Texas inmate asks to delay execution for kidney donation

 For all you practical ethicists out there, here's a story by the AP that has divided my email correspondents:

Texas inmate asks to delay execution for kidney donation By JUAN A. LOZANO

"A Texas inmate who is set to be put to death in less than two weeks asked that his execution be delayed so he can donate a kidney.

...

"In a letter sent Wednesday, Gonzales’ lawyers, Thea Posel and Raoul Schonemann, asked Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to grant a 30-day reprieve so the inmate can be considered a living donor “to someone who is in urgent need of a kidney transplant.”

...

"Gonzales’ attorneys say he’s been determined to be an “excellent candidate” for donation after being evaluated by the transplant team at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. The evaluation found Gonzales has a rare blood type, meaning his donation could benefit someone who might have difficulty finding a match.

“Virtually all that remains is the surgery to remove Ramiro’s kidney. UTMB has confirmed that the procedure could be completed within a month,” Posel and Schonemann wrote to Abbott.

"Texas Department of Criminal Justice policies allow inmates to make organ and tissue donations. Agency spokeswoman Amanda Hernandez said Gonzales was deemed ineligible after making a request to be a donor earlier this year. She did not give a reason, but Gonzales’ lawyers said in their letter that the agency objected because of the pending execution date.

...

"In a report, the United Network for Organ Sharing, a nonprofit that serves as the nation’s transplant system under contract with the federal government, listed various ethical concerns about organ donations from condemned prisoners. They include whether such donations could be tied to prisoners receiving preferential treatment or that such organs could be morally compromised because of their ties to the death penalty."

HT: Frank McCormick

A Forum on Kidneys for Sale in Iran, in Transplant International

 Just published in Transplant International (which is the journal of the European Society for Organ Transplantation), is a paper describing the Iranian market for kidneys in the city of Mashad, and three commentaries on it.  

 Here's the original paper:

Kidneys for Sale: Empirical Evidence From Iran  by Tannaz Moeindarbari and Mehdi Feizi

And here are three short commentaries.

Kidneys for Sale? A Commentary on Moeindarbari’s and Feizi’s Study on the Iranian Model  by Frederike Ambagtsheer1, Sean Columb, Meteb M. AlBugami, and Ninoslav Ivanovski

Kidneys for Sale: Are We There Yet? (Commentary on Kidneys for Sale: Empirical Evidence From Iran) by Kyle R. Jackson, Christine E. Haugen, and Dorry L. Segev

Criminal, Legal, and Ethical Kidney Donation and Transplantation: A Conceptual Framework to Enable Innovation  by Alvin E. Roth, Ignazio R. Marino, Kimberly D. Krawiec and Michael A. Rees

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The commentary by Roth, Marino, Krawiec and Rees contrasts the legal Iranian market with the dangerous black markets that operate elsewhere, outside of regular medical institutions.

Here's a recent long article that pulls together much of the discussion on compensation for donors and on sale of kidneys and transplant black markets:

Organ Trafficking, Can the illicit trade be stopped? By Sarah Glazer,  CQ Researcher, June 24, 2022 – Volume 32, Issue 22

HT: Frank McCormick

An unusual Argentine presidential candidate supports a monetary market for kidneys

 The right-wing Argentine politician,  Javier Milei, who describes himself as an anarcho-capitalist (but who the Washington Post thinks has a chance of becoming Argentina's next president, supports the sale of kidneys for transplantation. (The Buenos Aires Times describes him in general as an "outspoken provocateur.") While the election is only in 2023, this is the first time I have heard of this issue entering any sort of political campaign.

Here's the story in La Nacion, with some excerpts in rough translation by Google:

Javier Milei se manifestó a favor de la venta de órganos tras apoyar la compra libre de armas y denunciar a periodistas: “Es un mercado más”  2 de junio de 2022

"Javier Milei spoke out in favor of the sale of organs after supporting the free purchase of weapons and denouncing journalists: “It is one more market”

"In a week full of controversy for having denounced journalists and supported the free purchase of arms , the national deputy Javier Milei expressed another controversial opinion this morning: he declared himself in favor of the sale of organs . “It is one more market,” said the libertarian, who has already declared himself a presidential candidate for 2023.

