Massachusetts General Hospital

Biography

Robert Stephen Makar

Assistant in Pathology
Associate Director, Blood Transfusion Service
Massachusetts General Hospital

Assistant Professor
Harvard Medical School

Email: rmakar@partners.org

Dr. Makar is board-certified in transfusion medicine and serves as the Associate Medical Director of the Blood Transfusion Service (BTS).  He oversees outpatient and clinical apheresis services for the BTS, including the collection of peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cells from mobilized patients and donors, extracorporeal photopheresis to treat chronic graft-versus-host disease, and therapeutic plasma exchange to treat various autoimmune diseases.  His clinical interests include cellular therapies such as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, the diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune cytopenias, and transfusion complications related to HLA alloimmunization such as transfusion-related acute lung injury and refractoriness to platelet transfusion.  He is a respected teacher in clinical pathology, having twice received the Clinical Pathology Excellence in Teaching Award.

Updated 1/31/2012

Research

Research Interests include:

• Immune mechanisms underlying HLA and RBC alloimmunization in response to blood transfusion
• Screening strategies to reduce the risk of transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI)
• Application of cellular immunotherapies to treat autoimmune and malignant diseases

PublicationsBibliography of Dr. Robert S. Makar via PubMed