Non-Profit Association “AIAS – Studierende gegen Blutkrebs” Highly Successful
Every day, three people in Austria are diagnosed with leukaemia. Two out of ten leukaemia patients die because no suitable stem cell donor can be found. For this reason, the non-profit student initiative “AIAS – Studierende gegen Blutkrebs” (“AIAS – Students Against Leukaemia”) organizes registration campaigns to gain potential stem cell donors. In Germany, AIAS is carrying out such registration campaigns at 28 locations; close to 50,000 students have already been typed and registered.
In cooperation with the Austrian Red Cross and the Austrian National Union of Students, the psychology students Eva Schömig and Katharina Körber brought this initiative to Austria, with the objective of having more stem cell donors typed in this country as well. During the first Austrian campaign, held in Innsbruck, the relevant medical data of 1,005 students at Innsbruck’s two universities was entered in the register of the Austrian Red Cross. This was the biggest registration campaign in Austria for the Red Cross to date.
Binder Grösswang advised the students Andrea Tschugg and Anna Weßel pro bono on the establishment of the non-profit student initiative “AIAS Innsbruck – Verein zur Registrierung von Stammzellenspenden”, the Innsbruck branch of the initiative in Austria. The team was advised by Binder Grösswang Partners Michael Kutschera, Christian Wimpissinger and Philipp Kapl together with Attorney-at-Law Mona Holzgruber and the associates Alexander Scharkosi and Lukas Pechtl. Binder Grösswang attaches great importance to supporting non-profit projects on a pro-bono basis. We wish this students’ initiative continuing success.