Drs. Raj Kasthuri and Yara Park of the UNC BRC, along with multiple alumni of the UNC hematology and transfusion medicine fellowships, co-authored a multi-institutional investigation into the role of race in the response of TTP patients to rituximab that has been accepted for publication in Blood. The study included 645 TTP patients from 15 participating sites (including UNC) in the United States Thrombotic Microangiopathy (USTMA) Consortium. The results showed that Black race was associated with a shorter relapse-free survival (RFS), and the addition of rituximab to corticosteroids improved RFS in White but not in Black patients. The study was led by Dr. Marshall Mazepa, a former trainee in both hematology/oncology and transfusion medicine at UNC who was on the UNC faculty in both specialties for several years before relocating to the University of Minnesota. Additionally, Drs. Ming Lim, Gustaaf deRidder, and Briana Gibson, all former UNC trainees, participated in the study.