About SAMI 

What is the problem?

People with blood cancer and other blood diseases can be cured with a donation of healthy stem cells to replace their damaged cells. However, the donor and patient's tissue types must match closely, which makes it difficult for patients to find a suitable donor. Usually, a good match is found within the same ethnic community, so a South Asian patient with leukemia will need a stem cell transplant from a South Asian donor. Donors are found for patients in the National Bone Marrow Registry, which holds nearly 12.5 million potential stem cell or bone marrow donors. Unfortunately, South Asians only account for 3% of the entire registry, making it difficult for South Asian patients to find a donor, and causing hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths. 

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We started SAMI with a focus on South Asians, but other ethnic groups are under-represented as well. It's just as difficult for the African American, East Asian, Native American, and Hispanic Populations.  We hope to touch these groups as well.