Leukemia Survivor, Umbilical Stem Cell Research Advocate and Nationally Recognized Identity Theft Victim

Program Topics: IDENTITY THEFT: Individual Privacy & Security Rights; MEDICAL: Patient Privacy, Patient Advocacy, Stem-Cell Research, HIPAA Compliance

Eric Drew is one of the first adults in the US to survive a double cord blood stem cell transplant for terminal leukemia (Lymphoblastic Leukemia [ALL]). While undergoing treatment, his identity was stolen by a medical worker. Eric Drew fought back and won, becoming the first person to win a federal criminal conviction under the Health Information Privacy (HIPAA) laws. He now dedicates his life to helping patients suffering from all types of serious and terminal diseases, and has become a spokesperson for the non-controversial cord blood stem cells that saved his life. At the podium, Eric Drew shares the lessons learned from his miraculous comeback to inspire people to take charge of their lives, stay focused on their intentions, and rise above the limitations put on us by society.

Eric Drew was on his deathbed with a rare and virulent form of leukemia. And then he got a telephone call—not from his parents or his girlfriend, but from a collections agency. Suddenly the fight of his life was not just about beating terminal illness, but beating the system as well—he was the target of identity theft and forced to try to solve the crime himself, ultimately leading to a hospital employee who knew his dire diagnosis. Eric Drew inspires people to fight the rising identity theft epidemic as if their lives, as his did, depend on it. His story has been featured on ABC News, Dateline NBC, CNN, Fox News, and on the cover of most major news publications in the US.

In addition to his passionate fight against identity theft, Eric Drew has become a national advocate and expert on umbilical cord stem cell research. After a half-match bone marrow transplant failed, Eric Drew managed to live long enough to find a European doctor who could perform a miraculous, cutting-edge stem cell transplant using the umbilical chord and placenta blood from a newborn baby girl found in a blood bank in Italy. This procedure, only in clinical trial in the U.S. at the time of Eric’s need, not only saved his life but helped make Eric Drew a living example of the promise of stem cell research.

Eric Drew is director of the Eric Drew Foundation (saving lives and assisting terminally ill patients and their families, www.ericdrew.com) and Knightsbridge Castle, a non-profit foundation which combats the growing threat of identity theft. He lives in Northern California.