On May 6th, 2024, Clinical Pathology Chief and Deputy Director of the Marcus Center for Cellular Cures Beth Shaz, MD, MBA, gave a talk titled “Recruitment and Retention Strategies in Millennial and Gen Z Blood Donors” at the North Carolina Association of Blood Bankers, Inc., 52nd Annual Meeting in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Shaz covered three main themes in her presentation:
- Blood donor recruitment and retention strategies
- Changes in blood availability
- Different barriers and motivators to blood donation
She outlined how the blood supply has been stressed for many years as a result of multifactorial causes, including donor turnout, a competitive environment, an increased testing burden, and the COVID-19 pandemic. She concluded by outlining potential solutions to be explored, including a greater understanding of donor motivation and the use of donor reimbursement, support of novel products, and recruitment of new talent to laboratory science. She emphasized the importance of enticing younger people and people from underrepresented groups to become donors.