"Asked about his position regarding this practice prohibited by law in Argentina, Milei said: “It is one more market and you could think of it as a market. The problem is why everything has to be regulated by the State.

...

"Later, he said that "there is probably something" that leads someone to decide to market their organs and under the assumption that this reason could be, for example, poverty, Milei indicated: "Then we are going to put it in other terms: if not you end up buying that organ, you end up starving and you don't even have a life."

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HT: Julio Elias

End-stage Kidney Disease in the U.S. has doubled since 2000

 Kidney disease is on the rise in the U.S. Transplantation is the treatment of choice, but doesn't begin to meet the need.

JAMA has the story:

End-stage Kidney Disease Doubles  by Bridget M. Kuehn, MSJ, JAMA. 2022;327(16):1540. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.5342

"The number of people living with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) more than doubled between 2000 and 2019—from 358 247 to 783 594—according to an analysis of data from the United States Renal Data System (USRDS). A 41.8% increase in new cases also occurred during the study period, from 92 660 cases to 131 422 cases. Hypertension and diabetes were driving factors.

"Substantial racial and ethnic disparities in ESKD rates remain a concern. Among Asian people, new ESKD cases increased from 2507 cases in 2000 to 6256 cases in 2019—a 149.5% increase that was the largest in any racial or ethnic group. During the study period, new cases increased from 25 917 to 33 700 among Black people, from 11 297 to 20 790 among Hispanic people, from 742 to 1458 among Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander people, and from 51 156 to 67 919 among White people.

...

"They note that in 2019 alone, Medicare spent $37.3 billion or 7% of all claims on ESKD, according to USRDS data."

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Update: Here's the USRDS 2021 Annual Data Report, and 

here's End Stage Renal Disease: Chapter 1: Incidence, Prevalence, Patient Characteristics, and Treatment Modalities

Highlights:

• In 2019, 134,608 individuals were newly diagnosed with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), representing an increase of 2.7% from the previous year and 15.8% from a decade ago (Figure 1.1). However, the adjusted incidence fell from a peak of 431 per million population (pmp) in 2006 to 386 pmp in 2019.
• In 2019, 85% of those with incident ESRD initiated in-center hemodialysis (HD) (Figure 1.2). This represents a decrease from 91% in 2009. Over the past decade, the percentage initiating kidney replacement therapy with peritoneal dialysis (PD) nearly doubled, from 6% to 11%. The percentage who received a preemptive kidney transplant remained unchanged over the decade at about 3%.
• Adjusted ESRD incidence increased as age increased: among individuals aged 0-17 years, the adjusted incidence in 2019 was 12 pmp; among individuals aged 65-74 years, 1,307 pmp; and among individuals aged ≥75 years 1,587 pmp (Figure 1.4).
• Between 2009 and 2019, adjusted ESRD incidence in Black individuals decreased by 17.5%, in Native American individuals by 14.1%, in Hispanic individuals by 12.1%, in Asian individuals by 5.2%, and in White individuals by 2.4% (Figure 1.4). However, in all individuals except for Whites, adjusted incidence increased between 2018 and 2019.
• The prevalent count of individuals with ESRD reached 809,103 in 2019, an increase of 41.0% from 2009 (Figure 1.5). Adjusted ESRD prevalence also increased to an all-time high of 2302 cases pmp in 2019. 
• At the end of 2019, 492,096 individuals were receiving in-center HD, up 1.7% from 2018 and 34.5% from 2009 (Figure 1.6). There were 12,243 patients performing home HD at year’s end, an increase of 20.1% over the preceding year. The number of individuals receiving PD increased to 62,275, representing 8.5% growth in a single year.
• Adjusted ESRD prevalence in Black individuals was far higher, at 6423 pmp, than in other racial and ethnic groups; adjusted prevalence in Black individuals was 78.6% higher than in the next-highest group, Native Americans, and more than fourfold higher than in White individuals (Figure 1.8).
• The percentage of patients with prevalent ESRD who had a functioning kidney transplant was highest among White (36%) and lowest among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (18%) individuals. Conversely, White individuals had the lowest percentage receiving in-center HD (54%), and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander individuals had the highest (73%) (Figure 1.10).
• White (73%), Asian (72%), and Native American (72%) individuals were much more likely to have received pre-ESRD care compared with Black (64%), Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (62%), and Hispanic (61%) individuals (Figure 1.11). 
• In 2019, 39% of patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥10 mL/min/1.73 m² at ESRD onset (Figure 1.14). The mean eGFR at initiation of kidney replacement therapy was 9.6 mL/min/1.73m2 (Table 1.3). Overall, 60.6% of incident patients with ESRD had diabetes mellitus (DM), 28.4% heart failure (HF), and 20.8% other cardiac disease (Figure 1.18). Fully 77.5% of Native American individuals had DM, compared with 57.8% of White individuals.
• Cardiovascular disease (CVD) was present in 77.3% of patients receiving HD, 66.4% of patients receiving PD, and 54.8% of patients with a kidney transplant.

