New Association Created for Cord Blood Banking; Members of Founding Board of Directors Named

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A new trade and professional association has been organized for cord blood banking, and members of its founding board of directors have been announced.

The Cord Blood Association will be an international nonprofit organization that promotes the banking and use of umbilical cord blood and related tissues for disease treatment and regenerative therapies. Cord blood is a rich source of stem cells that can be used for restoring health in a variety of chronic diseases. 

The association's members will be public and private banks and individuals within and served by the cord blood community.  Its 13-member board of directors has a "tripartite" membership, as required in the association's bylaws.  Four seats are for representatives of public banks, four for private or family banks, and five from the banking community at large.  The at-large directors may be research investigators, transplant clinicians, patients, parents, obstetricians, pediatricians, nurses, midwives, vendors, health policy experts or regulatory officials.

Members of the founding board are:

• Sue Armitage, BS, Assistant Director, MD Anderson Cord Blood Bank, Houston
• David Blackett, Vice President of Marketing and Strategy, PerkinElmer ViaCord, Waltham, Mass. 
• Haywood Brown, MD, Chair, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, N.C. 
• Geoffrey Crouse, MBA/MPH, Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Cord Blood Registry, San Francisco
• Colleen Delaney, MD, MSc, Director, Program in Cord Blood Research and Transplantation, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle
• Arthur Flatau, PhD, Patient Advocate, Bone Marrow Transplant Survivor, Austin, Texas
• Kenneth Giacin, MS, MBA, Vice Chairman and Director, StemCyte International, Covina, Calif.
• Prof. Gesine Koegler, PhD, Director, Jose Carreras Cord Blood Bank and GMP Facility, University of Duesseldorf Medical Center, Duesseldorf, Germany
• Joanne Kurtzberg, MD, Director, Carolinas Cord Blood Bank, Durham, N.C.
• Richard L. Lockie, MBA, President & CEO, Insception Biosciences Inc., Toronto
•  Aby J. Mathew, PhD, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, BioLife Solutions, Inc., Bothell, Wash.
• Beth H. Shaz, MD, Chief Medical Officer & Senior Vice President, New York Blood Center, New York
• Mahendra Rao, MBBS, PhD, Vice President for Regenerative Medicine, New York Stem Cell Foundation, New York

The tenure for the founding directors will be determined by lottery so that a rotation of board terms can begin.  Future directors will be elected to four-year terms. 

Officers for the new association will be chosen from among the board members and announced immediately after their election by the board.

The founding directors were nominated and invited to serve by an organizing committee that worked throughout the summer on a plan for the new association.  The committee based the plan on the consensus of attendees at an open hearing at the International Cord Blood Symposium last June in San Francisco.  Polling of the approximately 150 people at the hearing showed a substantial majority (78%) favored the creation of an industry-wide association.  The rest said that they were undecided (18%) or opposed (4%).

The plan for the association was published online in mid-August and extensively publicized, along with a request for comments and recommendations from those in and served by the cord blood community.

The plan identifies five initial priorities for the new association:

• Quality products and services – through promotion of standards and accreditation
• Advocacy – by representing the industry nationally and internationally in matters of health care policy, legislation, regulation and public and private healthcare programs
• Market expansion – with readily available consumer access to banking services and cellular therapies
• Research and development – through advancement and rapid adoption of novel technologies and therapies
• Education – with aware, informed and empowered parents, healthcare providers and general public

In their first meeting, at a date and location yet to be determined, the founding directors will elect officers, fix term lengths and begin work on the myriad decisions about the new association's function, programs and activities, including member benefits and recruitment.

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SOURCE Cord Blood Association