About us

President & CEO

Dr. James AuBuchon has a distinguished career in transfusion medicine and blood research, having trained at the National Institutes of Health before serving in regional and national positions of the American Red Cross Blood Services, and 18 years at Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center as Medical Director of the Blood Bank and Transfusion Service, and later as Chair of Pathology and Professor of Medicine at Dartmouth College. He served as a member of the Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and has chaired the Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion Collaborative, an international research group dedicated to improving transfusion. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1999, and is a Past President of AABB.

Chief Operating Officer

Linda Barnes draws from more than 25 years of experience as a leader in international clinical research programs, biologics manufacturing, blood banking, and hospital and laboratory administration — with a special focus on strengthening healthcare systems in the U.S. and internationally.  She previously held senior roles at Dendron, where she scaled domestic and international expansion of apheresis capacity for a first-in-class immunotherapy treatment, and leading a team of Nurse Educators. She also served as a hospital and laboratory administrator at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and as program director for the International Clinical Research Center within the newly-formed Department of Global Health at the University of Washington. She continues her international engagements through consultations to improve transfusion access in the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uganda, and Turks and Caicos.

Chief Quality Officer/ Corporate Compliance Officer

Christie Donatelli came to Bloodworks in 2014. A highly skilled senior executive with 20 years of GXP experience in pharma, biotech and contract research, she previously served as Corporate Compliance Director at Dendron Corporation. Her expertise spans corporate-wide quality and compliance programs (domestic and international facilities) in alignment with FDA regulations, ICH guidelines, corporate SOPs and relevant regulatory standards. She has also held senior management roles in U.S./Global Regulatory Affairs and Quality oversight with PathoGenesis and Chiron Corporations.

Chief Financial Officer

Robert J. Gleason, CPA, has 35 years of experience in senior financial management positions. He has overall responsibility for finance, accounting, fiscal planning, materials management and facilities. Prior to joining Bloodworks, he served as Regional CFO at Omnicare in Ohio, along with roles at Voca Corp and Price Waterhouse. In 2016, Puget Sound Business Journal named Bob “CFO of the Year” for the non-profit sector. He has served as a board member of GSABC, the group purchasing organization servicing community blood centers, and is a member of the Healthcare Financial Managers Association.

Chief Marketing Officer

Sue Nixon joined Bloodworks in 2016 as chief marketing officer, backed by more than 25 years of leadership and consulting experience in marketing, branding and communications that spans the private, public and non-profit sectors. In 2007, Sue founded her own agency to guide clients in the use of customer insight to align brands, messaging and business strategies to build business and grow revenue. She has also served as chief executive officer of Fitch global design studio in Seattle – part of a worldwide network of retail and brand experts.

Chief Investment & Partnership Officer

Tresa Thomas Massiongale joined Bloodworks as chief investment and partnership officer in 2017: a position dedicated to fundraising and philanthropic investments that accelerate blood research and advance our mission. Prior to joining Bloodworks, Tresa served as chief development officer for Sound Mental Health, and in senior development roles for healthcare organizations in California and Arizona. She has a particular focus on philanthropic partnerships based on impact capital and social entrepreneurship. Tresa is a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (American College of Financial Services) and a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE International).

Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Yanyun Wu came to Bloodworks in 2013 from Yale University, where she was Associate Medical Director for Transfusion Service, Apheresis Service, and Cellular Therapy Laboratories at the Yale-New Haven Hospital, and Associate Professor in the School of Medicine. She is recognized globally for her knowledge of transfusion practices, apheresis therapies, physician collaboration and regulatory processes. As an adjunct faculty member of Yale University, she continues to participate in large NIH-sponsored research projects, and in particular promotes transfusion medicine education in China.  She holds multiple visiting faculty appointments in China, including chair professorship for Peking Union Medical College.

Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. James Zimring established his lab at the Bloodworks Research Institute in 2012 as a full member and Director of Transfusion Medicine Research. He is also a Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He undertook his academic training at Emory University, where he was awarded both a Ph.D. in immunology and a medical doctorate. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Pathology with certification in Clinical Pathology. He served as Director of Basic Research at the Center for Transfusion and Cellular Therapies at Emory University, and has been awarded a patent on a novel method of generating monoclonal antibodies. Dr. Zimring has published more than 100 articles in transfusion biology, authored numerous book chapters, and edited a textbook on transfusion medicine. He is recognized as an international expert in the field of transfusion biology, and is frequently invited to lecture at medical and scientific forums worldwide. He has also served on over 20 grant review panels at the National Institutes of Health, for the Department of Defense and with numerous international foundations.