Highlights:
- AAPI launches first-ever nationwide stem cell donor drive for Indian Americans.
- Ethnicity-specific HLA matching makes Indian donors critical for Indian patients.
- Patients previously had to organize drives independently during treatment struggles.
- Drives held in over 20 U.S. cities with strong student involvement.
- Initiative to expand to India at AAPI’s 2026 Global Health Summit in Bhubaneswar.
The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) has launched a historic nationwide stem cell donor drive to address the critical shortage of ethnically matched donors for Indian American patients battling blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma.
Matching for stem cell transplants is determined by Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) typing—markers inherited from parents and highly specific to ethnicity. This means Indian patients have a much higher chance of finding a compatible donor if the donor shares their South Asian background, yet the Indian American donor pool remains strikingly limited.
Until now, most Indian American families in need of a transplant have had to orchestrate donor drives themselves, on top of coping with the heavy toll of a cancer diagnosis. The new AAPI initiative, launched in partnership with the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), unifies these efforts and mobilizes chapters, local volunteers, and especially high school and college students across states. Volunteer certificates are offered to youth participants, boosting engagement while increasing awareness within the broader community.
The campaign began in late 2024 and has already hosted drives in cities from Atlanta and Houston to San Jose, Scranton, Milpitas, and more. The overwhelming response is credited to the effort’s grassroots nature and AAPI’s strong medical and community network. “You could be someone’s only match—their only hope,” Dr. Hetal Gor, Chair of AAPI’s Board of Trustees, said, urging those considering registration to understand the life-saving importance—and the safe, simple nature—of the donation process.
A notable innovation is AAPI’s streamlined registration: potential donors simply scan a QR code, fill out a few forms, and submit a cheek swab to have their HLA type stored in the database. If a match is found, donors will provide a blood sample and may need to travel (with all costs covered), donating through a straightforward process spread across 4–6 weeks.
With thousands of patients lacking a suitable family donor, the campaign aims to rapidly close the representation gap. The effort is now expanding beyond the U.S. AAPI has partnered with the Global Association of Indian Medical Students and Indian stem cell bank DATRI, launching similar drives at the Global Health Summit in Bhubaneswar in January 2026, and rolling out to medical schools across India.
Through this initiative, the Indian American community is rallying to give hope—and potentially a cure—to patients who have long faced tough odds due to the absence of an ethnically matched stem cell pool.
