Share the Science: Is Cord Blood Undervalued? Ask Dr. Colleen Delaney

Save the Cord Foundation and WellSky are proud to welcome Dr. Colleen Delaney as our featured speaker for the next edition of Share the Science on Wednesday, May 17th at 2pm US Eastern Time / 11am US Pacific Time. Join us to hear Dr. Colleen Delaney discuss why she is observing a decrease in the utilization of cord blood stem cells in hematopoietic stem cell transplants.

Register free here.

Share the Science is a free webinar series focused on the cord blood industry and the latest research in this field.  As always, we invite both health professionals and the general public to join us for this unique online educational series. Learn more about this exciting educational series here.

Identifying best practices to increase usage of cord blood stem cells 

If you are regular attendee of our Share the Science webinar series, then you already know that cord blood stem cells have numerous advantages over other stem cell sources. In particular, in comparison to bone marrow for example, cord blood is much easier to match to a patient in need of a stem cell transplant and cord blood units are available at a moment's notice given that the cord blood units only take a few days to ship once matched to a patient. Despite these advantages, Dr. Colleen Delaney and her team at Fred Hutch have observed a decline in the utilization of cord blood as a source of stem cells for allogeneic hematopoietic transplants. 

Where and why is this decline happening? There was an increase in the use of cord blood units in some regions of the world during COVID. Why has the trend reversed? How can we increase usage again? 

​Dr. Delaney will discuss her observations regarding this decline in the use of umbilical cord blood as a primary stem cell source for allogeneic hematopoietic transplants. She will discuss best practices for improving cord blood donor selection and increasing better quality and larger amounts of starting material products. This forward thinking session will address ways to potentially increase the use of cord blood units and highlight the pros/cons of its use. 

Key points of this webinar will include: 

• Reflecting on trends in cord blood usage
• Best practices in donor selection
• Increasing quality and quantities of collections
• Looking forward at ways to increase utilization

SHARE THE SCIENCE
with

​Dr. Colleen Delaney
Affiliate Investigator, Clinical Research Division
at Fred Hutch Cancer Center 
 
"Umbilical Cord Blood: An Undervalued and Underutilized Resource in Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant" 

Free webinar.  Open to the public.
​
Wednesday, May 17th 2pm US Eastern Time / 11am US Pacific Time

Register HERE: Dr. Colleen Delaney - Cord Blood Transplants

About the speaker

Colleen Delaney, M.D., M.Sc.

Affiliate Investigator, Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutch Cancer Center

​Dr. Colleen Delaney is pioneering methods to make umbilical cord blood transplants more available and successful worldwide. Because it does not need to be as closely matched to the patient as bone marrow, cord blood offers an option to those thousands of blood cancer patients every year who can’t find a matched adult donor. Dr. Delaney developed a breakthrough method for multiplying the small number of stem and progenitor cells in each cord blood unit hundreds of times over in the lab. Her primary research focus is on developing these multiplied cells for use in the clinic. Her goal is to develop therapies that protect patients from severe side effects after cord blood transplant or intensive chemotherapy. Dr. Delaney was the founding director of the Hutch’s Cord Blood Program.

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We wish to thank Dr. Colleen Delaney for volunteering her time to speak on
Share the Science and sharing her valuable insight
on the use of cord blood in hematopoietic stem cell transplants.
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We also wish to also thank our generous sponsor and partner for this event,
WellSky Health, who continue to support cord blood
education through our “Share the Science” series.