Minorities suffer end-stage renal disease (ESRD), a very serious life-threatening kidney disease, much more frequently than do caucasians. Asian Americans are three times more likely than caucasians to develop ESRD; hispanics are three times as likely, and African Americans are twice as likely as caucasians to develop ESRD. ESRD is treatable with dialysis, but dialysis can result in a poor quality of life for the patient. The preferred treatment of ESRD is kidney transplantation. Transplantation offers the patient freedom from dialysis to lead a more normal life and can successfully cure ESRD for many years. As with any transplant procedure, it is very important to assure a close match between donor and recipient blood types and genetic make-up. Members of different racial and ethnic groups are usually more genetically similar to members of their own group than they are to others. (For example, African Americans are usually more genetically similar to other African Americans than they are to caucasians). It is important, therefore, to increase the minority donor pool so that good matches can be made as frequently as possible for minority patients.