Introduction

The World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) fosters international collaboration to facilitate the exchange of high quality hematopoietic stem cells for clinical transplantation worldwide and to promote the interests of unrelated donors. The headquarters of the WMDA is in Leiden, The Netherlands and the WMDA is also incorporated in The Netherlands.

This section includes some of the governance documents, a listing of board members, nomination information and a description of the board budget committee.

Governance documents

- Bylaws of the WMDA (English translation of Dutch document)

- WMDA houserules

- Flowchart to describe the procedure outlined in chapter 15 of the WMDA houserules

WMDA board

The board is the administrative body of the WMDA and is responsible for all operations and policies of the association. The board approves recommendations of the working groups, awards accreditation, reviews the nominations and approves financial budget. The board is split up into an executive committee and an advisory committee.

WMDA board: executive committee and advisory board members

WMDA executive committee

The executive committee oversees the daily activities of the association and is usually consulted in case a quick decision is needed. 

Executive committee members are:

President: William Hwang, Singapore

President-elect: Michael Boo, United States

Secretary general: Jeremy Chapman, Australia

Treasurer: Rudolf Schwabe, Switzerland

Chief Executive Officer: Machteld Oudshoorn, The Netherlands

WMDA advisory committee

The advisory committee represents small and large registries from different regions to ensure a global consensus. Therefore each working group chair serves as an advisory committee member to ensure that specific expertise is present in the advisory committee. The advisory committee meets twice a year. The executive committee updates the advisory committee about their work and activities.

Regional Officers:

Europe and Africa:

Vice President: Carlheinz Mueller, Germany

Secretary: Etienne Baudoux, Belgium

North and South America:

Vice President: Dennis Confer, United States

Secretary: Luis Fernando de  Bouzas, Brazil

Asia and Pacific Islands:

Vice President: Edward Yang, Taiwan

Secretary: Pawinee Kupatawintu, Thailand

Working Group Chairs:

Clinical: Bronwen Shaw, United Kingdom

Cord Blood: Sergio Querol, Spain

Donor Registries: Thomas Bart, Switzerland

Ethics: Anne-Marie van Walraven, The Netherlands

Information Technology: Martin Maiers, United States

Quality Assurance: Alexander Schmidt, Germany

Past president: Eliane Gluckman, France

President-emeritus: Jon van Rood, The Netherlands

Nominating Committee

The WMDA has established a nominating committee that oversees the nominations. The members of the nominating committee are:

- Mike Boo, United States, Chair

- Etienne Baudoux, Belgium

- Luis Fernando de Bouzas, Brazil

- Terry Schlaphoff, South Africa

- Pawinee Kupatawintu, Thailand

The tasks of the nominating committee are:

• To seek suitable candidates for the various vacant positions. The Nominating Committee should take action where necessary to identify nominees, so that no positions remain vacant.

• To take into account the criteria for WMDA Officers (the balance of donor registry, transplant centre (3:2), different geographical regions, new members are preferred, involvement in the WMDA, willingness to seve).

• To decide whether an incomplete nomination or a late nomination is valid or invalid.

• To review all nominations prior to distribution of the ballots.

• To review the tally of votes cast for each position prior to announcement of the election results.

 Twice a year nominations are organized:

• Nominations in January: nominations for the working group chair and the vice chair positions as well as the S(P)EAR Committee positions
• Nominations in June: nominations for the WMDA board positions and the members of the Accreditation Committee and the Standards Committee

The WMDA houserules outline the nominations process. You can download two documents to read the names of the current officers, working group chairs, vice chairs and committee members:

• Overview of the terms of the current Board members, Chairs, Vice Chairs and members of the Standards Committee, S(P)EAR Committee and the Accreditation Committee

• Overview of the terms of previous Boards

The WMDA has also developed a nomination form for people that you would like to nominate for the position of honorary member. An honorary membership is a lifelong privilege and implies the same privileges as an individual membership. The Honorary Membership is open to individuals distinguished in their field of expertise who have made a material contribution to the advancement of unrelated haemotopoietic stem cell transplantation in their support of unrelated haematopoietic stem cell registries through the World Marrow Donor Association.

Currently the WMDA has one honorary member: Susan Cleaver, United Kingdom.

Board Budget Committee

The board budget committee oversees all financial issues regarding WMDA. They meet to develop the budget for the coming year and to discuss all financial issues (corporate sponsors, insurance, non-paying members, appointment financial reviewers).

Annually two WMDA members are requested to audit the bank acoount and all financial transactions of the WMDA and whether the financial report made by the WMDA Office is correct. These two members who take care for the financial review are identified by the board budget committee and approved at the WMDA general membership meeting.

The members of the board budget committee are:

Rudolf Schwabe, Switzerland, chair

Lydia Foeken, The Netherlands

William Hwang, Singapore

Mike Boo, United States

Alan How, United Kingdom

Carlheinz Mueller, Germany

Claudia Rutt, Germany