Dr. Leonor Fernando graduated from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota, Colombia in 1966. She went on to complete her clinical hematology training at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, NY and then worked with Dr. Don Thomas at the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at the University of Washington for one year. After moving to California in 1975, she spent the next 28 years at the Sacramento Blood Center, now known as BloodSource. Prior to joining the Department of Medical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in 2007 as the Director of Apheresis, Dr. Fernando served as the Acting Medical Director of the Transfusion Medicine Division at UCLA for 2 years.
As Director of Apheresis, Dr. Fernando oversees all the Apheresis activities for the UC Davis Medical Center including stem cell collections in adult patients (both autologous and allergenic) and plasma and red cell exchanges, white cells and platelet reductions in both adult and pediatric patients. She was instrumental in developing and implementing the photopheresis program which is the only one in Northern California (inland).
Dr. Fernando is tne of three transfusion service attendings who consults on patients with difficult red cells or platelet transfusions and provides customized support to patients undergoing stem cell transplantations.
Dr. Fernando actively participates in several committees for the American Society for Apheresis and is on the Program Relations Committee for Foundation for the Accreditation for Cellular Therapies (FACT). She is also a FACT Inspector for both Apheresis and Cord Blood Collections. Dr. Fernando holds memberships with the American Association of Blood Banks, California Blood Bank Society, International Society of Blood Transfusion, and Sacramento Latino Medical Association.
