Recruitment of Jewish Donors in NSW

Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry Annual Report 2002-2003

Since 1994, Shula Endrey-Walder has made an enormous contribution to the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (ABMDR) by facilitating the enrolment of over 3000 Jewish donors in NSW onto the Registry. Shula was approached by a friend who had just returned from the UK and had been involved in the Sue Harris campaign. This was an awareness drive amongst the community for a Jewish patient in the UK in need of a transplant.

Her friend didn’t know where she could join a registry in Australia, thus raising Shula’s interest and she identified that the ABMDR needed for donors from different backgrounds. Prior to this she had been involved in organising 16-year-old blood donors at Moriah College in Sydney.

Armed w ith a science degree. Shula’s interest was in cytogenetics and genetic counselling and she worked at the Prince of Wales hospital for a number of years. Both she and her husband then spent some time at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota USA before returning to Australia where Shula then worked in medical recruitment for US military hospitals.

There have been several Jewish patient drives raising awareness for the need for Jewish donors and Shula has been there providing the ABMDR brochures and taking blood samples at the Wolper Hospital in Sydney. A number of people have provided additional blood samples for second and third stage matching and three have actually donated stem cells. Keep up the good work Shula!