Phoenix Mag - Trailblazers excerpt

Phoenix is witnessing explosive growth in the medical field. Here’s a look at five new cutting-edge facilities that are leading the way.

By Susan Regan

Celebration Stem Cell Centre

3495 S. Mercy Rd., Bldg. 14,
Gilbert, 480-722-9963,
celebrationstemcellcentre.com

One of the latest debates among couples expecting a child is whether to store the newborn’s umbilical cord blood, which contains stem cells that may be used to treat disease. Celebration Stem Cell Centre offers parents the option of saving cord blood in a private bank for possible later use by the child or a family member, or donating it to a public bank to make it available for clinical trials and to doctors to treat ill patients. Fore those interested in donating cord blood to the public bank, the facility covers processing, testing and storage fees.

Celebration Stem Cell Centre, which opened last August, is approximately 11,000 square feet and is currently equipped to store more than 34,000 cord blood samples in four freezers, with the capacity to house 14 freezers. It also offers genetic counseling, adult stem cell processing and banking, and bone marrow match testing.