Friday, September 25 is Sport Purple for Platelets Day. This national holiday, created by the Platelet Disorder Support Association, is designed to raise awareness for those living with platelet disorders. Platelets are a type of blood cell created in bone marrow that support blood clotting. For this reason, platelet transfusions are commonly required when patients...

September is National Sickle Cell Awareness Month, a time to recognize those living with the disease and better understand the inherited blood disorder that affects hemoglobin. In people with sickle cell disease, red blood cells can become rigid and sickle-shaped, restricting blood flow and causing anemia, severe pain, and other serious complications. Blood transfusions are…

September is Blood Cancer Awareness Month, a time to recognize those affected by leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, and other cancers of the blood, bone marrow, and lymphatic system. It is also an opportunity to honor patients, survivors, families, caregivers, clinicians, and researchers. This observance has a close connection to SBC’s mission. Blood cancers and treatments such…

If you’ve ever considered becoming a blood donor, there is no better time than now. September is a month dedicated to bringing awareness to blood and childhood cancer causes that affect thousands of children every year – many who benefit from, or survive because of, blood transfusions. Here are a couple of causes we hope...

  In 1983, the federal government designated September as National Sickle Cell Awareness Month in an effort to bring awareness to the disease and focus on the need for research and treatment (American Society of Hematology). What is Sickle Cell Disease? Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a life-long illness that affects between 90,000 and 100,000…

For the De La Torre family, donating blood is more than just giving back. It’s a way to honor the memory of a beloved father, grandfather, and man who always put others first. Described by his family as hardworking, faithful, patient, and deeply devoted to those he loved, Jesus De La Torre was the heart…

Stanford Blood Center volunteers come from all walks of life, bringing unique experiences, perspectives, and motivations to the donor centers and blood drives each day. Some are longtime healthcare professionals, some are just beginning their careers, and others are inspired by family traditions of giving back. Together, they help create a welcoming experience and warm…

I’m afraid of needles. I was the kid who had to be pinned down any time my pediatrician gave me a shot. I never considered donating blood and now I can’t imagine ever not doing it. I’ve been both a recipient and a donor. In 2011 and 2012, I had two periacetabular osteotomies at Stanford…

Donating blood has become part of the rhythm of Eileen and Michael Consiglio’s lives, and something they share together. The couple, who regularly donate at our South Bay center, recently reached their 100th whole blood donation, an incredible milestone reflecting years of dedication and generosity.  Both Eileen and Michael have been longtime donors. Eileen recalls…

For nearly five decades, Tom Scoles has been part of the community of donors at Stanford Blood Center. What started as a simple act during high school has grown into a lifelong commitment to helping patients in need. Recently, that commitment led to an unforgettable reward: a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the biggest game in football…

For 22 years, I’ve worked for Stanford Blood Center (SBC), but my personal connection to blood banking goes far beyond that and crosses generations. I was born in 1980 with Diamond Blackfan Anemia (DBA), a rare inherited bone marrow failure syndrome characterized by a lack of production of red blood cells, which can require chronic…

On Saturday, October 18 from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., Stanford Blood Center presented our 2025 Precious Mettle event to celebrate our milestone donors who have contributed 100 or more lifetime donations. This year’s event marked the 29th anniversary of Precious Mettle. THE PROGRAM The 2025 Precious Mettle theme was From Donation to Discovery. The...

At Stanford Blood Center, we often hear from patients whose lives have been touched by the generosity of blood donors. We recently heard from Chana Sandberg, who, after experiencing a sudden health crisis while on blood thinners, found herself in urgent need of a transfusion. Her journey from patient to hopeful donor is a powerful…

Dr. Tamara Dunn is a Clinical Associate Professor of Hematology at the Stanford School of Medicine, Associate Chair of Diversity and Inclusion for the Department of Medicine, and a practicing hematologist at the Palo Alto VA. In this conversation, she shares insights into her clinical work, her passion for mentoring the next generation of medical...

