LAKE ZURICH, Ill., April 28, 2009 – M. Dean Elfath, M.D., vice president of Medical and Clinical Affairs and medical director for Fenwal Inc., passed away April 24, 2009, at his home in Cairo, Egypt after a lengthy illness. Dr. Elfath, who was 56, had been on medical leave from Fenwal since March 2008. Fenwal is a global leader in products and technologies that support and improve blood collection, processing and transfusion medicine.
“Dr. Elfath devoted his career to improving blood banking and transfusion medicine,” said Ron K. Labrum, Fenwal’s president and chief executive officer. “His insight, energy and commitment to excellence in patient care and research will be missed not only by Fenwal, but by our industry community as a whole. On behalf of the entire Fenwal organization, we offer our condolences to Dr. Elfath’s family and his many friends.”
Dr. Elfath joined Fenwal in February 2001 from the American Red Cross, where he was chief medical officer and head of research for the organization’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Blood Services group. At the same time, he taught as an associate professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Elfath was medical director of the American Red Cross National Marrow Donor Program, associate medical director of the Blood Bank and Hematology Laboratory at the University of Maryland Medical Center and assistant medical director of Blood Services at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.
Dr. Elfath was the principal investigator of many studies designed to improve blood technologies, resulting in more than 100 abstracts and publications. He was a member of AABB (formerly American Association of Blood Banks), the American Board of Pathology, International Transfusion Consultants, the American Society for Apheresis, American Society for Hematology, the International Society of Blood Transfusion and of the BEST Collaborative (Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusions). He was a fellow for the American Society of Clinical Pathologists and for the College of American Pathologists, and a frequent presenter at many national and international meetings.
Dr. Elfath earned his undergraduate and doctor of medicine degrees from Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, and his MBA from American Intercontinental University. He completed his residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, and his fellowship in Blood Banking and Transfusion Medicine, at the University of Massachusetts.
Fenwal, Inc. became an independent company in 2007, but its roots go back to 1949 with the founding of Fenwal Laboratories. Fenwal developed the first flexible, disposable container for blood collection, eliminating complications associated with glass containers and allowing blood to be separated into therapeutic components. Today, the company’s products and advanced collection and separation technologies are used throughout the world to help ensure a safe and available supply of lifesaving blood and blood products. Fenwal Inc. is based in Lake Zurich, Illinois. For more information, please visit www.fenwalinc.com.
Tanya Tyska: (847) 550-2732, tanya.tyska@fenwalinc.com