Amal Bishara

Last updated
Amal Bishara
NationalityIsraeli Arab
Alma mater The Hebrew University
Scientific career
Fields Immunogenetics
Institutions Hadassah Medical Center, in Jerusalem, Israel

Amal Bishara is an Israeli Arab doctor, and the director of Bone Marrow Registry Outreach, Hadassah Medical Center, which is associated with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. There she runs the only bone marrow transplant registry in the world for unrelated Arab donors. [1] Dr. Amal has published and presented internationally on her research into immunogenetics. [1] She serves on the Accreditation Committee of the European Federation for Immunogenetics. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Amal Bishara is an Arab Israeli . She was born in Tarshiha near Ma’alot in the region of Galilee. [3]

In 1976, she became a member of the tissue typing lab at Hadassah Medical Center, which is associated with The Hebrew University. There she obtained a post-graduate degree, followed by a doctorate in microbiology and immunology. [3] After post-doctoral work in Boston, she accepted a position at Hadassah Medical Center in 1988. [4] There she enjoys “the combination of clinical practice and clinical research, she published more than 40 papers and participated in many national and international meeting.” [3]

Career

In 2008, Dr. Bishara established the only bone marrow transplant registry in the world for unrelated Arab donors, the Bone Marrow Registry Outreach, at Hadassah Medical Center. [1] She works closely with Prof. Chaim Brautbar, who founded Hadassah's tissue typing laboratory, and Dr. Shoshana Israel, who currently directs the unit. [5]

In the case of stem cell transplants, the HLA tissue type of the patient and the donor must be a match. Inheritance of HLA types tends to occur within ethnic groups, making it particularly difficult to find a match in some populations. [6] As a result of genetic homogeneity, Arabs are much more likely to find a related bone marrow donor (60%). However, approximately 40% of all Arab patients do not find a match within their families. Such patients are unlikely to find unrelated matches from the usual international bone marrow registries (10%). [7] The vast majority (90%) of Arab cases requesting matches for bone marrow transplants involve children with genetic diseases due to genetically close intermarriage. [8]

Beginning in 2008, Dr. Amal and her volunteers have provided educational programs and carried out donor recruitment campaigns in Arab towns. [1] In spite of restrictions on travel between Israel and the territories, Dr. Bishara has been able to match donors and patients from the West Bank, including Ramallah, Beit Sahour, and Hebron. [7] By 2016, Dr. Bishara's project listed over 34,000 possible donors. [1] The donors from the Arab registry are also listed in the American National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) and the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA). [7] Until 2016 a total of 61 Arab donors donated bone marrow\mobilised perennial stem cells. Of these donors 22 are female and 39 male donors, from 19 to 54 years old.

Awards

Dr. Bishara presented to the organization Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide (BMDW) in 2010, [4] [9] and was recognized by them with an award in 2013. [10] She also has been recognized as an outstanding female scientist in the Women in Science Hall of Fame. The award was presented by US Ambassador to Israel HE Daniel Shapiro at the Embassy of the United States in Cairo, Egypt. [11] [12]

Related Research Articles

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation Medical procedure to replace blood or immune stem cells

Hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) is the transplantation of multipotent hematopoietic stem cells, usually derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood. It may be autologous, allogeneic or syngeneic.

Graft-versus-host disease

Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a syndrome, characterized by inflammation in different organs. GvHD is commonly associated with bone marrow transplants and stem cell transplants.

Allotransplant is the transplantation of cells, tissues, or organs to a recipient from a genetically non-identical donor of the same species. The transplant is called an allograft, allogeneic transplant, or homograft. Most human tissue and organ transplants are allografts.

A cord blood bank is a facility which stores umbilical cord blood for future use. Both private and public cord blood banks have developed in response to the potential for cord blood in treating diseases of the blood and immune systems. Public cord blood banks accept donations to be used for anyone in need, and as such function like public blood banks. Traditionally, public cord blood banking has been more widely accepted by the medical community. Private cord blood banks store cord blood solely for potential use by the donor or donor's family. Private banks typically charge around $2,000 for the collection and around $200 a year for storage.

Transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease (TA-GvHD) is a rare complication of blood transfusion, in which the immunologically competent donor T lymphocytes mount an immune response against the recipient's lymphoid tissue. These donor lymphocytes engraft, recognize recipient cells as foreign and mount an immune response against recipient tissues. Donor lymphocytes are usually identified as foreign and destroyed by the recipient's immune system. However, in situations where the recipient is severely immunocompromised, or when the donor and recipient HLA type is similar, the recipient's immune system is not able to destroy the donor lymphocytes. This can result in transfusion associated graft-versus-host disease.

Jay Feinberg American not-for-profit executive

Jay Feinberg is a long-term leukemia survivor, community organizer and founder and current CEO of the Gift of Life Marrow Registry.

The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1986 and based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that operates the Be The Match Registry of volunteer hematopoietic cell donors and umbilical cord blood units in the United States.

Tissue typing is a procedure in which the tissues of a prospective donor and recipient are tested for compatibility prior to transplantation. Mismatched donor and recipient tissues can lead to rejection of the tissues. There are multiple methods of tissue typing.

