Cord Blood Association

The Cord Blood Association (CBA) is a new trade and professional association for cord blood banking founded in September 2014. The CBA will be an international nonprofit organization that promotes the banking and use of umbilical cord blood and related tissues for disease treatment and regenerative therapies. Cord blood is a rich source of stem cells that can be used for restoring health in a variety of chronic diseases.

The members of the CBA will be public and private banks and individuals within and served by the cord blood community. The 13-member CBA Board of Directors has a "tripartite" membership, established in the By Laws of the new association. Four seats are for representatives of public banks, four for private/family banks, and five from the banking community at large. The at-large directors include but are not limited to research investigators, transplant clinicians, patients, parents, obstetricians, pediatricians, nurses, midwives, vendors, health policy experts or regulatory officials.

The plan for the new association, published for public comment in August, identifies five initial priorities:

	Quality products and services - through promotion of standards and accreditation
	Advocacy - by representing the industry nationally and internationally in matters of health care policy, legislation, regulation and public and private healthcare programs
	Market expansion - with readily available consumer access to banking services and cellular therapies
	Research and development - through advancement and rapid adoption of novel technologies and therapies
	Education - with aware, informed and empowered parents, healthcare providers and general public

Founding Board of Directors of the Cord Blood Association: Sue Armitage, BS, Assistant Director, MD Anderson Cord Blood Bank, Houston TX USA; David Blackett, Vice President of Marketing and Strategy, PerkinElmer ViaCord, Waltham MA USA; Haywood Brown, MD, Chair, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham NC USA; Geoffrey Crouse, MBA/MPH, Chief Executive Officer, Cord Blood Registry, San Francisco CA USA; Colleen Delaney, MD, MSc, Director, Program in Cord Blood Research and Transplantation, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle WA USA; Arthur Flatau, PhD, Patient Advocate, Bone Marrow Transplant Survivor, Austin TX USA; Kenneth Giacin, MS, MBA, Vice Chairman and Director, StemCyte International, Covina CA USA; Prof. Gesine Koegler, PhD, Director, Jose Carreras Cord Blood Bank and GMP Facility, University of Duesseldorf Medical Center, Duesseldorf, Germany; Joanne Kurtzberg, MD, Director, Carolinas Cord Blood Bank, Durham NC USA; Richard L. Lockie, MBA, President & CEO, Insception Biosciences Inc., Toronto ON Canada; Aby J. Mathew, PhD, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, BioLife Solutions, Inc., Bothell WA USA; Mahendra Rao, MBBS PhD, Vice President for Regenerative Medicine, New York Stem Cell Foundation, New York City NY USA; Beth H. Shaz, MD, Chief Medical Officer & Senior Vice President, New York Blood Center, New York City NY USA