Growing up in a small rural town in Texas, blood drives at Bláz Bush’s high school were a community event. Students were eager to participate, perhaps because it meant skipping class and enjoying free cookies. But for Bláz, these events were filled with a sense of unease. Students often made jokes and disparaging remarks about…

Stanford Blood Center’s own Melissa Lichauco has been given an extraordinary opportunity to continue her late husband Anthony’s legacy by participating in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Visionaries of the Year campaign. This campaign is not only about fundraising; it’s about bringing hope to families fighting blood cancers and fueling the research necessary to…

At Stanford Blood Center (SBC), we’re proud to celebrate the compassion and community spirit of our youngest donors through the launch of our brand-new Red Cord Program. Introduced this year, the program was created to re-engage high school students in blood donation efforts following the challenges of the pandemic—and to recognize their lifesaving contributions in a…

Since 2007, Jaime Eredia has been the driving force behind the Stanford School of Engineering’s blood drives by organizing and promoting them, and often rolling up his own sleeve to donate. But as Jaime prepares to retire from his role as the blood drive coordinator, he leaves a lasting impact on the lives of countless patients in…

Some people donate blood once or twice in their lives. Others make it a regular habit. And then there’s Eric Steger. His passion for giving has led him to explore a variety of opportunities to help patients in need. From stem cells to solid organ donations, plus an incredible 200 blood donations (and counting), Eric’s…

Black History Month is a time to reflect on the extraordinary contributions of Black scientists and medical professionals whose innovations have shaped modern medicine. From groundbreaking discoveries in transfusion medicine to pioneering research in immunology and pathology, these individuals represent a small fraction of the contributions of Black scientists and innovators who have left an...

Henrietta Lacks was born on August 1, 1920, in Roanoke, Virginia. After her mother’s death in 1924, she was sent to live with her grandfather in Clover, Virginia, where she shared a home with her cousin, David “Day” Lacks. The two later married in 1941 and had five children. Seeking better opportunities, they moved to...

My journey as a blood donor began with a personal family emergency. Years ago, my uncle in India needed blood for his heart surgery. I remember feeling apprehensive at first, unsure if I would even be eligible to donate due to my weight. But I decided to try, and it was a transformative experience. Donating…

Amy Malvase hadn’t given much thought to the idea of blood donation until spending time at her dad’s side during his treatment for a gastrointestinal bleed. He struggled with low hemoglobin, requiring several blood transfusions. “There was one time when he needed a more urgent transfusion,” she recalls. “We were so fortunate that the blood…

Annie Shiau’s journey as a blood donor began when she was just 16 as an American living overseas in Taipei. Back then, she would often pass by the bloodmobiles and feel a pull to help, but because she wasn’t a resident, she wasn’t eligible to donate. “As a teenager, I wanted to help, so it…

Many of our donors have a personal motivation behind donating blood. Julie Fogarty, from a closely connected family with a unique medical history, exemplifies this. Here, she recounts her family’s enduring struggle with leukemia, spanning three generations, and her deep gratitude for blood donors whose generosity helped extend her relatives’ lives. My family has a…

We first introduced you to young Hadley in January 2021 when she was just six years old and a year into her treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Hadley had started kindergarten in the fall of 2019 when she began experiencing pain in her legs, causing her to limp and avoid the playground at school. After…

As of Thursday, October 19, Stanford Blood Center (SBC) has implemented the updated FDA blood donation guidelines, which eliminate questions based on sexual orientation. We look forward to welcoming those who may be newly eligible to support local patients through blood donation. Stanford Blood Center is committed to achieving an inclusive blood donation process that...