Kim Krawiec interviews Sally Satel about kidneys

 Kim's podcast Taboo Trades adds a new interview and reminds you of two previous interviews, with kidney donors:

April 17, 2022

Kidneys with Sally Satel

I discuss what it's like to need (and receive) a life-saving kidney transplant with AEI's Sally Satel (a two-time kidney transplant patient) and UVA 3L, Caitlyn Stollings, who co-hosts this episode.

Dr. Satel is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and the staff psychiatrist at a local methadone clinic in Washington D.C. She was also an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale University from 1988 to 1993 and remains a lecturer at Yale.

Importantly for our purposes, she is a two-time kidney transplant patient and has written widely about that experience. Dr. Satel is also the editor of When Altruism Isn’t Enough: The Case for Compensating Kidney Donors

 

This episode features a kidney recipient, but we've also done two episodes featuring Good Samaritan donors, here:

and here:

Posted by Kim Krawiec at 10:46 AM in Taboo Trades | Permalink

Kidney transplant events--call for participants

 Here's a collection of events in which people interested in kidney transplantation can participate.  I'll give a short talk on kidney exchange in the May 7 event.  There are also events tomorrow, April 23, and June 12, as well as ways to help particular transplant candidates who you know.

Evolving National Perspectives In Kidney Transplant Symposium Is Rewarding Living Kidney Donors Medically Unethical?   Date: Saturday, May 7, 2022 7AM PDT | 9AM CDT | 10AM EDT This symposium is approximately 3.5 hours   Noted speakers include Oxford philosopher and ethicist J.R. Richards and Nobel Laureate Alvin Roth. Currently it is illegal for the donor or donor’s family to receive anything of value in exchange for an organ. The one policy that has not been considered to increase the donor supply and which probably has the most potential is to offer a reward or some other compensation to the donor. The primary argument offered by those opposed to rewarding the donor is that it is medically unethical? The primary purpose of this symposium is addressing this issue of whether rewarding the donor is medically unethical.   In addition to the medical ethics question, this symposium will have presentations by experts in the field of transplantation on related questions including:   The cost benefit question; The risks and safety of donation; Immediate options to increase organ donation; The very recent development of organ sharing; U.S. public attitudes towards rewarding the donor; The experiences of a living donor; The limits of increasing the count of deceased donors. INTENDED AUDIENCE: This virtual event is designed for surgeons, physicians, policy analysts, and health care professionals dedicated to the treatment of chronic kidney failure. This symposium is sponsored by the University of Chicago Transplant Institute, the National Kidney Donation Organization (NKDO), and Waitlist Zero.   View Symposium Flyer   View University of Chicago Course Page   Join Symposium Virtually Here, For Free       Join the Transplant Village Trotters Team for the NKFI Kidney Walk in Chicago Walk for Kidneys is a family-friendly celebration of passion and progress. This annual event is an incredible opportunity for supporters of the NKFI to come together, show their spirit, and demonstrate their determination to make a difference in the fight against kidney disease.  Join our Transplant Village Team, "The Transplant Village Trotters," as we support the NKFI mission for this festive two-mile walk.  Proceeds support research, public education, and patient services.   Join The Transplant Village Trotters Team!       Living Donor Meet-up in Chicago   Come join fellow living donors for a fun-filled day of events in Chicago on April 23rd!  This informal and laid back event is a great opportunity to hang out with other living donors and enjoy Chicago on what looks like will be a beautiful day.  No registration needed just show up and feel free to bring friends and family!   Living Donors 5th Meetup Facebook Page     Are you or somebody you love in need of a living kidney donor? The Kidney Champion Program will help you learn ways you can find your living kidney donor. The program is run entirely by living kidney donors, transplant recipients, and caregivers who want to share their experiences with you. During this program, you will learn skills to effectively tell your story and lessen your fear of asking for a living donor.  You will learn specific strategies on how you can use social media to share your story.  The Kidney Champion Program was created through a 3-way partnership between the Northwestern Medicine Organ Transplant Center, Transplant Village, and the Living Kidney Donors Network. This program was developed with you in mind. We want to help you be an active part of your kidney transplant journey. We have found that when people needing a kidney transplant put forth the effort and drive the process, they can find a living kidney donor. Feel free to invite your entire care team- whether you are in need of a lifesaving transplant yourself or are trying to support someone in need, this program offers education and strategies that your entire care team can employ to help you on your journey!     Sign up for the Kidney Champion Program

