NMDP Announces New Board Members

Directors' Leadership, Expertise Guide Organization's Future

Minneapolis, Minn. -- March 5, 2004

The National Marrow Donor Program^® (NMDP) has announced its 2004 board of directors. Seven newly announced board members, along with the existing directors, create a diverse and prominent group of leaders.

"The National Marrow Donor Program is pleased to add such a varied and talented group of directors who are renowned leaders in their fields," said Dr. Jeffrey Chell, NMDP chief executive officer. "The new board members will join the existing directors to continue providing strong guidance and leadership in support of the mission of the NMDP."

The NMDP board is composed of patients and family members, donors, physicians, ethicists and business people from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds. Members of the NMDP board of directors are eligible to serve for three two-year terms. The term for this year's newly appointed members runs from Jan. 1, 2004, through Dec. 31, 2005.

The newly announced board members are:

• Dr. Arthur W. Bracey, associate pathology chief, Blood Bank and Transfusion Service, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, Houston, Texas.
• Andrea Feldmar, director, Patient Services, Leukemia Research Foundation, Evanston, Ill.; mother of transplant recipient.
• Jacquelyn Fredrick, president and chief executive officer, The Blood Center of Southeastern Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wis.
• Dr. Naynesh R. Kamani, chair, Stem Cell Transplantation and Immunology, Center of Cancer and Blood Disorders, Children's National Medical Center, Washington, D.C.; professor, Pediatrics and Immunology, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, D.C.
• Robert "Bobby" Rivera, deputy, San Diego County Sheriff's Department, Oceanside, Calif.
• Dr. Randal K. Wada, associate researcher, Molecular Carcinogenesis Section, Cancer Etiology Program, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, Honolulu; associate professor, Pediatrics and Cell/Molecular Biology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii; medical director, Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry/Hawaii Cord Blood Bank.
• John P. Whiteley, lieutenant, Orange Police Department, Orange, Calif.; leukemia patient, instructor, Golden West College Criminal Justice Training Center.

The continuing members of the board are:

• Laurence D. Atlas, esquire; chair, NMDP board of directors; vice president, government relations, Loral Space & Communications Ltd., Arlington, Va.
• John F. Barlow, financial advisor, Kansas City, Mo.
• Dr. Patrick G. Beatty, medical oncologist, Montana Cancer Specialists, Missoula, Mont.
• Dr. Stella M. Davies, director, Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.
• Christine K. Frisbee, mother of transplant recipient; chair, Richard D. Frisbee III Foundation, New York, N.Y.
• David Frohnmayer, esquire, board member emeritus; president, University of Oregon, Eugene, Ore.
• Melanie Goldish, mother of transplant survivor; founder and executive director, SuperSibs!; president, Leadership Legacy Group, Chicago, Ill.
• Dr. John A. Hansen, board member emeritus; transplant physician, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance; member, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; professor of medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash.
• Stephen S. Hata, transplant recipient; deputy director, Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches (A3M), Los Angeles, Calif.
• Mutsuko Holiman, sister of transplant recipient; NMDP volunteer recruiter, Plaistow, N.H.
• Robert Howard, father of leukemia patient; detective, Seattle Police Department, Seattle, Wash.
• Calvin D. Jackson Jr., donor; public affairs specialist, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.
• Dr. Nancy A. Kernan, past chair, NMDP board of directors; assistant chief, Bone Marrow Transplant Service, and director, unrelated donor program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, N.Y.
• Dr. Susan F. Leitman, vice chair, NMDP Board of Directors; chief, Blood Services Section, and deputy chief, Department of Transfusion Medicine; director, Marrow Donor Center and NMDP Apheresis Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.
• Rebecca A. Lewis, esquire, transplant recipient; chief bar counsel, Wyoming State Bar Association; adjunct professor of law, University of Wyoming College of Law, Laramie, Wyo.
• Robert D. Lorentz, Ph.D., secretary, NMDP board of directors; father of transplant recipient; technical manager, 3M, North Oaks, Minn.
• Mary Faith Marshall, Ph.D., professor of medicine and bioethics, School of Medicine, Kansas University Medical Center, Kansas City, Kan.
• Dr. Edgar Milford, chair elect, NMDP board of directors; director, Kidney Transplant Program and Tissue Typing Program Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass.
• Dr. Herbert A. Perkins, board member emeritus; senior medical scientist, Blood Centers of the Pacific; clinical professor of medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif.
• Dr. Thomas H. Price, executive vice president and medical director, Puget Sound Blood Center; professor of medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash.
• Dr. Edward L. Snyder, director, Blood Bank/Apheresis Service, Yale-New Haven Hospital; professor of laboratory medicine, Yale University Medical School, New Haven, Conn.
• Sharon Sugiyama, director, Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches (A3M), Los Angeles, Calif.
• Dr. John E. Wagner, scientific director of clinical research, Blood and Marrow Transplant Program and Stem Cell Institute; professor of pediatrics, University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Minneapolis, Minn.
• Dr. Raymond B. Wynn, cancer center director and director of radiation oncology, Regional Cancer Center, Singing River Hospital System, Pascagoula, Miss.

More information for journalists about the NMDP can be found in the NMDP's online media room or by calling (800) MARROW-2.