Sanofi Honored with Corporate Leadership Award; Wanda and Robert Zimmer Serve as Honorary Chairs; Sherry Graves Hope Fund for Patient Financial Support Established
MINNEAPOLIS, May 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NMDP℠ hosted its annual New York Gala earlier this month to raise critical funding that supports patient financial assistance and innovative cell therapy research to improve post-transplant outcomes. In 2025, NMDP provided more than $7 million in patient assistance to 3,400 families.
The event, held at Cipriani 25 Broadway, celebrated the organization’s remarkable progress toward 150,000 transplants facilitated since 1987. In 2025, NMDP impacted 8,879 lives through cell therapy for patients battling blood cancers and blood disorders, the most ever facilitated by the organization in a single year.
“In just the first three months of this year, we provided grants to over 1,100 families, more than double the number of patients compared to last year,” said Amy Ronneberg, Chief Executive Officer, NMDP. “That’s $2.35 million in grant support to help patients access the treatment they desperately need.”
Ronneberg also announced the establishment of the Sherry Graves Hope Fund for Patient Financial Support, honoring the memory of Sherry Graves. Nearly 50 years ago, Sherry and her husband Bob refused to accept that no donor match existed for their daughter Laura, who was battling leukemia. Their determination helped spark the founding of NMDP. Laura Graves went on to become the first leukemia patient in the United States to receive a bone marrow transplant from an unrelated donor, opening a door that had never existed before.
“We are honored to establish the Sherry Graves Hope Fund to continue the legacy of hope that Sherry and her family made possible,” said Ronneberg. “Her belief helped build the foundation of everything we do.”
The evening’s most powerful moment featured the first-ever meeting between 6-year-old transplant recipient Aspen Peck and her bone marrow donor, Kelsey Hayes. Having joined the NMDP Registry without knowing if she would ever be called, Hayes stepped up not once, but twice for Aspen.
“I didn’t even hesitate, especially when they told me it would be a 1-year-old little girl. Seeing Aspen with her family for the first time was such a surreal feeling,” said Hayes. Today she channels that experience into her work as a bone marrow transplant nurse, showing up for patients and families every day.
Transplant recipient Wanda Zimmer and her husband Robert served as Honorary Chairs for the evening. For nearly 16 years, the Zimmers have partnered with NMDP to impact more than 96,000 lives — choosing to transform their personal experience into a powerful commitment to the mission.
“Being honorary chair is not about the recognition; it’s about saving someone else’s life as my donor Aaron and NMDP saved mine,” said Wanda Zimmer. “Today, I stand here not just as a survivor, but as proof of what this mission makes possible. NMDP connects people in their darkest moments to complete strangers willing to give them a second chance.”
NMDP also presented its 2026 Corporate Leadership Award to Sanofi, recognizing more than a decade of collaboration that has helped expand access to life-saving cell therapy by advancing patient education, survivorship resources and programs that seek to remove barriers to transplant.
“Sanofi has been an extraordinary supporter of our mission,” said Jess Kowal, Chief Philanthropy Officer of NMDP. “We thank them for more than a decade of impact that has helped patients in their transplant journey.”
The 2026 NMDP Gala was made possible through the generous support of Presenting Sponsor Publicis Groupe, Visionary Sponsor Sanofi, Advocate Sponsor Mesoblast, and Ally Sponsors AWS, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, HistoGenetics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Merck, and Van Scoyoc Associates and in-kind sponsors Delta Airlines and Shapco Printing. To attend an NMDP event visit https://www.nmdp.org/get-involved/events.
About NMDP
At NMDP, we believe each of us holds the key to curing blood cancers and disorders. As a global nonprofit leader in cell therapy, NMDP creates essential connections between researchers and supporters to inspire action and accelerate innovation to find life-saving cures. With the help of blood stem cell donors from the world’s most diverse registry and our extensive network of transplant partners, physicians and caregivers, we’re expanding access to treatment so that every patient can receive their life-saving cell therapy. NMDP. Find cures. Save lives. Learn more at nmdp.org.
Media Contact:
Erin Bix
ebix@nmdp.org
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
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