Blood donations are subject to a battery of tests that play a crucial role in ensuring the safety of the blood supply. These tests are designed to identify diseases that can potentially be transmitted through blood transfusions. Among the well-known pathogens that are screened for are hepatitis and HIV. However, there are lesser-known threats like…

Blood donation is a lifeline for our community, with more than 15 million blood products used annually in the United States. Every two seconds, someone in the country requires blood, meaning blood donation directly impacts our community, saving lives and providing crucial support to those in need. Blood donation helps our community in many ways,…

Throughout her remarkable 50-year journey with Stanford, Wendy Leong has exemplified unwavering dedication as an integral part of the Histocompatibility Laboratory. During her tenure, she has been a firsthand witness (and integral part of) to the laboratory’s evolution, from its early days as the Tissue Typing Laboratory to its current form. Her extensive and diverse…

Bay Area local Tabitha Jackson knows firsthand the vital importance of a stable and readily available blood supply for those in need. Her son, who had five congenital heart defects resulting in three open heart surgeries before the age of 5, became the driving force behind her decision to donate blood regularly five years ago….

Donating blood is a simple, selfless act that can profoundly impact someone's life who needs blood. However, for Katie Dean, blood donation impacted her life unexpectedly on the day she decided to donate. In 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Katie, the Administrative Director of Business Operations & Transformation at Stanford Health Care,...

Written by Krista Thomas, Communications Strategist, with medical direction and expertise from Dr. Tho D. Pham, Chief Medical Officer With the rise of several artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) applications and uses such as ChatGPT, “deep fake” AI-generated images, and even AI song contests, we are constantly encountering new areas wherein AI has the potential…

Written by Krista Thomas, Communications Strategist, with medical direction and expertise from Dr. Suchi Pandey, Chief Medical Officer   One of the most common concerns folks have around giving blood—even those who do so regularly—is how their body reacts and responds to the blood they’ve lost. While you are certainly losing something temporarily in giving…

Here at SBC, we love celebrating our incredible milestone donors and their impact on helping support patients in our community. One of those heroes is Valerie McGuire, who recently made her 400th milestone donation. Public Relations Officer Ross Coyle interviewed the Menlo Park resident about what inspires her to donate and what keeps her coming back…

By Krista Thomas, Communications Strategist, with medical support and expertise from Dr. Tho Pham, Chief Medical Officer While all blood donors are united by the same general donation experience and, typically, the same passion for supporting others in the community, we naturally tend to distinguish ourselves by our blood types. And doing so is only…

One early morning in 1997, 35-year-old Monterey Peninsula resident Michael V. had difficulty sleeping due to an unusual feeling. “My heart was pounding away as if it was going to come out of my chest,” he said. He called for his wife, who rushed over to him. Michael looked at her, knowing something wasn’t right,…

When most people give blood, they do so without even a hint as to who or what type of patient could be on the receiving end, and they rarely have the opportunity to give to the same patient twice. Many of our blood donors have embraced this extreme anonymity, and find it enhances their connectedness…

While most folks associate Stanford with Palo Alto, at SBC, the nature of blood collection means we need to be tapped into communities throughout the Bay Area. One of the most significant ways we’re able to connect with individuals and ultimately make donating possible for many people is via our community blood drives (i.e., those…

The below article was originally published in September 2020, when Phillip Martin, SBC Account Manager, was an active volunteer firefighter. We are republishing this article in early 2023 to celebrate Phillip’s retirement from the force last year after 15 years of service to the Suisun City Fire Department, where he was a proud engineer and…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today, January 27, 2023, that it is proposing a change from time-based deferrals to assessing blood donor eligibility using gender-inclusive, individual risk-based questions to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted HIV. This proposal is in line with policies in place in countries like the United Kingdom and Canada. Stanford...

