2004
Jay Feinberg
Founder + CEO
Gift of Life Marrow Registry
About
Jewish Values
“I was raised to believe that all Jews are responsible for each other, and I embrace this philosophy each day. I have found great personal satisfaction in advocating for the rights of others, both individually — one patient at a time— and collectively, by helping to impact public policy.” -- Jay Feinberg
Global Impact
One in 200 people will need a stem cell transplant in their lifetime; yet the greatest barrier to receiving the treatment that can cure their disease is finding a suitable donor. Tissue type is determined by genetic ancestry, so a patient’s best chance of finding a rare genetic match lies with those of similar ancestry. Gift of Life has been a world leader facilitating these life-saving treatments through its public donor registry and commitment to equal opportunity through ethnic diversity.
Since its inception in 1991 during the high-profile campaign to save the life of its founder, Jay Feinberg, Gift of Life has recruited nearly 500,000 blood stem cell and bone marrow donors and has subsequently identified more than 33,000 matches for patients through thousands of donor drives and facilitated over 5,300 life-saving transplants in 47 countries.
Gift of Life’s success can be attributed in great measure to its founder’s entrepreneurial approach to building the registry and ensuring the highest quality services. Among Gift of Life’s innovations include the use of cheek swabs in lieu of blood tests at donor drives; paperless mobile recruitment; the use of specialized systems and algorithms to optimize donor retention and turnaround time, and the construction of the world’s first registry-integrated stem cell collection center. Its growing list of “firsts” has become catalysts for industry shifts in process and technology now employed by other registries around the world.
When it was established, the likelihood of a Jewish patient finding a match was under five percent. Today, that number exceeds 80 percent, thanks in great measure to Gift of Life’s commitment to increasing the ethnic diversity of the global donor pool. Today, Gift of Life’s recruitment model is being replicated to help other underserved populations achieve an equal opportunity to find the donors that can save their lives.
The Gift of Life Marrow Registry continues to grow and now includes the Gift of Life Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Gift of Life–NMDP Collection Center, and Gift of Life Biologics.
Biography
When Jay Feinberg was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Charles Bronfman Prize in 2004, Charles Bronfman described him as a Jewish hero. Feinberg is singularly passionate about the proposition that every person battling blood cancer deserves a second chance at life, and about engaging the public to recognize that the cure is within each of us. Shortly after graduating from college, Feinberg was diagnosed with leukemia and told he needed a bone marrow transplant to survive. He used his personal crisis to create a lifesaving grassroots movement that ultimately became the Gift of Life Marrow Registry.
Under Feinberg’s leadership, Gift of Life has become a world leader in its field. The organization was one of the first to be accredited by the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) and has facilitated transplants for more than 5,300 patients battling blood cancer and inherited immune disorders. The organization is also known as an innovator – among its firsts include the use of cheek swabs in lieu of blood tests at donor drives, the use of paperless mobile registration, the first in-registry stem cell collection center, and much more.
Gift of Life’s membership ranks have grown over the years through strategic partnerships with organizations including Taglit-Birthright Israel, Hillel International and many others. Its specialized high school and college campus internship programs have engaged, educated and enrolled more than 100,000 new potential donors – teaching them Jewish values, community activism, and leadership skills that will last a lifetime.
Prior to winning the Prize, Feinberg served on public policy forums with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the New Jersey Department of Health, and the board of directors of the World Marrow Donor Association. In 2024, Feinberg was named president-elect of WMDA, to serve as the international organization’s president in 2025, and president-emeritus in 2026.
Notable honors and recognitions include the National Marrow Donor’s Program Allison Atlas Award, Hadassah International’s World Citizenship Award, an honorary doctorate from Yeshiva University, the Maurice N. Eisendrath “Bearer of Light” Award from the Union for Reform Judaism, the Jewish Community Hero award from the Jewish Federations of North America and more. Feinberg has also been named on the Algemeiner Journal’s “Jewish 100 List of the Top One Hundred Individuals Positively Influencing Jewish Life.”
