Be the Match

Transplant:in 1987, the founders of National Marrow Donor Program (nmdp) made a commitment to increase access to transplants and to find people willing to donate and support research to extend and improve lives. Nmdp's mission statement - "we save lives through cellular therapy" - captures and communicates the reason for nmdp's existence. Each year, nmdp incurs Program medical expenses related to matching unrelated donors with patients. In fy2022, more than 17,600 u.s. and international searches of the Be the Match registry were conducted on behalf of patients seeking a matching Donor or cord blood unit.6,714 patients went on to receive a transplant. Since beginning operations, nmdp has facilitated more than 118,308 Marrow and cord blood transplants for patients.

Research:research innovations are critical to expanding treatment to more patients and improving outcomes. Each year, nmdp is proud to invest in research through:the amy strelzer manasevit research Program (amy Program): our flagship research fellowship, the amy Program funds early career investigators focused on advances in the prevention and treatment of post-cell therapy complications (e.g., graft-versus-host-disease and infection). In 2022, we funded the work of 15 amy scholars. Amy scholars have gone on to become leaders in the field, pursuing scientific advances that help Be the Match patients live longer, healthier lives. Since 1998, btmf has invested nearly $12 million to help launch the careers of 47 young physician-scientists. After receiving their amy scholar awards, this group has gone on to win more than $110 million in subsequent funding to pursue the discoveries that will help patients live longer, healthier lives after cell therapy. Today, the amy strelzer manasevit research Program for the study of post-cell therapy complications is one of the largest and most coveted fellowships in the field of transplantation.access/donor for all: this transformational multi-center study is testing a new transplant protocol aimed at making mismatched Donor transplants safer and more effective, with the goal of expanding access to transplant to thousands of patients who lack a fully matched Donor. Covid-19 vaccination study: cibmtr launched a multi-center study in 2020 to track covid-19 vaccination response in patients who have received a transplant or car-t cell therapy, with the goal of understanding safety, efficacy, and durability of responses to vaccination. Anthony nolan trust: provide support to the anthony nolan research institute to continue development and maintenance of an hla class i and ii sequence database and provision of hla class i and ii sequence information. Be the Match's center for international blood and Marrow transplant research (cibmtr)- a partnership with the medical college of Wisconsin- is the leading hub for transplant and cell therapy research. Btmf helps to fund innovative research studies led and managed by the cibmtr.

Recruitment:the Be the Match registry provides the most diverse listing of potential donors and cord blood units in the world, with access to more than 41 million potential donors and 811,000 cord blood units worldwide. In fy2022, over 308,000 new potential donors were added to the Be the Match registry. Although there are millions on the registry, patients sometimes still cannot find a Match. This is due in part to the patient's ethnic background. On average, a patient's likelihood of finding a Match on the Be the Match registry ranges from 29% to 79% depending on the ethnic background. Some ethnic groups have more complex tissue types than others, so a person's best chance of finding a Donor is with someone of the same ethnic background. the importance of increasing diversity on the registry is an organization goal and priority at Be the Match.

Public awareness:nmdp partners with Be the Match foundation on various initiatives tied to the shared mission:these programs include: provides comprehensive education and support services to patients and their families through one-on-one navigation support, video, printed, and digital education resources, counseling, peer-to-peer connect Program, survivorship Program, and the jason carter clinical trials search and support Program, which helps patients with life-threatening blood disorders find clinical trials. Bmtf raises funds to support these critical services. A media campaign focused on awareness of our mission to new audiences was launched in fy22. This campaign features celtics player and defensive player of the year marcus smart, whose personal connection with blood disease inspired a social media drive to support a searching patient.