White House Organ Summit aims to reduce organ waiting list

The White House recently announced several key actions being taken to reduce the organ waiting list. These collaborations and commitments represent a collection of great minds and organizations coming together with one common goal, to save lives and reduce the agonizing wait for vital, life-saving organs.

We have a part in this as well. Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas will work in collaboration with the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, Cleveland Clinic, Fahrenheit 212, Mount Sinai Health System, ORGANIZE, and the University of Chicago Medicine to establish an anonymous, non-designated living donor database.

“Every day, more than 20 people die waiting for an organ and a database of this kind could make great strides in improving organ availability across the country,” said Dr. Giuliano Testa, surgical director of living donor liver transplantation at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

When there is a donor opportunity, multiple potential donors are often identified but do not have a chance to give since only one donor is required for that given patient. With this database, we hope to help centers direct these additional willing donors fairly and ethically to other donation opportunities.