The Auxiliary Board of Northwestern Memorial Hospital

The Auxiliary Board of Northwestern Memorial Hospital is a group of young professionals and community leaders who raise funds to support innovative research programs at Northwestern Memorial. Founded in 1987, The Auxiliary Board has committed more than $2 million to enhance treatment for patients and their families through a host of patient care initiatives, including: the Ambulatory Spine Program, Bone Marrow Transplant, Comprehensive Heart Failure Prevention and Treatment, Neurology and Neurological Surgery, Prostate Cancer Gene Therapy, Women’s Health, and the Northwestern Brain Tumor Institute. The Auxiliary Board focuses on providing “seed money” to programs and research initiatives.

Innovative Research in Hematology/Oncology to Improve Cancer Care

The Auxiliary Board has pledged its support to an innovative research study in bone marrow transplant, led by John Galvin, MD, Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Fellow in Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Division of Hematology/Oncology. Bone marrow transplant (also called hematopoietic stem cell transplant or HSCT) is the only chance for a cure in many types of blood cancers. However, success is limited by a common and sometimes fatal complication in which the donor cells begin to attack the host. The current method used to prevent the complication is long-term immunosuppressive therapy, which carries an additional risk of infection for the patient.

 

Dr. Galvin and his research team will attempt to prevent the potential for complication by inducing tolerance within the donor cells—instead of inhibiting the patient’s whole immune system. If this novel approach proves successful, it could lead to therapies that would make bone marrow transplants safer and available to greater numbers of patients with blood cancers.

 

How Can You Help? Save the Date!

Join us on June 21, 2013, at The Museum of Contemporary Art, for the summer’s single best event, the 13^th annual Summer Lovin’. This festive event, co-hosted with Chicago magazine, introduces the city’s most eligible singles, featured in the magazine’s July issue. Guests will dine on delicious food from leading Chicago restaurants and will be given the chance to participate in a raffle and silent auction. Over the past two years, more than 2,000 people have attended The Auxiliary Board’s events and have helped raise more than $100,000. All proceeds from the event will support innovative bone marrow transplant research to improve cancer care at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Get your ticket today!