Since its founding in 2022, the ASTCT® and NMDP℠ ACCESS Initiative has worked to identify and dismantle access and outcome barriers to hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) and cellular therapy. Members of this volunteer group will review their latest work and introduce possibilities for collaboration at an ASTCT Spotlight Session, ASTCT and NMDP ACCESS Initiative Workshop, at 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 13 in Room 323 ABC.

Jeffery J. Auletta, MD, the session’s co-chair and the organization’s inaugural co-chair, described this session as an opportunity for ACCESS Initiative to interact with the wider professional community.

“This is our way of updating those in the transplant and cell therapy ecosystem, so they understand what some of these projects are and can give input and feedback,” said Auletta, senior vice president of health equity and chief scientific director at NMDP. “We want to let our colleagues to know what is going on with the ACCESS Initiative and invite them to join.”

For the past three years, the ACCESS Initiative has approached its goals by working on three key sub-areas:

1. awareness of access and outcome disparity issues;
2. poverty and other economic and policy factors affecting HCT and cellular therapy treatments care; and
3. racial and ethnic inequalities affecting HCT and cellular therapy treatments and care.

In addition to reviewing these goals, the Spotlight Session will examine caregiving, which Auletta said is a key factor in considering barriers to treatment and outcome disparities given its importance in cell therapy care. For example, some institutions may require patients to identify a caregiver who will provide constant care, both during and after transplant.

“If we think about those folks in this country who have the hardest time identifying that caregiver, it is probably those ethnically diverse and low socio-economic status patients,” Auletta said.

Delilah Robb, MPH, program manager for implementation science at NMDP, will discuss health equity in practice, and four additional speakers from NMDP will address new approaches to caregiving that aim to improve access to transplant: Anna DeSalvo, MS, CGC, PLY, manager of implementation science; Ben Tweeten, MSW, LICSW, principal clinical analyst and clinical social worker; Jaime Preussler, PhD, health services research analyst; and Katie Schoeppner, MSW, LICSW, senior director of patient services.

ACCESS Initiative has begun studies and proposals to reimagine the caregiver paradigm and to reflect the strength of many families in America’s diverse ethnic communities that could provide caregiving through an extended family structure.

Ongoing ACCESS Initiative projects include an NMDP-sponsored Health Equity in Practice Toolkit, which works with transplant centers to create a road map to address disparities in demographic and socio-economic base of patients. A workforce diversity project seeks to define a baseline assessment of the national ethnic composition of transplant and cell therapy physicians.

“We must figure out a way to prioritize people and, pragmatically, if we don’t do anything about health inequity, it will continue to have adverse financial consequences.”

Jeffery J. Auletta, MD

Maria Pereda Ginocchio, MD, Tulane University and Children’s Hospital of New Orleans, whose specialty is pediatric non-malignant bone marrow transplantation, will discuss a workforce diversity survey of physicians and non-physicians. Kristie Ramos, MD, clinical fellow in hematology and oncology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, will address how perceptions of access do and don’t line up with reality.

Auletta said the ACCESS Initiative will share projects and data at the Tandem Meetings to demonstrate why health equity should be a priority for both financial and ethical reasons.

“The financial anchor of adverse social determinants of health is literally weighing down our economy,” he said. “If we took the souls out of our bodies and just focused on money, then money alone is a reason to change health inequity. But appreciating we have a soul, and now you are talking about people’s lives. So, we must figure out a way to prioritize people and, pragmatically, if we don’t do anything about health inequity, it will continue to have adverse financial consequences.”

While ACCESS Initiative focuses on research and practice within the United States, Auletta said results and insights can be applied both domestically and internationally. He welcomes comments from attendees from across the globe at the gathering.

“Health inequity permeates geographical boundaries and healthcare systems,” Auletta said. “We have done a lot in three years, but it is only a starting point. The ACCESS Initiative needs new, fresh eyes and talents to volunteer and say: ‘I think I know how to go forward based on what has been started.’”

This and other sessions at the 2025 Tandem Meetings | Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Meetings of ASTCT® and CIBMTR® will be available for on-demand viewing for registered attendees following the live presentation.