November 09 2022

Minneapolis, Minn.— (November 8, 2022)— Be The Match®, operated by the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), today announced the recipients of its annual NMDP/Be The Match Awards at The ONE Forum 2022. The awards honor individuals, groups, NMDP/Be The Match Network members or organizations working to increase awareness or access to potentially life-saving cellular therapy

The 2022 NMDP/Be The Match Award recipients are:

• Dennis Confer Innovate Award: Sherry Graves
  In 1979, Sherry’s daughter Laura received the first-ever bone marrow transplant for a leukemia patient from an unrelated donor. The success of this treatment inspired Sherry to establish the registry of national bone marrow donors, giving blood cancer and blood disease patients hope for a second chance at life.
  
  
• Simplify Award: Patient Services Patient Outreach Program
  The Patient Support Center designed an innovative Patient Outreach Program, enabling patients to more easily utilize Patient Support Center services and paving the way to transplant.
  
  
• Be There Award: DePaul University Master’s Entry to Nursing Practice (MENP) Program
  The students in DePaul’s MENP program are deeply passionate advocates for Be The Match and help the recruitment team run all Chicago-area events and drives.
  
  
• Grow Award: Lisa Joy
  Lisa created the #RoarForRay campaign to increase diversity on the registry and raise awareness of Be The Match among Asian American and international communities.
  
  
• Service Award: Lambda Phi Epsilon
  Lambda Phi Epsilon annually partners with the Be The Match Foundation to coordinate donor registration drives on local campuses and raise funds to support the mission of Be The Match.
  
  
• Thrive Award: Manasevit Family
  In 1998, the Manasevit family established the Amy Strelzer Manasevit Research program to fund early-career researchers who study post-transplant complications so more patients can thrive after transplant.
  
  
• Lives Award: Brigham Young University
  Dr. Julianne Grose launched the Be The Match On Campus Chapter at Brigham Young University. To date, they have registered 4,472 new members to the Be The Match Registry.
  
  
• Equality Award: Augusta University
  In 2018, Dr. Vamsi Kota created an outreach initiative to educate patients in community physicians’ offices in Columbus, SC and Athens, GA. This outreach increased the number of transplants performed among these patient populations, thereby increasing access to life-saving cellular therapies.

Award winners were selected for their innovative work in advocating for patients and donors, growing the presence of NMDP/Be The Match within their community, improving understanding around the transplant process and increasing awareness of cellular therapy programs.

“We are proud to recognize the important work of this year’s NMDP/Be The Match Award winners,” said Amy Ronneberg, Chief Executive Officer for Be The Match. “These inspiring people and organizations have gone above and beyond in supporting our mission to impact lives. Their work has helped pave the way for those battling a blood cancer or blood disease to have a second chance at life.

The awards were announced today at The ONE Forum 2022. You can learn more about each of the award winners here.

About Be The Match®

Be The Match® is a global leader working every day to save lives through cellular therapy. For people with life-threatening blood cancers—like leukemia and lymphoma—or other blood disorders like sickle cell, a cure exists. Be The Match connects patients with a matching donor for a life-saving blood stem cell transplant. The Be The Match Registry® is the most diverse registry in the world and includes both adult donors willing to donate to a stranger in need and stored cord blood units. In addition, Be The Match provides patients and their families one-on-one support, education, and guidance before, during and after transplant. Be The Match is also a global leader in research through the CIBMTR® (Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research®)—a collaboration with Medical College of Wisconsin, investing in and managing research studies that improve patient outcomes and advance the future of care.