What does your 200th blood donation mean to you? Two hundred donations represent 25 Gallons! I’ve contributed a valued, tangible resource that can perhaps further research, education or life-saving medical treatment, and that feels great! What led you to donate blood the first time? I first donated blood upon accepting an acquaintance’s invitation to participate…

If you’re a donor, you probably know that platelets help to induce clotting and control bleeding and are needed for local patients. Unfortunately, most cancer treatments cause low blood counts, so patients often require life-saving blood products during treatment. Donating platelets is a great way to support cancer patients in our community, especially those treated for leukemia…

Here at SBC, we love to celebrate our incredible milestone donors and the impact they’ve had on helping support patients in our community. Bob Berends recently made his 400th milestone donation at the Mountain View center. Public Relations Officer Ross Coyle interviewed the San Jose resident about what inspires him to donate and what keeps him…

While plasma had been transfused as part of whole blood for hundreds of years, the specific value of plasma became acutely clear as a result of the devastating violence of WWII. Though plasma could not replace lost red cells and platelets, plasma and its related products were far easier to transport than whole blood (which…

Our milestone donors are the heartbeat of SBC. From time-to-time, we like to give a special shout-out to those who have gone above and beyond to help support patients in need. Gary Cooper recently made his 400th milestone donation at our South Bay center. Our Public Relations Officer, Ross Coyle, interviewed the San Jose resident about…

Here at SBC, we love to celebrate our incredible milestone donors and the impact they’ve had on helping support patients in our community. Gail Brian recently made her 400th milestone donation. Ross Coyle, Public Relations Officer, interviewed the Menlo Park resident about what inspires her to donate and what keeps her coming back all these years….

Did you know that patients across the U.S. require nearly 10,000 units of plasma every day? Plasma is the yellow liquid portion of the blood in which the red cells, white cells and platelets are suspended. It contains numerous proteins and enzymes that play many different roles in your body. One of the roles is to help induce clotting…

We hope everyone had a very happy Father’s Day! It’s one of life’s joys to be able to spend quality time with your family on special occasions. Our Marketing and Communications Specialist, Felicia Gonsalves, knows first-hand the impact blood donors have on patients’ lives. She shares her story of how her family came awfully close…

Balaji Iyer recently made his 100th milestone blood donation at our Mountain View center — a moment he had hoped to share with someone very special. Unfortunately, illness delayed his 16-year-old daughter Satvika from making her very first donation that same day. But sometimes things have a funny way of working out. Satvika finally got a…

Here at SBC, we love to celebrate our incredible milestone donors and the impact they’ve had on helping support patients in our community. Glenys Chow recently made her 200th donation at our Mountain View center. Ross Coyle, Public Relations Officer, interviewed the Mountain View resident about what inspires her to donate blood and what keeps her…

Here at SBC, we love to celebrate our incredible milestone donors and the impact they’ve had on helping support patients in our community. Stan Jensen recently made his 600th donation at our Menlo Park center. Ross Coyle, Public Relations Officer, interviewed the Pacifica resident about what inspires him to donate blood and what keeps him coming…

Stanford Blood Center (SBC) is honoring the legacy of an incredible member of our community, Midge Zylker, who passed away late last year. Midge was Blood Drive Coordinator for the Rose Garden Community Blood Drives, and was instrumental in establishing the Willow Glen Community Blood Drive and the Zanotto’s Sunnyvale Community Blood Drive as well….

Here at SBC, we love to celebrate our incredible milestone donors and the impact they’ve had on helping support patients in our community. Brian Smith recently made his 600th donation. Ross Coyle, Public Relations Officer, interviewed the Mountain View resident about what inspires him to donate blood and what keeps him coming back all these years….

Have you ever turned to Google for help before a donation? Say, to find out how you could bulk up on iron, or to find out if your newfound cold would be cause for deferral? Or perhaps you asked Google a few questions before you made an appointment, to see if blood donation was right...

Have you ever turned to Google for help before a donation? Say, to find out how you could bulk up on iron, or to find out if your newfound cold would be cause for deferral? Or perhaps you asked Google a few questions before you made an appointment, to see if blood donation was right...

