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Online Notes
South Asian
Marrow
Association of
Recruiters
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The South Asian
Marrow
Association of
Recruiters
(SAMAR) is a
community based
non-profit
organization
dedicated to
finding bone
marrow/blood
stem cell donors
for patients who
are diagnosed
with leukemia
and other fatal
blood
disorders.
SAMAR is a
certified group
of the National
Marrow Donor
Program (NMDP),
which is a
congressionally
authorized
registry.
Presently, the
NMDP maintains a
database of over
6 million
volunteer marrow
donors, but only
34% of these are
minorities. Due
to the
polymorphism of
the genetic
system (HLA), a
patient / donor
match is
preferably found
from the same
racial group.
Therefore, all
effort is
concentrated on
registering
committed
minority donors.
-
Since 1992,
SAMAR has
been active
in community
projects and
national
conventions
reaching out
to a
majority of
the minority
population
with
awareness
and
educational
programs. In
due course,
the
organization
has had
1,000
registration
drives
adding
60,000
marrow
donors to
the national
registry.
-
SAMAR is
focused on
the ongoing
donor
recruitment
effort and
has worked
with
national and
international
patients,
facilitating
over 50
actual
marrow
transplants
from its
recruitment.
-
The “Spring
into Action,
Save a Life”
initiative
was
commenced in
2003 by
SAMAR, the
NMDP and the
American
Association
of
Physicians
of Indian
Origin (AAPI).
This joint
venture with
AAPI medical
students/residents
(MS/R) is
part of
SAMAR’s
enduring
dedication
to the
promotion of
fatal blood
disorder
awareness
and donor
recruitment
for the
national
registry.
AAPI MS/R
and SAMAR
are hard at
work to make
this
initiative a
long-term
success.
-
Our Student
Network
Committee
has
successfully
accessed
several
educational
institutions,
registering
a large
number of
students as
volunteer
blood stem
cell
donors.
-
Another
long-term
goal is to
establish a
viable
registry in
India. The
country has
a population
of one
billion
people with
a unique
genetic
diversity
that can be
a valuable
source of
potential
donors
worldwide.
Now initial
funding has
been
obtained in
Mumbai and
the Marrow
Donor
Registry
India (MDRI)
has come
into
fruition as
an
established
database.
This
registry
will be
linked to
the NMDP.
Since 1992, we
have served
patients of
South Asian,
Chinese, Korean,
Japanese,
Philippine
ethnicity as
well as patients
from other
ethnic
minorities.
With the support
of AAARI, we
hope to take our
message to an
even larger
Asian and
minority
community to
motivate them to
join this
humanitarian
cause.
Together we
can work to
bring smiles
back to life.
URL:
www.samarinfo.org
Contact Us
SAMAR
55-13 96th St.
Rego Park, NY
11368
samarinfo@aol.com
Tel: (718)
592-0821
Fax: (718)
592-5848
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