The National Bleeding Disorders Foundation (NBDF) is delighted to announce that Luke Luckey of Manchester, Michigan, was selected as the recipient of the 2025 Kevin Child Scholarship (KCS). The Child family selected Luke as this year’s KCS award recipient from among more than 20 applicants.
Luke is currently a first-year medical student at the Central Michigan University College of Medicine with the goal of becoming a physician, researcher, and patient advocate. He credits his formative years experiencing little access to effective hemophilia treatment as motivation for wanting to become a hematologist serving underserved communities. He also plans to continue advocating for all those affected by bleeding disorders across the United States and internationally. "It's my hope that every person with a bleeding disorder has access to quality treatment regardless of their circumstances, and no matter where they live," said Luke. In selecting Luke, the Child family wished to recognize his efforts and encourage his goals and continued impact on the bleeding disorders community in the future.
Luke is a graduating member of the NBDF’s National Youth Leadership Institute (NYLI), where he gained valuable knowledge and skills related to issues around bleeding disorders and contributed with his own insights as a lived experience expert. He served on NBDF’s Healthy Equity Task Force and participated in NBDF’s National Research Blueprint. As a lived experience expert, Luke has given presentations and shared his insights on health equity, diversity, and inclusion, patient-centric research, workforce infrastructure, advocacy, and research priorities for the bleeding disorders community. He is also interested in hemophilia and inhibitors as a potential focus of future clinical research.
The KCS is awarded annually to a student with hemophilia A or B who is either a high school senior, or someone enrolled in a vocational-technical school, college or university, or pursuing a post-secondary education.
This scholarship is named in tribute to Kevin Child, who died of AIDS in 1989, shortly before his graduation from Bucknell University. In honor of Kevin’s legacy, the Child family established this program in the hope of offering some assistance to other students with hemophilia who are pursuing their own education. Since then, more than 30 students have received the KCS award.
Please consider honoring Kevin Child's memory through the impact on other young people with hemophilia by donating to the KCS fund.
In late winter, The Neil Frick Resource Center’s online list of scholarships for 2026 will be updated to include current information on post-secondary educational scholarships available to students living with inheritable blood and bleeding disorders and their family members. Make sure to subscribe to receive updates from NBDF.
Learn more about previous KCS winners here. Inquiries about the Kevin Child Scholarship may be directed to info@bleeding.org.
