May 5, 2000

Bone marrow transplant unit at VCU’s MCV Hospitals hosts reunion

Event Will Reunite Patients with Transplant Doctors and Nurses

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By Michael Ford
University News Services

RICHMOND, Va. — The Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical College of Virginia Hospitals is hosting its first reunion for bone marrow transplant survivors, their families and the hospital staff who cared for them. The event will be held at 2 p.m. on May 7 at the Hermitage Country Club, 1248 Hermitage Rd., Manakin-Sabot, Va.

Bone marrow transplantation is a treatment for selected patients with leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and breast cancer. The two-part procedure first uses high-dose chemotherapy to destroy a patient’s bone marrow and then replaces it with new bone marrow. The bone marrow transplantation program at MCV Hospitals was begun in 1988 and has transplanted more than 600 patients in the last five years. It is the most comprehensive bone marrow transplantation center in Virginia and is recognized nationally for clinical expertise and research.

Saul Yanovich, M.D., director of VCU’s bone marrow transplantation program, Craig W.S. Howe, M.D., founding director of the program, and several bone marrow transplant patients will speak at the reunion and share their experiences.