Federal Way student raises awareness of bone marrow donor disparities
Published 10:27 am Wednesday, March 11, 2015
While attending to her studies as a high school senior at TAF Academy, Ericka Pegues balances an internship at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, all the while inventing a new delivery mechanism for cancer medicine, and co-authoring scientific journal articles.
Pegues now has another achievement to be excited about: engaging underserved communities in the U.S. Bone Marrow Donor Registry.
Pegues was interested in this topic after she found that individuals of mixed-race or African-American descent have a far smaller chance of finding a match in the registry compared to an individual of European descent.
Their likelihood of finding a match is 70 percent, as opposed to an African-American person, who has only a 20 percent chance of finding a donor match. Pegues’s own mixed ethnic background prompted the decision to get involved in this work. She plans to engage community members in events that raise awareness about the donor shortage. Her goal is to register 100 new potential donors by this spring.
The young scientist’s accomplishments have recently been recognized by Interim Superintendent Sally McLean at the annual State of the Schools event hosted by the Chamber of Commerce in January. Pegues also presented her work with the donor registry at a recent Board of Education meeting.
If you are interested in learning more about the donor registry, or becoming a donor yourself, Pegues recommends visiting www.bethematch.org. Registering requires only a cheek swab.
