Every two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood. Whether it’s for surgery, trauma, illness, or chronic conditions, blood is a lifeline—and in military settings, its availability can be the difference between life and death.
Retired U.S. Navy Capt. (Dr.) Michael DeVan knows this better than most. As a transfusion medicine pathologist with decades of experience in military hospitals and national research institutions, he has spent his career navigating the complex challenges of blood banking and transfusion medicine.
“As a person who scrambles around the country trying to find blood units for people,” DeVan says, “I value trying to save a life. When I was at NIH, there were sick people with really rare diseases. Often, people came in who had developed an immune response to blood “off the shelf,” so we had to scour the entire country for compatible blood units.”
Now an assistant professor of pathology at the Uniformed Services University (USU) and co-director of the university’s pathology course, DeVan continues that mission—but with a wider lens. In addition to teaching, he’s helping shape future solutions to one of military medicine’s most pressing problems: how to supply safe, viable blood to patients in combat zones or austere environments.