Dr. Rachel-Louise Beddard, M.D.,
appointed Associate Medical Director of STBTC

SAN ANTONIO (August 20, 2007) – South Texas Blood & Tissue Center (STBTC) President/CEO and Medical Director, Dr. Norman Kalmin, announced today that Dr. Rachel-Louise Beddard has been named the Associate Medical Director of the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center. Dr. Beddard has served as part time Medical Director of the Texas Cord Blood Bank since June 2005, where she has provided medical oversight.

“We’re delighted to have Dr. Beddard’s expertise serve the Center in a greater capacity,” Dr. Kalmin said. “We are experiencing tremendous growth, adding new blood collection sites and expanding all our services to meet the growing healthcare needs of our communities. Dr. Beddard has provided medical guidance for our cord blood program, and we look forward to her sharing knowledge in other services of this organization.”

As Associate Medical Director of the Center, Dr. Beddard will report to Dr. Kalmin and assist in establishing medical policies related to the selection and care of blood donors, collection, processing and storage of cord blood, medical direction of the bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell program and consultation with hospital transfusion services.

With respect to the transfusion services department, Dr. Beddard will serve as a resource for medical professionals in the communities and hospitals served by STBTC. She will also serve on regional hospital transfusion committees to help develop global transfusion protocols and guidelines.

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to develop my role at the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center,” Dr. Beddard said. “The leadership team at the Center has created a first-class biomedical institution to serve South Texas. I have enjoyed working directly with donors and staff of the Texas Cord Blood Bank, and I look forward to serving the medical professionals and volunteer donors in the blood and bone marrow programs.”

Dr. Beddard received her M.D. from Eastern Virginia Graduate School of Medicine in 1999. She is certified in clinical pathology and is a member of the College of American Pathologists (CAP), American Society of Clinical Pathologists and the American Medical Association. She is also the recipient of the 2002 CAP Foundation Young Leader Award, the 1999 Robert J. Faulconer Award for Excellence in Pathology, and the 1999 Desmond R.H. Gourley Award for Excellence in Pharmacology. Dr. Beddard continues to submit and publish papers and abstracts related to transfusion medicine, several of which have been published in Transfusion journal, a leading publication for blood transfusion medicine.

About the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center

The South Texas Blood & Tissue has been serving the South Texas community’s blood and tissue needs for more than 30 years. Today, the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center serves more than 100 hospitals and clinics in 43 South Texas counties. In addition to recruiting, collecting, processing, testing and distributing blood components, STBTC operates a certified tissue bank, houses the Texas Cord Blood Bank and is also a National Marrow Donor Program registration site.

###