid O’Neill LaGier is the Chief Executive Officer of the Penn-Jersey Region of American Red Cross Biomedical Services, a not-for-profit blood center providing blood and other transfusion related products and services to more than 100 hospitals in greater Philadelphia and the State of New Jersey.

She began her career as a medical laboratory technologist in clinical hospital laboratories in upstate New York.  She has been with the American Red Cross since 1993 in various levels of administration and management, joining the Philadelphia blood services operation in 1999. O’Neill LaGier holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Drexel University’s Executive MBA program as well as a Bachelor’s of Science degree in business, leadership and organizational studies from Binghamton University and an associate’s degree in medical laboratory technology.

Ms. O’Neill LaGier serves as the representative of the American Red Cross blood program in the greater Philadelphia area; an experienced public speaker, community advocate and spokesperson for the American Red Cross, appearing in television news interviews, radio talk shows, and public speaking engagements which educate the community about the need for blood donations and the role of American Red Cross Biomedical Services in our community. 

She has developed strategic business relationships and many opportunities that engage the community in the blood program.  With a staff of nearly 1000 paid staff and more than 5,000 volunteers, she oversees the daily recruitment of volunteer blood donors to 25 or more blood collection operations throughout the region and produces the required blood products to support the transfusion needs of patients in area hospitals.

Ms. O’Neill LaGier has received numerous awards for outstanding leadership and service to the community. She is a passionate champion of the transfusion needs of children with Sickle Cell Disease, a debilitating illness primarily affecting the African American and Black community. Through a special blood donation program developed and managed by the American Red Cross, African American and Black blood donors are recruited to donate blood for this very special and important program that improves the life of those affected by the disease.

Ralph R. Vassallo, Jr., MD
  

Dr. Vassallo is the Northeast Division Chief Medical Officer, based here at the Penn-Jersey region in Philadelphia. He has been a member of Penn-Jersey’s regional medical team since 2002.  He received his bachelor’s and medical degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, and subsequently completed a residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

His research interests lie in platelet physiology, platelet transfusion, transfusion safety / performance improvement efforts and collaboration with manufacturers to develop and obtain FDA approval for innovative transfusion medicine technologies.



Dr. Vassallo is the Northeast Division Chief Medical Officer, based here at the Penn-Jersey region in Philadelphia. He has been a member of Penn-Jersey’s regional medical team since 2002.  He received his bachelor’s and medical degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, and subsequently completed a residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Prior to joining the Red Cross, for almost ten years, Dr. Vassallo was the Director of Medical Education, an ACGME Program Director, and a hospital administrator for a 3-hospital system in Philadelphia.

An AABB member, Dr. Vassallo chairs their Circular of Information Committee and is/has been a member of 2 other committees. He is on the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Association of Blood Bank Professionals and is a member of the international Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion Collaborative. He is on the editorial boards of Transfusion, Transfusion and Apheresis Science and Immunohematology.  He has authored book chapters in Williams' Hematology, Rossi's Principles of Transfusion Medicine, McLeod’s Apheresis: Principles & Practice, and more than 30 other articles and reviews.

His research interests lie in platelet physiology, platelet transfusion, transfusion safety / performance improvement efforts and collaboration with manufacturers to develop and obtain FDA approval for innovative transfusion medicine technologies.

David Moolten, MD
David Moolten, MD, is the medical director of Clinical Services for the Penn-Jersey Region of the American Red Cross Blood Services, which offers programs that help physicians and hospitals meet the transfusion needs of their patients.

During his more than 10 years of Red Cross service, he received the national 2000 Norman Augustine American Red Cross award for his outstanding work in cellular therapy. Dr. Moolten and the staff of the Penn-Jersey Region, one of 36 Red Cross regional blood centers, were honored for their excellent teamwork in building a cell processing center and introducing cellular therapy at the Region.

