Individuals and organizations from across the United States received awards from the National Marrow Donor Program^® (NMDP) for their critical efforts to help more patients receive life-saving bone marrow and umbilical cord blood transplants.

The NMDP’s 2009 Awards – which recognize a range of outstanding contributions, from recruiting potential bone marrow donors to raising public awareness – were presented at the organization’s 22nd Annual Council Meeting in Minneapolis. This year’s winners include:

• Public Service Award – Texas Department of Criminal Justice, for including informational sessions about bone marrow donation as part of its regular training classes for prison guards and cadets, resulting in an average of 200 new potential donors joining the Be The Match Registry^SM each month.
• Health Care Partner Award – Otsuka Americas Pharmaceutical, Inc., for a range of contributions, including an unrestricted educational grant to support the NMDP’s key clinical resource – the Quick Reference Toolkit for referral timing and post-transplant care.
• Allison Atlas Award – Angela and Bob Kott, whose efforts to raise awareness about the need for more bone marrow donors sparked a significant increase in awareness and recruitment in Central and Northern California. 
• Volunteer Innovation Award – Rusty Bishop, a bone marrow donor and volunteer who won $30,000 in a national charity contest and donated it to help add more members to the Be The Match Registry. 
• Patient Support Award – Michael Edwards, a bone marrow transplant recipient from Indiana, for sharing his story of hope with thousands of other patients – young and old – considering a bone marrow or cord blood transplant. 
• Collegiate Award – Texas State University, for rallying students, faculty, staff and the surrounding community in an intense two-year campaign against cancer that resulted in more than 3,300 people volunteering as potential bone marrow donors.
• Lifeline Award – In honor of her husband Dan Berger, Carol Berger of Pennsylvania founded a cord blood program and has dedicated her life to increasing the number of parents who donate their babies’ cord blood. Since the program’s origin, cord blood collections have more than quadrupled, totaling more than 100 collections per month.
• Excellence in Local Media Award – Patrick Noland, a reporter for KDNU-TV in Washington, knows only too well how important marrow donation is: his father is a 10-year survivor of a bone marrow transplant. Noland won the award for filming his personal donation experience to educate and bring awareness of the need for bone marrow donors in his local community, and for speaking before members of Congress on behalf of unrelated marrow donors and recipients everywhere. 
• Excellence in Local Media Award – WBTV 3 News in Charlotte, N.C., for its comprehensive coverage of the critical need for more people to join the Be The Match Registry, including more than 25 stories that aired over two weeks.
• Donor Management Innovation – South Texas Blood & Tissue Center, for expanding its donation services by establishing a peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) collection center to help meet increased demand.
• Admiral Zumwalt Corporate Award – Aflac, for registering thousands of people nationwide as potential bone marrow donors and for garnering extensive regional and national media coverage to raise awareness about bone marrow donation.
• Excellence in National Media Award – CNN, for two feature stories sharing the inspirational journeys of a searching patient and a young recipient. The two stories combined reached more than 5.1 million viewers and encouraged hundreds to join the Be The Match Registry.

“Thousands of patients with life-threatening diseases like leukemia and lymphoma depend on the NMDP, and our Be The Match Registry, to save their life. It is an enormous responsibility, and one we could not meet without the dedication and commitment of individuals and organizations we have recognized this year in our award program,” said Dr. Jeffrey W. Chell, chief executive officer of the NMDP. “Through their continued support, we will be able to achieve our mission to help all patients in need of transplants.”

About the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)

The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) is a not-for-profit organization entrusted to operate the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program created by Congress in 2005. As a leader in the field of marrow and cord blood transplantation, the NMDP manages the Be The Match Registry, facilitates transplants worldwide, conducts research to help transplant recipients live longer, healthier lives, and provides education to patients and health care professionals. The NMDP is dedicated to creating an opportunity for all patients to receive the transplant therapy they need. Since operations began in 1987, the NMDP has provided more than 35,000 transplants to help give patients a second chance at life. For more information, visit www.BeTheMatch.org or call 1 (800) MARROW-2.