Bloodworks Northwest is best known as the primary blood bank in the Pacific Northwest, supplying over 1,000 units of blood to hospitals every day. But beyond blood banking, Bloodworks is also dedicated to maximizing the amount of good each of those blood donations make possible. We accomplish this through our internationally acclaimed Research Institute, where scientists study ways to make blood safer, and how to unleash its power to advance human health.
Today, Bloodworks Research Institute is focused on growth –strategically recruiting new talent for the first time since 2016 – all to save more lives. In April, we introduced you to two new researchers who have joined Bloodworks Research Institute and are running their own research labs: Dr. Reheman (Raymond) Adili and Dr. Amily Guo. Today, we are excited to introduce you to our newest researcher, Dr. Pavel Davizon-Castillo, who brings new ideas, new approaches, and new energy to our world-class Institute.
At Bloodworks Research Institute, Dr. Davizon-Castillo’s overall goal is to identify new ways to treat and ultimately prevent abnormal blood clots. He will accomplish this by studying the normal and abnormal ways our body regulates blood clotting throughout our lifetimes, from childhood to old age.
Dr. Pavel Davizon-Castillo is a native of Mexico and obtained his medical degree in Monterrey, Mexico. He then moved to Seattle to train with our Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. José López, at Bloodworks Research Institute. This world-class training provided him with the analytical and technical skills to pursue a career at the interface of medicine and science.
In 2011, he went on to train as a pediatrician at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas, followed by a fellowship in hematology/oncology/bone marrow transplant at the University of Colorado.
Dr. Davizon-Castillo has a remarkable track record of obtaining research funding from prestigious organizations, including the Pediatric Scientist Development Program, the American Society of Hematology (ASH), and currently by the NIH and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/ASH.
In the laboratory that Dr. Davizon-Castillo is setting up at Bloodworks, he investigates why our blood clots more when our body is in a state of inflammation. His research focuses on the role of inflammatory molecules causing our bone marrow cells to switch the way platelets are made. Instead of operating as normal, these switched platelets promote blood clots unnecessarily, endangering the patient. This research includes studying the normal and abnormal changes of platelets during normal aging, as well as age-related hematological diseases like Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs).
As a practicing physician, Dr. Davizon-Castillo also cares for pediatric patients, specifically those with blood disorders, abnormal platelet numbers, and thrombosis.
Your support helps researchers like Dr. Davizon-Castillo answer the big questions in blood medicine.
Tell Us What You Think!