After graduating from Harvard College, Dr. Moolten received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He completed his fellowship year in blood banking and tranfusion medicine at the Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine. He has an adjunct faculty appointment at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he also did his residency. He is licensed to practice medicine in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and is certified by the American Board of Pathology. His work has been published in Transfusion, Seminars in Oncology and Science.

Laurene Cianfrani MT (ASCP) SBB
Laurene Cianfrani is the Senior Director, Hospital Relations Management for the Penn-Jersey Region of the American Red Cross Blood Services and has responsibilities for the overall relationship between the Red Cross and the hospital, medical and patient needs of the region.

She is certified as a Medical Technologist and a Specialist in Blood Banking from the American Society of Clinical Pathologists. She received her BS degree in medical technology from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and SBB training at Mt. Sinai Hospital/American Red Cross, Mid America Region in Chicago.

Cianfrani has held numerous positions with the American Red Cross Blood Services, Penn-Jersey Region since 1981, including administrator, patient/hospital services which included oversight of Reference Laboratories, Hospital Services, and blood manufacturing; compliance officer and director of Quality Assurance.

Cianfrani is currently serving on the Medical Advisory and Policy Board for the Gift of Life Donor Program, the region’s organ and tissue transplantation network.  She is an active member of the American Association of Blood Banks, the Society for the Advancement of Blood Management, the Clinical Laboratory Management Association.  She is a recipient of the Employee Excellence Award of the American Red Cross.
 

Sandra Nance, MS, MT (ASCP) SBB
Sandra Nance is Senior Director, Immunohematology Reference Laboratory (IRL) for the Penn-Jersey Region of the American Red Cross Blood Services, and the Director of the American Rare Donor Program and Senior Director of IRLs for Biomedical Services Operations at American Red Cross Headquarters.

A graduate of the University of Maryland, Nance has a Master’s Degree in Pathology.  She received her SBB from the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.

Nance has been with the American Red Cross since 1981 and the Penn-Jersey Region since 1990.  She started out as Assistant Director of Technical Services for Special Services.

Prior to that, she was a Research Associate for the Los Angeles-Orange Counties Region of the American Red Cross Blood Services and a Lead Technologist for the blood bank laboratory at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Nance is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She is active in blood banking Societies having held posts on State and National nominating committees for ASCP, AABB and Pennsylvania Association of Blood Banks. She has led and been a member of numerous committees for AABB and currently is the American Red Cross liaison on the AABB Molecular Standards Committee.  Active in the American Society of Clinical Pathologists she is currently the Chair of the ASCP Teleconference and Web-based Education Committee, and has served on the Steering Committee for the Invitational Conference for Investigative Immunohematologists. Internationally, she is the Chair of the International Society for Blood Transfusion Working Party on Rare Donors and is a member of the ISBT International Scientific Committee.
 

Susan H. Hsu, Ph.D.
Susan H. Hsu, Ph.D., is the Director of the Histocompatibility/Molecular Genetics Department of the Penn-Jersey Region of American Red Cross Blood Services. Dr. Hsu joined the Red Cross in 1987 as scientific director and director of the histocompatibility laboratory. Prior to joining the Red Cross, Hsu was Co-Directors of the Immunogenetics Laboratories in the Division of Medical Genetics of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Hsu received her Ph.D. and her Master’s Degrees from the University of Illinois. Her Bachelor Degree of Science is from the National Taiwan University, Taiwan. She is a board certified Lab Director by the American Board of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics.

Her professional memberships include the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, and the International Transplantation Society.

In 2001, her laboratory was chosen to perform confirmatory typing for the cord blood unit and for cord blood recipients by the National Marrow Donor Program.

Her work has been published in American Journal of Human Genetics, J. Exp. Med., Human Gene Mapping, The Human Immunology, J. Immunology, Tissue Antigens, Bone Marrow Transplantation, The Journal of Pediatrics, Arch Pathology, Arthritis Rheum, The American Journal of Medical Science, The Johns Hopkins Medical Journal, Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Nature.