UConn Health

May 10, 2012 | Christopher DeFrancesco '95 (CLAS) - UConn Health

Medical Students Holding Bone Marrow Drive

Three first-years have organized a bone marrow donor registration drive at the UConn Health Center, scheduled for Monday, May 14.

From left: First-year medical students Liza Karamessinis, Sahar Barfchin and Kelsey Sokol are the founders of "Greatest Gift" at the UConn Health Center, an effort to raise awareness for organ and tissue donation. (Priyanka Ghosh for UConn Health Center)

From left: First-year medical students Liza Karamessinis, Sahar Barfchin and Kelsey Sokol are the founders of "Greatest Gift" at the UConn Health Center, an effort to raise awareness for organ and tissue donation. (Priyanka Ghosh for UConn Health Center)

From left: First-year medical students Liza Karamessinis, Sahar Barfchin and Kelsey Sokol are the founders of "Greatest Gift" at the UConn Health Center, an effort to raise awareness for organ and tissue donation. (Priyanka Ghosh for UConn Health Center)
From left: First-year medical students Liza Karamessinis, Sahar Barfchin and Kelsey Sokol are the founders of "Greatest Gift" at the UConn Health Center, an effort to raise awareness for organ and tissue donation. (Priyanka Ghosh for UConn Health Center)

Three first-year medical students have organized a bone marrow donor registration drive at the UConn Health Center, scheduled for Monday, May 14, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Food Court.

It’s the second such event orchestrated by Kelsey Sokol, Liza Karamessinis, and Sahar Barfchin in seven months.

“Our first bone marrow drive back in November was organized not only to add new donors to the national registry but also to help find a match for a friend of one of our members, who has leukemia,” Sokol says.

The students founded a group at the UConn School of Medicine known as “Greatest Gift” in an effort to help raise awareness for organ and tissue donation.

“As part of this effort, one of our goals is to hold organ and tissue registration drives to help increase the number of potential donors willing to help the growing list of 114,000 people waiting for a transplant,” Sokol says.

The Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center is sponsoring Monday’s bone marrow donor registration drive, which the students are running in partnership with the National Marrow Donor Program’s “Be the Match” campaign. All between the ages of 18 and 60 are invited to participate. According to Be the Match, the entire process takes only minutes and involves a simple cheek swab.

“One thing people may not realize is, the matching process depends greatly on race,” Barfchin adds. “We encourage people of all races to come and get swabbed and be part of the registry.”

For more information, call 860-304-2433 or email kesokol@student.uchc.edu.

Follow the UConn Health Center on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.