Our Mission

Bone Marrow Registration

The goal of APAMSA’s National Bone Marrow Registration Initiative is to increase the representation of minority groups, especially AANHPI, in the national registry in the effort to offer a cure to thousands suffering from diseases treatable with stem cell transplant.

Questions? Contact the Bone Marrow Director, Maya (“Asami”) Takagi, at marrow@apamsa.org.

Be The Match is the world’s largest and most diverse blood stem cell donor registry. We connect patients with blood cancers and diseases with genetically matched donors who are willing to give life-saving blood stem cells. But not all patients have an equal chance of finding a match. Students have the power to disrupt this disparity and literally save lives. Donation is safe, free, and confidential.

Date: October 1st, 2023 to September 1st, 2024*

Winning Prizes and Inclusion Requirements: Up to 14 individual chapter prizes! See flyer below for more information.

How to join: Contact your APAMSA Chapter’s respective Be The Match contact person listed (https://tinyurl.com/2p9ctd87)

See flyer for inclusion requirements.

Feel free to contact APAMSA Bone Marrow Director (marrow@apamsa.org) with any questions!

*Bone marrow drives that occur between September 2023 will count towards the 2023-2024 competition. You may request funding for drives during this time frame, but it is first come first serve.

2023 - 2024 Interchapter Competition

Last updated: Feb 2024

Forms Completed

University of California - San Diego (98)
University of Arizona (87)
Quinnipiac University (72)
Saint Louis University (67)
Yale University (59)

Samples Stored

University of California - San Diego (93)
University of Arizona (80)
Quinnipiac University (71)
Saint Louis University (65)
Yale University (57)

Total Registered: 558      |     Total Stored Samples: 326


2022 - 2023 Interchapter Competition

Top 3 Chapters

University of Pennsylvania
University of Arizona
New York University

Runner Ups

Stanford University, University of California, Davis, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Harvard Medical School, Columbia University, The Warren Alpert Medical School, SUNY Downstate, Stony Brook University, USC KECK School of Medicine, John’s Hopkins, Ohio State University.

60+ drives across all APAMSA chapters and 2,400+ samples stored.

We are excited to continue providing APAMSA members the opportunity to apply for the Marrow Grant through our partnership with Be the Match. The purpose of this grant is to provide financial assistance (up to $150) to chapters interested in hosting their own recruitment events via Be The Match. Grants will be awarded on a first come first serve basis until September 30, 2024. All applicants must be in communication with their Be The Match representative prior to applying. Examples of fundable expenses include food/beverages to promote your drive or any supplies, posters, etc needed for your drive!

You can find further information and the application here.

How long does it take to get registered?

It takes less than 3 minutes to get swabbed and registered

What does it mean to be on the registry?

By being on the registry, you have the chance to save a life by providing a hematopoietic stem cell transplant to a patient in need. 85% of matched donors will undergo peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation and 15% will undergo bone marrow donation. PBSC donation is a nonsurgical, outpatient procedure similar to platelet donation. Bone marrow donation is typically a same day surgical procedure performed under general anesthesia.

What happens if I get called to donate but don’t have the resources to
cover medical expenses or travel?

As a donor, you do not have any monetary costs. Either the patient’s insurance or Be the Match will cover the cost of the medical procedure. Be the Match will also cover any travel expenses.

I already am planning an event with another club at my school or already have a campaign code, do I still need to contact my Be The Match representative?

Yes, you will still need to contact the Be The Match representative for your APAMSA chapter. This is to create a unique registration code for your APAMSA chapter so your registrants can be counted for the Interchapter Competition.

What happens if I contact my local Be The Match Representative and change my mind about hosting a bone marrow drive?

Reaching out to your local Be The Match representative is not binding. You are not required to host an event once you start communication. The meeting is simply an opportunity to discuss how your Be The Match representative can help you reach your recruitment goals.

Am I allowed to team up with another APAMSA chapter? 
You are permitted to work with your local premed APAMSA chapter if your school has one. If there is a barrier to your chapter working independently in the Interchapter Competition, please reach out to the Bone Marrow Director at marrow@apamsa.org. Partnership requests will be reviewed on a case by case basis.

According to Be The Match, every three minutes, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with a blood cancer like leukemia. Over the course of each year, more than 30,000 children and adults will be diagnosed and need to find a transplant match. Yet only 30% of patients will find a matching donor within their families. The remaining 70% depend on the Be The Match Registry (also called the National Marrow Donor Program [NMDP] Registry) to search for an unrelated donor or umbilical cord blood unit. These numbers become frighteningly lower for patients of minority descent. For example, the likelihood of finding a match for those of API descent is 41%, compared to 77% for those of Caucasian descent.

Race and ethnicity matter when it comes to finding a matching donor. Patient and donor must have the same human leukocyte antigen (HLA) type in order for a successive transplant. HLA is a type of protein, or marker, found on most cells of your body. It helps the immune system identify which cells belong to the body and which do not. Because HLA is inherited, patients are most likely to match someone of their same race and ethnicity. Despite the millions of already registered donors, the need is never-ending. Some ethnic groups may have more complex tissue types than others and thus, are unable to find a match in the current registry because of the rarity of their tissue types.

Dr. Wendy Chen, a plastic surgeon, shares with us her family’s struggles in finding a bone marrow transplant match. She encourages those who can to become a bone marrow donor to help other families like hers. Click HERE for her interview

The large disparity for minorities to find a matched donor can be explained by a number of obstacles, including but not limited to:

    • Lack of awareness of marrow donation among minorities

    • Mistrust of marrow donation among minority groups

    • Language and/or cultural barriers

As a group, we can make a difference through

    • Hosting bone marrow registration drives each chapter’s school. If your chapter is interested in hosting, please contact the Bone Marrow Director at marrow@apamsa.org.

      • As of July 1, 2018, Be The Match has moved their registration completely digital. With this new process, chapter drive events will proceed a little bit differently. A local representative from the school’s area will lead engagement activities, including presenting overview information and answering any questions.

      • The potential registry member will either follow a personalized link by a text to join code, scan a QR code, or enter in the link and complete the registration form online.

      • A swab kit will be sent out to them directly from the lab.

    • Educating members about the cause and need for minority representation in the national bone marrow registry

    • Encouraging members to registry themselves

    • Dispelling common misconceptions about bone marrow donation

Registering

To be eligible to donate, potential donors must be between the ages of 18 and 60 years old and meet the required health guidelines. Potential donors need to collect samples for tissue typing by swabbing the inside of their buccal (cheeks) and mailing back the prepaid envelope. They will also complete a brief health questionnaire and sign a consent form to have their tissue type listed on the Registry.

Donating

If chosen to donate, the donor will most likely undergo what is called a peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) collection. Here’s how it works:

  • 5 days before the actual donation, the donor will get a daily 5-minute injection of a white blood cell growth hormone known as granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF).

  • On day 5, blood will be collected from the donor and filtered through a circulating machine. The machine will collect the stem cells and return the blood to the donor.

On certain occasions, donors may be asked to undergo a bone marrow harvest. This is what most people think when they think about bone marrow transplant. The physician will take bone marrow from the back of the donor’s hip bone during surgery. Usually, donors can return home the same day of the surgery and resume normal activity within 1 week.

The final result? The patient gets a chance of a cure.

Our vision for the future is to close the bone marrow donation gap. By increasing the diversity of the Be The Match registry, we can have a positive impact on the lives of so many individuals affected by bone marrow disease.

Please consider hosting a drive at your school and register today!

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