Potomac Doctor Brings Donor Safety Expertise

NMDP Names Susan Leitman, M.D., to Board of Directors

Susan F. Leitman, M.D., a resident of Potomac, Md., has joined the board of directors for the National Marrow Donor Program^® (NMDP). Leitman is one of four new members who will serve on the NMDP board. She has served in various roles for NMDP, including chair of the Donor and Patient Safety Monitoring Committee.

"As the NMDP further investigates peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) collections rather than marrow harvests, I am particularly interested in optimizing the manner in which large-volume apheresis is handled in the primary and secondary donation PBSC protocols," Leitman said. "I also think a critical issue facing the NMDP, as it ages, is the integrity of the donor file. What I mean by this is that we need a mechanism to prospectively purge the file of donors who are, in actuality, medically deferred from marrow or PBSC donation."

As chief of the Blood Services Section of the Department of Transfusion Medicine at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Leitman's area of expertise is in managing donor safety issues. She is trained in internal medicine, hematology, oncology and blood banking. She received her B.A. and M.D. at Brown University and completed her internal medicine and hematology/oncology training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Her blood banking fellowship was completed at NIH.

The National Marrow Donor Program is the international leader in the facilitation of unrelated marrow and blood stem cell transplantation. Based in Minneapolis, Minn., the non-profit organization facilitates unrelated marrow and blood stem cell transplants for patients with life-threatening diseases who do not have matching donors in their families. Since 1986, the NMDP has facilitated more than 13,000 unrelated stem cell transplants for patients with blood disorders, such as leukemia and aplastic anemia, as well as certain immune system and genetic disorders. For more information, call (800) MARROW-2.