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Actions to strengthen the U.S. organ donation and transplant system

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Driving system-wide improvement to better serve patients

April 6, 2023
More than 42,800 organ transplants were performed in the U.S. in 2022, an increase of nearly 1,500 over the previous year. The system’s success reflects its commitment to continuous improvement, which has driven 10 consecutive years of increases in the number of deceased-donor transplants performed. Thanks to the efforts of the national transplant network, 23 percent more deceased-donor transplants are performed today than five years ago. Read the full article from UNOS.

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From Patient to Doctor: How a Transplant Recipient Became a Transplant Physician

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Sara Kathryn Smith — the medical director of pediatric liver transplantation at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, brings a unique insight and perspective to the job, as a transplant recipient herself


Newswise — At age 17, Sara Kathryn Smith began an unexpected, personal health journey — a journey that would alter the course of her life and career and, ultimately, provide her a unique set of experiences to help others as a medical professional. Today, Smith serves as the medical director for pediatric liver transplantation at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. But years ago, she was a liver transplant patient herself. 

Her liver troubles began one evening during her junior year of high school — Smith had a pain in her stomach and threw up blood the following morning. Read the full story from Johns Hopkins Medicine.

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Double Lung Transplants May Be Rare, but They Just Saved Two Lives

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Both recipients had Stage IV lung cancer and were given only weeks to live. Here’s why double lung transplants are so uncommon.

By Laura Schmidt
The stars aligned for two people with Stage IV lung cancer who received lifesaving double lung transplants after being told they had just weeks to live, CNN reports.

Albert Khoury, 54, of Chicago, was diagnosed with Stage I lung cancer in 2020 near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. By July 2020, the cancer had reached Stage IV. He was told to consider all his options, including hospice care. Read more from Cancer Health.

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HRSA Plans to Modernize US Organ Transplant Donation System to Shorten Wait Times, Improve Equity

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Citing the need to modernize the US organ transplantation framework, the Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has announced the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) Modernization Initiative. The OPTN aims to accelerate progress in areas including technology, data transparency and analytics, governance, operations, and quality improvement and innovation. Read more in this American College of Surgeons (ACS) Brief.

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Our Organ Transplant System Isn’t the Failure It’s Made Out to Be

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— Upholding the system will save lives

by Peter G. Stock, MD, PhD, Nancy L. Ascher, MD, PhD, and John P. Roberts, MD 

Thanks to a robust network of hospitals, nonprofit organizations, and government support, the U.S. remains a leader in organ transplantation. This community, which is managed by United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), saves tens of thousands of lives every year. Despite this success, opponents of UNOS are advocating to dismantle the transplant system as we know it. Read the full article in MedPage Today.

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U.S. Organ Transplant System, Troubled by Long Wait Times, Faces an Overhaul

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The Biden administration announced a plan to modernize how patients are matched to organs, seeking to shorten wait times, address racial inequities and reduce deaths.

By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it would seek to break up the network that has long run the nation’s organ transplant system, as part of a broader modernization effort intended to shorten wait times, address racial inequities and reduce the number of patients who die while waiting.

More than 100,000 people in the United States are awaiting organ transplants in a system that has long been defined by an imbalance between supply and demand. Read the full story in The New York Times.

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Program aims to address inequities in transplant among Black patients

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A program in Chicago is helping historically underrepresented groups gain improved access to a kidney transplant, a presenter said here.

The aim of the Northwestern Medicine African American Transplant Access Program (AATAP), led by transplant surgeon Dinee C. Simpson, MD, FACS, is “to break down barriers to transplant care in the African American community through access to education, resources and quality transplant care,” according to the AATAP website.
Read the full story in Healio.

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Boosting kidney transplants in Western New York

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Raising awareness on March 9, World Kidney Day, and all year long, about kidney health and transplants is the goal of a UB surgeon and her community partners

By Ellen Goldbaum

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Of all the organs that can be transplanted, kidneys, by far, are the organ in greatest demand. Kidney failure can take years to develop but there are typically few symptoms until irreparable damage has been done. Read more from the University at Buffalo News Center.

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