The Center for Transfusion-Free Medicine

Under the leadership of the Center for Transfusion-Free Medicine's Founder and Medical Director, Patricia Ford, MD, the bloodless medicine program at Penn is often cited as the model program for best practice in patient blood management by healthcare professionals and organizations throughout the country and the world.

Dr. Patricia Ford is an international expert on bloodless medicine and bloodless surgery. Dr. Ford performed the world's first bloodless stem cell transplant more than 20 years ago, and established the bloodless medicine program at Pennsylvania Hospital in 1996 to treat patients who do not wish to accept blood transfusions for religious, personal, medical or ethical reasons.

Since it was founded, the Center for Transfusion-Free Medicine at Pennsylvania Hospital has evolved into a major national bloodless center that treats more than 1300 inpatients per year.