Pablo Rubinstein is a pioneer in freezing of umbilical cord blood or placental blood cells for the use for unrelated donors to treat diseases like leukemia and genetic diseases such as Tay–Sachs disease and sickle cell anemia. He pioneered and established an international cord blood banking system and has played a leading role in international cord blood transplantation.

John Raymond Hobbs

John Raymond Hobbs MRCS, FRCP, FRCPath, FRCPaed was a professor who was at the forefront of the techniques of clinical immunology, protein biochemistry and bone marrow transplantation, specifically in child health.

The Center for International Blood & Marrow Transplant Research, or CIBMTR, is a research facility that focuses on hematopoietic cell transplantation and cellular therapy research. The center operates a combined research program of the National Marrow Donor Program and the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Paul Terasaki

Paul Ichiro Terasaki was an American scientist in the field of human organ transplant technology, and professor emeritus of surgery at UCLA School of Medicine.

Transplantable organs and tissues may both refer to organs and tissues that are relatively often or routinely transplanted, as well as relatively seldom transplanted organs and tissues and ones on the experimental stage.

Gift of Life Marrow Registry

The Gift of Life Marrow Registry is a public bone marrow and blood stem cell registry headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. Gift of Life facilitates transplants for children and adults suffering from life-threatening illnesses, including leukemia, lymphoma, other cancers and genetic diseases.

Pluristem Therapeutics Israeli biotecnhology company

Pluristem Therapeutics is an Israeli company engaged in the development of human placental adherent stromal cells for commercial use in disease treatment. According to the company's website, it extracts adult stem cells exclusively from postnatal placentas.

Ayelet Galena

Ayelet Yakira Galena was born with a rare genetic disorder dyskeratosis congenita and was famous for the massive outpouring of support she attracted, including bone marrow drives. that led to finding 162 lifesaving matches.

Guo Mei is a hematologist and associate director of 307th Hospital of Chinese People’s Liberation Army and deputy director of Radiation Research Institute.

Narinder Kumar Mehra is an Indian immunologist, head of the department of transplant immunology and immunogenetics of the SRL Limited, Gurgaon. He is a former dean of research and holds the ICMR Dr. C.G. Pandit National Chair at AIIMS. An elected fellow of the International Medical Sciences Academy, The World Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and National Academy of Sciences, India, Mehra is known for his research on histocompatibility and immunogenetics. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Medical Sciences in 1992. He received the Chevalier of the National Order of Merit from François Mitterrand in 2003.

DATRI Nonprofit organization for blood stem cell donation in India

DATRI is a not-for-profit organization registered in 2009 as a Section 8 company under the Government of India. DATRI is the nation's largest unrelated blood stem cell donors registry, which helps patients with blood cancer and other fatal blood disorders to find an HLA matched donor to undergo Blood Stem Cell Transplant. Blood stem cell transplant is a chance of cure for patients suffering from blood cancer and other severe blood disorders. As of September 2019, DATRI has more than 4.6 lakhs voluntary donors registered and it has facilitated 728 transplants worldwide. DATRI operates in 10 major cities in India.

Shimon Slavin

Shimon Slavin, M.D., is an Israeli professor of medicine. Slavin pioneered the use of immunotherapy mediated by allogeneic donor lymphocytes and innovative methods for stem cell transplantation for the cure of hematological malignancies and solid tumors, and using hematopoietic stem cells for induction of transplantation tolerance to bone marrow and donor allografts.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "in Science Hall of Fame 2013 - Bios". Embassy of the United States, Cairo, Egypt. Archived from the original on 2015-09-17. Retrieved 2016-11-12.
  2. ↑ "Accreditation Committee". European Federation for Immunogenetics. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Elliman, Wendy. "Medicine: Equality Down to the Marrow". Hadassah Magazine. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  4. 1 2 Siegel-Itzkovich, Judy (October 31, 2010). "Helping their own". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  5. ↑ "Hadassah University Medical Center Hosts Bone Marrow Transplant Reunion". Hadassah International. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  6. ↑ Sharing Life. Singapore: The World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA). 2016. ISBN   9789810969295 . Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 Salih, Cale. "Bone Marrow Registry in Jerusalem Offers Hope to Arab Cancer Patients". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  8. ↑ Leichman, Abigail Klein (February 15, 2011). "Welcome to the world's only Arab bone marrow registry – in Israel". Israel 21-C. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  9. ↑ Eckstein, Marlene R. (January 13, 2011). "Israel Has First & Only Arab Bone Marrow Registry For Unrelated Arab Donors". The JAWA Report. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  10. ↑ Peters, Mike. "Mission To Israel – Day Five – Nazareth". Love Hope Strength Foundation. 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  11. ↑ "Dr. Boshra Salem inducted into U.S. Department of State's Women in Science Hall of Fame". International Council for Science. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  12. ↑ "Hadassah's Dr. Amal Bishara Receives "Outstanding Woman Scientist Award" from US Department of State". Hadassah. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
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