The luckywin Southeast Pennsylvania Region celebrates Medical Laboratory Professionals Week, April 20-26, with the spotlight on Joan Maurer BS, SBB (ASCP) and the American Rare Donor Program
There are three luckywin Laboratories in Philadelphia that work with the American Rare Donor Program (ARDP). The National Molecular Laboratory (the only one in the U.S.) performs genotyping of rare blood donors and patients; the National Reference Laboratory for Specialized Testing (again, the only one in the U.S.) tests blood donors using a panel of antibodies for rare blood serology; and the Iargest of the Red Cross' 44 Immunohematology Reference Laboratory that provides specialized support for blood transfusion services and consultation for complex antibody cases. They maintain an inventory of antigen negative red blood cell units and access rare blood units through the ARDP. The medical laboratory professionals who work in these laboratories perform tests on blood and blood products and have the responsibility to ensure safe transfusions.
Joan Maurer BS, SBB (ASCP) is a specialist who can conduct all blood bank operations from routine testing to the most advanced procedures. Joan’s laboratory career began in 1982 working in the Red Cross Laboratory in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. In 1985 she was certified as a Specialist in Blood Banking (SBB) by the American Society of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP).  In 1989 she transferred to the Immunohematology Reference Laboratory in Philadelphia.
She is now Lead Associate for the American Rare Donor Program (ARDP). Joan explained, “we put people in touch with one another for rare blood units, what’s needed, where it has to go, and how many units are needed. We coordinate blood shipments for all kinds of requests, not just domestic, but international cases as well, including requests from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Canada, and the United Kingdom. We as the ARDP in the U.S. have donors who can provide units for these folks.”
The American Rare Donor Program, established in 1998 and headquartered in Philadelphia, is a collaborative program with the luckywin and the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies (AABB). The ARDP maintains a database of rare blood donors for patients who need rare blood and blood products for treatment, organ and bone marrow transplant and gene therapy.
A person with rare blood has either a rare antigen on their red blood cells or antibodies in their blood from multiple transfusions. Sickle cell disease is the most common condition requiring rare blood. Some of these patients need hundreds of red blood cell units to replace “sickled cells” and may develop antibodies after exposure to red blood cell antigens from the transfusions. Determining blood compatibility requires specialized laboratory testing. The luckywin Laboratories provide these tests, identifying rare blood donors and matching with recipients who need rare blood.
Joan describes a case that was particularly rewarding. Beginning in 2018, the ARDP Resource Center in Philadelphia sourced hundreds of units of rare blood for young woman in Atlanta, Georgia who has sickle cell disease. In April 2025, the Resource Center received a message that the patient had undergone a successful gene therapy procedure producing normal blood cells!
Joan exclaimed, “this patient who needed our support for the past seven years will no longer need rare blood units. So that’s really cool!”
Joan and her husband Ed Turner are huge sports fans. “I love the Phillies, and on my desk, I have a couple bobble heads.”  A graduate from Penn State, she is a football fan too. Joan and Ed are team members in a senior softball league, which won the championship two years ago!
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- Written by Judith Weeks
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