INSPIRING PARTNERS

The Cord Blood Association is an international, non-profit organization that promotes both public and family cord blood banking, with the objectives of saving lives, improving health and changing medicine. The association’s priorities are advocacy, quality products and services, market expansion, research and development, and public and professional education. Members of CBA include both public and family banks and individuals in and served by the cord blood community including cord blood bank personnel, research investigators, laboratory technicians, patients, donors, regulatory officials, vendors and health care providers such as transplant physicians, obstetricians, pediatricians, nurses and midwives. STEM CELLS Translational Medicine is the association’s official scientific journal.  Visit the Cord Blood Association website.
WMDA is an association of members who share a passion for donor care and strive to find the best possible matches for blood cancer patients. Our vision is to work towards a world where high-quality, safe hematopoietic stem cell products are available for all patients in need, and to protect the rights and welfare of mothers donating their cord blood. The goals of the WMDA are:
  • Contribute to the availability, quality, safety and cost-effectiveness of hematopoietic blood stem cells globally by developing and maintaining efficient, strong collaboration between organisations that list and search for volunteer donors and umbilical cord blood units.
  • Increase awareness of voluntary and non-remunerated donation of hematopoietic stem cells among the public and professionals, and issue guidelines to protect the rights and welfare of volunteer donors.
  • Create a comprehensive, fair and equitable global list of volunteer stem cell donors and cord blood products; provide search tools that allow fast determination of whether a match is available for a patient; and make this data accessible to physicians, search coordinators and other parties worldwide who search for potential match donors.
  • Support organisations providing hematopoietic stem cells to continuously improve their performance through monitoring of adverse events, exchange of information and establishing standards.
Visit www.wmda.info and join us in the celebration of World Cord Blood Day. Also, join us on for World Marrow Donor Day to express gratitude to bone marrow donors worldwide. 
The National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP)/Be The Match® is a global leader in providing a cure to patients with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, as well as other diseases. NMDP/Be The Match manages the world’s largest registry of potential marrow donors and cord blood units, connects patients to their donor match, delivers education and conducts research. NMDP/Be The Match operates the U.S. Cord Blood Coordinating Center as mandated by the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005 (Stem Cell Act 2005) and amended by the Stem Cell Therapeutic Re-authorization Act of 2010 and 2015. This organization works with public cord blood banks, doctors and researchers to continually improve cord blood transplantation and to educate medical professionals and the public. View a list of U.S. hospitals participating with cord blood banks that list their units in the Be The Match registry. Learn more at BeTheMatch.org/cord.
Founded in 1996, FACT is a non-profit corporation co-founded by the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) and the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT) for the purposes of voluntary inspection and accreditation in the field of cellular therapy. FACT Standards are evidence-based requirements set by world-renowned experts vested in the improvement and progress of cellular therapy. Standards for Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells (HPC) and other nucleated cells obtained from bone marrow, peripheral blood, and umbilical and placental cord blood are developed by consensus within committees consisting of knowledgeable clinicians, scientists, technologists, and quality experts who represent the entire continuum of cell manufacturing and administration. With unparalleled depth and breadth, the Standards trace the entire life of a cell product from donor selection to collection, processing, storage, release, and ultimately administration to a patient.  FACT places immense importance on continuing education for its members via the FACT Allied Learning Center and numerous live workshops. (Visit the site.)
​AABB, the premier member organization in standards-setting, accreditation, and education, is now Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies (formerly AABB Center for Cellular Therapies). Our work, geared to both professionals and institutions, fosters patient safety, innovation and professional development, and is designed to help our members and partners achieve their goals faster. The new name reflects where we have been and where we are going!

To celebrate the potential of cord blood all year round, professionals in the cord blood (CB) industry can benefit from membership in AABB’s subsections ─ groups aligned with specific topic areas. Members meet monthly online to network, discuss challenges, develop resources and be in the know on recent practices and innovations.

Cord blood-focused subsections include:
  • CB subsection- addresses donor issues for public banking (recruitment, consent, screening/testing), manufacturing, storage and transport challenges, licensure, international issues, private and family banking issues
  • Asia Pacific Group (APG)- addresses a variety of topics including CB. This group was established to accommodate our members located in the Asia Pacific Region.
AABB produces a quarterly newsletter, CELLSOURCE, with updates on biotherapy/cellular therapy news (subscribe free).

Visit the AABB website to learn more.