Have you ever turned to Google for help before a donation? Say, to find out how you could bulk up on iron, or to find out if your newfound cold would be cause for deferral? Or perhaps you asked Google a few questions before you made an appointment, to see if blood donation was right...

Have you ever turned to Google for help before a donation? Say, to find out how you could bulk up on iron, or to find out if your newfound cold would be cause for deferral? Or perhaps you asked Google a few questions before you made an appointment, to see if blood donation was right...

Have you ever turned to Google for help before a donation? Say, to find out how you could bulk up on iron, or to find out if your newfound cold would be cause for deferral? Or perhaps you asked Google a few questions before you made an appointment, to see if blood donation was right...

Here at SBC, we love to celebrate our incredible milestone donors. Anthony Flores recently made his 400th donation at the South Bay center. Ross Coyle, Public Relations Officer, interviewed the San Jose resident about what inspires him to donate blood and what keeps him coming back all these years.   What does your 400th blood donation mean…

“I’ve been a regular blood donor my whole adult life, and I’ve been humbled to be on the receiving end for a change.”   Amber Kerr is many things. A scholar, a university lecturer, a world traveler, a mother of three, an avid blood donor — and, as of late last year, a blood recipient….

By Krista Thomas, Communications Strategist Gracielle Lee went into labor with her first and only child, Bryson, when she was just 22 weeks pregnant. At such a critical period, she, her husband Barry and their care team were anxious to delay delivery as long as possible. “Bryson’s likelihood of surviving at 22 weeks was very...

By Krista Thomas, Communications Strategist As amazing and lifesaving as blood is, it’s not a perfect product. First, there’s the issue of shelf-life: Red blood cells can usually only be stored for up to 42 days, after which they should no longer be transfused to patients due to decreased efficacy. Then there’s the issue of...

By Krista Thomas, Communications Strategist When we talk about saving lives at SBC, it’s usually in the context of donating blood. However, service to others can take many forms, with one of the most impactful being military service. Next week is Veterans Day so, in the spirit of honoring those who serve, we are featuring...

By Lorna Tolentino, Flow Cytometry Laboratory Manager As a blood donor, you likely already know that white blood cells are not transfused to patients. But do you know how and why the white cells are separated? Leucoreduction is a filtration technique used to remove white blood cells, or leukocytes, from platelet and red blood cell...

Brad Hart is a fifth-generation medical professional and comes from a history of medical innovation. His great, great grandfather, Andrew Jackson Hart, was an OBGYN; his great grandfather, Arch Coombs Hart, was a practicing dentist, and one of the first  to lecture that tooth decay was caused by bacteria; his grandfather, Frank L. Hart, was...

Growing up, Alice Georgitso was no stranger to the healthcare system. At only one month old, she was diagnosed with congenital heart disease. Her first closed-heart surgery was performed at four weeks, and her first open-heart surgery was at nine months. By the time she was 20 years old, she had experienced a heart attack…

Join SBC in its eighth year of Give Good! During our Give Good campaigns, SBC partners with another local organization with a charitable mission to help give back to the community in a new way. This year, SBC is proud to partner once again with The Tech Interactive in San Jose. DONATE AT THE TECH AND...

When asked if we want to help save lives, the answer will, of course, be a resounding yes. And even when we’re asked to give blood, we may be game to sign up for an initial appointment, too. But, even though donating itself is easy for most people, forming a habit of donating blood, or...

By Krista Thomas, Communications Strategist August 5, 2020, was one of the most frightening days of Jennifer Yu’s and Tom Li’s lives. It was on that Wednesday that they found out what had started as just frequent bloody noses in their eight-year-old daughter, Zoe, was a sign of something far scarier and far deadlier than…

By Marino Bozic, Research and Clinical Services Manager You’ve likely heard us say at SBC that when you donate blood, you’re helping the patients of today and tomorrow. But did you know the most likely way you’re helping these patients of tomorrow is with a small layer of white cells — only 30 mL per…

Imagine being 23- and 24-year-old parents when you find out your new baby girl needs a liver transplant to save her life. That was the reality for Liz Lopez and her husband Rudy Heredia. It all started just two months after their daughter Penelope was born. Liz took “Penny” in for a routine checkup where...

