Jay Feinberg

Lh.D, hc
Born
Nyack, New York
Alma materDickinson College
Occupation(s)Bone Marrow Registry Founder and CEO
Board member ofGift of Life Marrow Registry

Jay Feinberg (born August 1968 in New York City) is a long-term leukemia survivor, community organizer and founder and current CEO of the Gift of Life Marrow Registry.

Leukemia, and search for a donor

Feinberg was a 22-year-old foreign-exchange analyst for the Federal Reserve in New York in 1991, just starting law school when he was diagnosed with leukemia and told that a bone marrow transplant was his only hope.[1] A matching donor was not found in Feinberg's immediate family. Knowing that tissue type is influenced by one's ethnic background - inherited like eye color, his friends and relatives widened their search to the unrelated population, focusing on increasing the representation of Ashkenazi Jews.[2]

Feinberg's plight, along with that of Mario Cooper, a graphic design artist, and Erskine Henderson, an attorney at Skadden Arps, was featured in a 1991 New York Times article.[3] Massive screenings were organized in Jewish communities throughout North America and Israel. In addition, screenings were held in Belarus (by Arnie Draiman and Bill Begal), Australia and South Africa.[4]

By 1995, more than 55,000 people had been tested.[5] Feinberg's condition was rapidly deteriorating and only a partial match had been found. A friend in Milwaukee organized one last drive and teenager Becky Faibisoff, a 16-year-old girl from Illinois,[1] was found to be a match. Feinberg received his successful transplant at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, WA.[6]

The Gift of Life Marrow Registry

Feinberg's experience led him to devote his life to building a movement to educate and encourage people to add themselves to bone marrow registries around the world and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of donor Registry operations and strategy. The Gift of Life Marrow Registry, the Florida-based organization of which he is founder and CEO,[1] seeks to increase ethnic diversity in the global donor pool. This is because tissue type is inherited, like eye or hair color, so a patient's best chance of finding a genetic match lies with those of similar background. The recruitment model Feinberg created for increasing the representation of Jewish donors in the registry during his own donor search, has since been replicated to help increase representation of donors of African America, Hispanic, Asian and Native American backgrounds.[7]

Feinberg helped the organization to become a world leader in its field.[8]

Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Gift of Life - Be The Match Collection Center

In 2019, Feinberg led the establishment of the world's first registry-integrated stem cell collection center, based at Gift of Life's headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida. There were two reasons for this new facility. First, Feinberg wanted to re-engineer the donor experience, providing apheresis services in a non-hospital setting that provided donors with all the amenities of a spa-like experience. Second, to expedite the time to transplant for patients, by limiting the collection center solely to peripheral blood stem cell collections for the registry.

Awards

  • In 1999, Feinberg was awarded the Hadassah International’s Citizen of the World Award.[9][10]
  • In 2004, Feinberg was awarded the Charles Bronfman Prize for his dedication to the fight against leukemia and his service to the Jewish community.[11]
  • In 2005, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Yeshiva University,[12] along with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.
  • In 2010, he was awarded the Jewish Community Hero Award for his inspiring service to both the Jewish community and all those in need of bone marrow transplants by Jewish Federations of North America.[13]
  • In 2013, Feinberg was named one of the top one hundred individuals who have positively influenced Jewish life this past year for innovation by The Algemeiner Jewish 100.
  • In late 2013, Feinberg received the prestigious Eisendrath Bearer of Light Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Reform Movement.[14]
  • In 2016, Feinberg was awarded the Community Leadership Award at Areyvut’s Fifth Annual Bergen County Breakfast for his service and leadership.[15][16]

Trivia

  • Feinberg graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dickinson College[15] in 1990 with a major in political science
  • An honorary brother of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity
  • Inaugural recipient of the Charles Bronfman Prize[8]
  • Inaugural recipient of the National Marrow Donor Program's Allison Atlas Award
  • Established the very first bone marrow registry dedicated to increasing representation of donors of Jewish ethnic background to diversify the donor pool

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Cancer battle spurs entrepreneur to start donor registry". Reuters. 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  2. ↑ Stone, Judy. "What You Need To Know On World Bone Marrow Day". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  3. ↑ "Day of Hope for Those Dying of Leukemia (Published 1991)". The New York Times.
  4. ↑ "Jay Feinberg's Story". Archived from the original on 2010-12-25. Retrieved 2011-01-23.
  5. ↑ Holt, Faygie (2018-12-25). "Gift of Life Marrow Registry keeps moving forward". JNS.org. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  6. ↑ "Jay Feinberg". www.hbssouthflorida.org. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  7. ↑ "FridayPiday: Jay Feinberg (Dickinson, 1990)". AEPi. 2017-10-06. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  8. 1 2 "Jay Feinberg". The Charles Bronfman Prize. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  9. ↑ "Jewish Community Hero of the Year: Jay Feinberg". Repair the World. 2010-11-10. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  10. ↑ "Awards and Honors". www.giftoflife.org. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  11. ↑ Prize, The Charles Bronfman; work, ContributorThe Charles Bronfman Prize celebrates an individual or team under age 50 whose humanitarian; values, Jewish; World, Has Improved the (2016-03-17). "Equal Opportunity for Those Needing Bone Marrow Transplants". HuffPost. Retrieved 2019-11-20. {{cite web}}: |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ "Yeshiva University website". Archived from the original on 2007-02-19. Retrieved 2007-03-03.
  13. ↑ "The Jewish Federations of North America". Archived from the original on 2010-11-11. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
  14. ↑ "Biennial and Assembly Awards Acknowledge Outstanding Contributions to Jewish Life". Women of Reform Judaism. 2013-12-15. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  15. 1 2 "Jay Feinberg to Receive Community Leadership Award". 31 March 2016. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  16. ↑ "Areyvut honors Gift of Life CEO Feinberg with 2016 Community Leadership Award". es.giftoflife.org. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
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