April 10, 2009

Med students organize bone marrow donor drive

Med students organize bone marrow donor drive

Three first-year School of Medicine students are challenging their classmates and members of the Vanderbilt medical community to “open up” and get listed as a bone marrow donor.

Getting on the donor list is as simple as opening your mouth and swabbing the inside of your cheek. That's what they'll be doing at a VUSM bone marrow drive from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday, April 20, in the north lobby of Light Hall.

Carol Duh, Carrie Buchanan, and Jacqueline Clauss arranged the upcoming drive, along with a panel luncheon on March 26 to educate students and others.

“Jennifer Domm, M.D., assistant professor of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, has talked with us about the process of bone marrow donation. In one talk, out of a room full of medical students who would have been so willing to be listed and take part in a life-saving registry, I was the only person who had been typed,” Duh said.

“It would be a shame for us to enter the medical profession and not be listed.”