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March 5, 2025
The American Red Cross of Greater Chicago has honored second-year Northwestern student Aparnaa Ananthakrishnan as this year’s Blood Services Hero for her extraordinary efforts to mobilize blood donations across college campuses in the Midwest.
A double major in global health and biology with dreams of becoming a doctor, Ananthakrishnan has led a campaign to make blood donation more visible among young people. As the National Collegiate Officer for the Red Cross’ North Central Division, she launched the Spring Collegiate Blood Drives in 2024, rallying student-leaders to organize blood drives at 17 universities in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.
With the help of 180 volunteers, the campaign collected 686 units of blood — enough to help save more than 2,000 lives, according to the Red Cross. Now in its second year, the initiative is expanding to even more campuses.
“College students are busy,” Ananthakrishnan said, “but if you can give an hour of your day and save up to three lives — that’s an incredible opportunity to do good.”
Every two seconds, someone needs blood
About every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood. It could be for a car crash victim, a cancer patient or someone with sickle cell disease. A single blood donation can help save up to three lives, yet only 3% of eligible Americans donate each year. Ananthakrishnan is working to change that — one student donor at a time.
Her passion is rooted in personal experience. “My grandmother has been needing blood regularly for surgeries related to arthritis,” she said. “Even as a kid, I saw how critical blood donation was to her recovery.”
Early experience leads to action
That early exposure inspired her to co-found a Red Cross club as a high school student in west suburban Aurora, Illinois. At Northwestern, she dove deeper, co-leading the campus club her freshman year and taking on national leadership to scale her impact.
Her early exposure to blood donation didn’t just spark a passion for service — it also shaped her academic path. At Northwestern, she is taking classes at an immunology lab at the Feinberg School of Medicine, where she hopes to one day apply to medical school.
“The lab experience has been phenomenal,” she said. “Northwestern has supported me in so many ways — from research opportunities to funding and hosting our campus blood drives.”
Ananthakrishnan was honored on April 30 as a 2025 Red Cross Hero at the organization’s annual Heroes Breakfast in Chicago.