If you ever met Megan Mehta, you’d be struck almost instantly by her energy, her vivacity. Megan was born with a lust for life and has spent the past five years reclaiming that energy after having spent ages 8 to 13 in a state she can “best describe as the color gray.” Thanks to the…

Childhood: Sister Hearts Carolina Tejada was born in Cali, Colombia in 1978. She spent a happy, healthy childhood alongside her older brother, Juan Guillermo, and her twin sister, Catalina. At age 11, however, Juan Guillermo, who was three years older than his sisters, began experiencing cardiac symptoms that were later diagnosed as idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy,…

In 2007, DYung Lu was working full-time, going to school full-time, and getting very little sleep. Given his hectic schedule, he was unsurprised when he started to feel physical ill and worn down, but he continued to press forward. Then one day, he was lying in a hammock and one of the strings broke, sending…

Currently, more than 100,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant and, every 10 minutes, another person is added to the transplant waitlist.[1] On a daily basis, SBC supports organ donation through our HLA lab, which performs tests to detect things like donor-recipient compatibility and early transplant success/failure; and, with the help of our donors,...

Growing up, Lily Shih said she never really gave blood donation any thoughts. “I’m Chinese and it just wasn’t a big part of our culture,” she said. It wasn’t until adulthood when her mom was diagnosed with a rare neurological disease and needed transfusions of her own that Lily understood the importance of transfusion. From…

Earlier this year, milestone donor Audrey Gold had a very special donation appointment. At the same time that she gave her 164th donation at Stanford Blood Center, her 16-year-old son, Evan, gave his very first. Audrey has been donating blood for over 30 years. Her first experience with donation was back in college, when her…

By Harry Sussmann, Operational Excellence (OpEx) Director On April 28, Stanford Blood Center became the first blood center of its size in the nation to use pathogen reduction technology, or PRT, on 100% of its transfusable platelets produced. With this milestone, SBC is ensuring that the platelet units our donors generously provide are as safe…

By Krista Thomas, Communications Strategist It’s not uncommon for SBC team members to receive questions as to why SBC does not pay donors who generously give their blood. Do we not value our donors? Is it too costly? Too logistically challenging? The short answer is, if a donation is paid for, hospitals are unlikely to...

By Krista Thomas, Communications Strategist In early 2019, Kristi Trog and her husband Josh were thrilled but also surprised to find out that Kristi was pregnant with their first child. The pair counted this news as a true miracle. Though they knew that having a baby later in life would mean they needed to prepare…

By Dr. Tho Pham, Chief Medical Officer Did you know that many blood group systems exist beyond ABO (A, B, O and AB) and Rh (+ and -)? And that many donors have rare combinations of certain clinically relevant blood groups? While this may come as a surprise, it may make more sense when you…

By Karen Hendryk, Donor Recruitment Manager Immediate Impact of COVID Though March 2020 was when an official pandemic was declared, February 2020 was when SBC was hit with one of the most significant challenges thus far: cancellation of blood drives. Prior to spring of last year, SBC collected more than half of all its blood…

Ernest Boyd has been giving blood for decades. What started as a way to save the lives of others, however, has saved his own life multiple times.   Becoming a Platelet Donor Ernest first really committed to giving blood in the early 1990s. Though he had donated one or two times in the past, it…

In honor of International Women's Day, we interviewed just a few of the incredible women in leadership who make our work possible here at SBC. See what they had to say about their experience as women in their field below. Who has empowered/inspired you to be the leader you are today? Alison Hopkins “My mom...

