New initiative aims to increase living organ donation through education, outreach and research
More than 90,000 people nationwide are on the waiting list for kidney transplants, and nearly 9,000 children and adults are awaiting a liver transplant. In both cases, living organ donation can significantly improve access and reduce wait times.
That is why the new UW Health Living Donor Initiative aims to increase the number of living kidney and liver donors at UW Health Transplant Center by 20% over two years.
The initiative will expand education and community outreach efforts throughout Wisconsin and northern Illinois, in order to help potential donors better understand living donation and its impact on transplant patients.
It will also expand research on the long-term health of living donors—work that is led by Didier Mandelbrot, MD, Virginia Lee Cook Professor in Transplant Nephrology, Nephrology, who currently studies the process of living kidney donor evaluation to maximize donor safety and transplant immunosuppression.
“Living donors give so much; it is our responsibility to ensure we understand how that gift may affect their health, not just in the weeks after surgery, but for years to come,” says Dr. Mandelbrot.
The initiative—and much of Dr. Mandelbrot’s research—is made possible by significant philanthropic support from Jeff and Lynn Bakiares through the Virginia Lee Cook Foundation.