The City of Hope-Samaritan Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) Program in Phoenix celebrated its ninth anniversary on April 29. Some 50 patients joined their donors, family members, friends and program staff members at the Heard Museum to celebrate their second chances at life.

In 1997, City of Hope and Banner Health System of Phoenix opened the satellite program so patients in Arizona could undergo transplantation locally. Patients can receive City of Hope treatment protocols without leaving their own community. The City of Hope-Samaritan BMT Program recently marked its 500th transplant procedure.

“There is a great pleasure in working with these patients to overcome a decidedly fatal disease through bone marrow transplantation,” said Jeffrey Schriber, M.D., medical director of the program. “This is a field where so much is happening every day, and the result of this research is that our patients receive the latest treatments as soon as they are available.” Nearly 100 patients per year undergo transplantation through the Phoenix program.

In 2005, the City of Hope-Samaritan BMT Program was a finalist for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The President of the United States presents the Baldrige Award to business, education and health care organizations that apply and are judged to be outstanding in leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, measurement, analysis, and knowledge management, human resource focus, process management and results.