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Tomorrow's Top Designers Advance DVT Awareness at Parsons AAS Line Debut Exhibition

NEW YORK, May 7 PRNewswire — Deep-Vein Thrombosis (DVT) awareness comes to the forefront tonight at the Parsons The New School for Design's annual AAS Line Debut. As part of its mission to continue raising public knowledge of this serious and potentially life-threatening condition, the Coalition to Prevent DVT has partnered with Parsons, one of the world's leading institutions for design education, to create a new symbol for DVT awareness.

Leg wear designed by select Parsons' AAS Fashion Studies students will be unveiled on the runway this evening in conjunction with the school's AAS Line Debut, an exhibition that showcases more than 40 innovative looks by emerging designers from this leading professional fashion degree program. The leg wear will provide the inspiration for a new DVT awareness symbol. Based on the Coalition's DVT Awareness by Design program, leg wear was selected as the design medium for DVT awareness because DVT is a blood clot that most often forms in the leg, then may migrate to the lung where it can cause pulmonary embolism (PE).

"Parsons' participation in the DVT awareness campaign and the school's stellar reputation in the design world will help us engage the public and continue to raise awareness of this under-recognized yet serious condition," said Melanie Bloom, Coalition to Prevent DVT National Patient Spokesperson. Bloom became an outspoken advocate for DVT awareness after her husband, NBC Correspondent David Bloom, died of complications from DVT while covering the war in Iraq.

Each year up to two million people in the United States suffer from DVT, and approximately 300,000 die from its potentially fatal complication, pulmonary embolism (PE). In fact, DVT complications kill more Americans each year than breast cancer and AIDS combined. DVT-related PE is the most common cause of preventable hospital death. Certain individuals may be at increased risk for developing DVT, but it can occur in almost anyone.

The Parsons Partnership: A Personal Connection

It was one of the many lives lost to DVT that led to the Coalition's partnership with Parsons. After noted Parsons faculty member and alumna Stacie Nipps died of DVT-related PE in 2004, the school named an award in her honor and invited Melanie Bloom to present it in 2007.

"Our loss of a treasured member of the Parsons community makes raising awareness of DVT especially important to us," said Pamela Klein, Chair, Associate in Applied Science (AAS) Degree Programs, Parsons The New School for Design. "Parsons has a long history of engaging students in projects that address social issues through design, and our partnership with the Coalition to continue to raise DVT awareness seemed like an ideal way to do that."

New York-based designer, Jay Godfrey, a Parsons AAS Fashion Studies program alum, will be the recipient of this year's Stacie Nipps alumni award.

Parsons' highly regarded Associate in Applied Science (AAS) programs in Graphic Design, Interior Design, Fashion Studies (fashion design) and Fashion Marketing offer an intensive course of study to motivated students who want to launch new careers, advance in their fields, or start their own businesses. AAS students come from a remarkable range of academic and professional backgrounds, its alumni include Sheila Bridges, named "America's Best Interior Designer" by CNN and Time Magazine, and Reed Krakoff, Executive Creative Director of Coach, Incorporated.

Leading up to today's fashion show in New York City, Bloom visited hospitals and other institutions across the country, encouraging healthcare professionals to design socks that demonstrate what DVT means to them. More than 1,600 hospitals participated in local DVT Awareness by Design fashion shows throughout March to draw attention to this under-recognized yet serious condition. Parsons' students tapped into these DVT Awareness by Design entries as inspiration for their own fashion leg wear creations. This inspirational leg wear will serve as the foundation to create the new DVT awareness icon, replacing the maroon-ribbon lapel pin.

The DVT designed leg wear will be modeled by Melanie Bloom and other noteworthy personalities. Participants in the event include ESPN Sports Broadcaster Bonnie Bernstein, NBC's TODAY Show Ann Curry and Natalie Morales, among others.

"Like me, many people at Parsons know what it's like to lose someone due to complications of DVT," said Bloom, whose husband's tragic death from a DVT rattled those in the news industry. "Working together, we can bring attention to the prevailing need for reducing risks and treating DVT."

In addition to the Parsons partnership, the DVT Awareness by Design 2008 campaign also includes a public service announcement featuring Melanie Bloom, as well as Web and interactive components available at www.preventdvt.org.

About the Coalition to Prevent DVT The mission of the Coalition to Prevent DVT is to reduce the immediate and long-term dangers of DVT and PE, which together comprise one of the nation's leading causes of death. The Coalition will educate the public, healthcare professionals and policy-makers about risk factors, symptoms and signs associated with DVT, as well as identify evidence-based measures to reduce the risk of morbidity and mortality from DVT and PE. For more information, visit www.preventdvt.org.

The Coalition to Prevent Deep-Vein Thrombosis is funded by sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC.

About Parsons The New School for Design

Located in New York City, Parsons The New School for Design is one of the most prestigious and comprehensive colleges of art and design in the world. As a vital part of The New School,

Parsons students learn to rise to the challenges of living, working, and creative decision-making in a world where human experience is increasingly designed.

For more information, please contact www.parsons.newschool.edu.

About the Parsons AAS Line Debut

The Parsons AAS Line Debut Exhibition will be on view from May 7-16, 2008, at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons The New School for Design, located at Fifth Avenue at 13th Street in New York. For more information, please visit www.parsons.newschool.edu/events.

SOURCE Coalition to Prevent DVT

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