At-Large Director (Position 6)

Melissa Cushing, MD is the Daniel M. Knowles, MD Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and a professor of anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. She is also the executive vice chair for clinical affairs in the department of pathology and laboratory medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and the division director for transfusion medicine and cellular therapy at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Campus. In addition, Cushing is the medical director of clinical laboratories and the CLIA permit holder at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Campus.

Cushing attended Duke University in Durham, NC; Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, DC; Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA for clinical pathology residency training; and John Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD for her transfusion medicine fellowship.

Cushing has been active in AABB for more than 15 years. She has served on the following AABB committees: Continuing Medical Education Program Unit Committee, AABB Transfusion Services Accreditation Unit Committee, Transfusion Medicine Scientific Coordinating Committee, Annual Meeting Awards Selection Committee, Nominating Committee for Board of Directors, Clinical Transfusion Medicine Committee, Selection of Abstracts Committee, Coding and Reimbursement Committee, Annual Meeting Education Planning Committee, Patient Blood Management Metrics Committee, Annual Meeting Scientific Program Task Force. She has been an editor and book editor for the AABB Handbook Series: Blood Transfusion Therapy. She also served as the chair of the Selection of Abstracts Committee from 2020 to 2024.

Cushing has published more than 150 original research articles, editorials, book chapters and reviews. Her areas of expertise include the treatment of perioperative bleeding, fibrinogen replacement, patient blood management, laboratory stewardship, viscoelastic testing and innovation in the clinical laboratories. She is an Associate Editor of Transfusion and serves on the editorial board of the British Journal of Anesthesiology.