Wyoming Attorney Hopes to Tackle Insurance Issues

NMDP Names Rebecca A. Lewis to Board of Directors

Attorney Rebecca A. Lewis, a resident of Laramie, Wyo., has joined the board of directors for the National Marrow Donor Program^® (NMDP). Lewis is one of four new members who will serve on the NMDP board of directors.

"As an NMDP board member, I hope to help the NMDP work with the insurance industry to get more and better insurance coverage for transplants. It does not help to find a match if the patient doesn't have the resources to pay for the transplant. I believe the insurance companies need to be better educated about stem cell transplants so that they can understand the need for coverage of them," said Lewis, chief bar counsel for the Wyoming State Bar Association and adjunct professor of law at the University of Wyoming College of Law.

Lewis received a marrow transplant through the NMDP in 1997 and is the current chair of the NMDP Patient Services Committee. Recently, Lewis was named one of three individuals nominated by the Judicial Nominating Committee for the State of Wyoming to the Wyoming Supreme Court. During her career Lewis has served on a number of boards, such as the Ivinson Memorial Hospital Foundation Board and the Wyoming State Bar Foundation Board.

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.