This Black History Month, we are thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of Charles Drew, a Black doctor who broke down barrier after barrier on his mission to help patients and eventually become the “father of blood centers.” Charles Drew was born to a middle-class family in 1904 in Washington, D.C. Growing up, his parents impressed…

Last year, donor Ben Brian hit an incredible milestone with SBC: his 500th donation. When asked what motivates him to give blood, among the usual answer of service to others and the free cookies, Ben mentioned that he has been consistently motivated by the dedication of his wife, Gail. Gail is also a milestone donor,…

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Dr. King’s dedication to achieving racial equality and the tremendous impact he had on civil rights are not something to be taken lightly. Though he was well known for his eloquent speeches, Dr. King was also an organizer and a man of action, willing to put his own comfort…

In the start of April 2020, SBC became one of the first blood centers in the nation to create a COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) program. The program, which encouraged recovered COVID-19 patients to donate antibody-rich plasma for current COVID-19 patients, gained national media attention and led to over a thousand community members offering to donate….

By Marino Bozic, Research and Clinical Services Manager When you come in to make a whole blood or apheresis donation at SBC, you may notice the phlebotomists collecting tubes from your donation. One of the tubes you will see drawn is a purple (or lavender) top K2 EDTA tube. What is a purple top K2…

By Deepti Sharma, PhD, Clinical Laboratory Scientist; Tamara A. Vayntrub, Project Manager; Bing Melody Zhang, MD, MS, FCAP, Assistant Director, HLA Lab  SBC is now using next-generation sequencing (NGS) as the basis for its HLA typing method for both bone marrow and stem cell as well as solid organ transplants. The testing has already made…

Dr. Edgar Engleman is the founding Medical Director of Stanford Blood Center (SBC), as well as Professor of Pathology and Medicine at Stanford University. Over the course of his career, Dr. Engleman’s passion for supporting patients has fueled accomplishments that have radically transformed the blood industry and patient care. In particular, his unrivaled understanding of…

It’s hard to believe that for the bulk of 2019, Katy Crain knew very little about cancer. She considered herself lucky to have never had any close family members affected by it, and while she was sympathetic to cancer patients and had donated blood before, the concept seemed removed from her everyday life. All of…

Dr. Sam P. Most, Chief of the Division of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at Stanford Health Care (SHC) and professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, is not only an accomplished and beloved member of the Stanford community; he is also a dedicated husband in his familial life and a very health, very active…

To help paint a clearer picture of how the challenges of 2020 affected teams all around the Blood Center, we asked team members to tell us, in a few sentences, what being an SBC team member in 2020 meant to them.  “Last year was my 21st year working in SBC’s Processing Laboratory, which performs tests…

August 22, 1950 – May 18, 2020 It is with deep sadness that we inform our donor community of the passing of one of our charge nurses, Susan Belanger, on May 18, 2020. For nearly 20 years, Susan, Sue B., Belanger was an integral part of the SBC collections team. She left an indelible impression…

The below is a Q&A with Blood Drive Coordinator Jim Gardner of Good Karma Bikes. Q: How long have you been holding blood drives with SBC, and what first made you become a Blood Drive Coordinator (BDC)? A: I’ve been a BDC since 2016 with Good Karma Bikes. I’ve also been a donor myself for…

As is our tradition with our winter PULSE editions, we like to give a special shout-out to all donors who have reached a milestone since our last publication (in this case, between December 1, 2019, and November 15, 2020). Your dedication and your impact on saving lives is beyond measure! 100 Donations Catherine Anderson Craig…

From January to November of last year, SBC welcomed nearly 7,900 first-time donors! These donors came from a number of different places, and we know from talking with new donors that often one of the most successful and powerful outreach tools is you, our current donors! Your own generosity and knowledge of donation is a…

Go into a blood center to donate today, and there are many factors that influence your eligibility to donate: age, travel history, disease risk, medications. One thing that is never a cause for deferral today, but once proved an incredible barrier to giving blood, was race.  America’s first blood center, established 1937 in Chicago, accepted…