Afghanistan’s trade in organs--and children

 Here's the story in the WSJ:

‘No Father Wants to Sell His Son’s Kidney.’ Afghans Pushed to Desperate Measures to Survive. Afghanistan’s deepening humanitarian crisis fuels booming organ trade  By Sune Engel Rasmussen

"For those willing, an illegal but barely hidden business in the western city of Herat offers a reprieve from the downward spiral. Two hospitals in town offer kidney transplants that attract Afghans from across the country, performing 15-20 surgeries a month. Officials turn a blind eye. Buying and selling organs is illegal, as in most other countries. But scores of Afghans have come here to make the trade.

...

"Finding a seller of a kidney isn’t hard. Notes advertising private organ sales are plastered on walls and lampposts in Herat and other cities. Kidney brokers distribute business cards offering to put buyers in touch with sellers.

...

"Mr. Mohammad and his wife decided that unless they sold a child, they would have to sell an organ. Both of them were unsuited, as Mr. Mohammad had kidney stones and his wife had diabetes. Their oldest son made up to three dollars a day collecting plastic for recycling, so was spared. The choice fell on Khalil Ahmad, their second son.

...

"Ghulam Hossein came to Herat from the eastern Nangarhar province after a doctor told him his kidneys were failing. It took him 25 days to find a seller.

“I have no words to thank this man,” Mr. Hossein said about the donor, who needed money after being forced to sell his small grocery store, and who visited Mr. Hossein after the operation.

“I know he was poor but it takes huge courage and sacrifice to sell your kidney,” Mr. Hossein said. “I am more concerned now about his health than my own.”

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Here's an earlier story from the Guardian:

I’ve already sold my daughters; now, my kidney’: winter in Afghanistan’s slums. Crushing poverty is forcing starving displaced people to make desperate choices  by  M Mursal and Zahra Nader, 23 Jan 2022

“I was forced to sell two of my daughters, an eight-by and six-year-old,” she says. Rahmati says she sold her daughters a few months ago for 100,000 afghani each (roughly £700), to families she doesn’t know. Her daughters will stay with her until they reach puberty and then be handed over to strangers.

"It is not uncommon in Afghanistan to arrange the sale of a daughter into a future marriage but raise her at home until it is time for her to leave. However, as the country’s economic crisis deepens, families are reporting that they are handing children over at an increasingly young age because they cannot afford to feed them.

"Yet, selling her daughters’ future was not the only agonising decision Rahmati was forced to make. “Because of debt and hunger I was forced to sell my kidney,” she tells Rukhshana Media from outside her home in the Herat slum."

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And from the BMJ:

Afghans driven to sell kidneys on black market in the face of extreme poverty BMJ 2022; 376 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o587 (Published 04 March 2022)  by Gareth Iacobucci

"People in Afghanistan are resorting to selling their kidneys on the black market to feed their families as the country faces extreme poverty.

"The United Nations estimates that 24 million people in Afghanistan—more than half of the population—are in need of lifesaving humanitarian aid. This is 30% higher than in 2021 when the Taliban seized control of the country.

"Illegal organ trading already existed in Afghanistan before the Taliban’s takeover, but a combination of economic sanctions, severe drought, and covid-19 have led to the black market surging as many more people experience extreme poverty.

"A lot of the trade is focused in the western city of Herat, close to the border with Iran."

Future treatments for kidney failure

 The future treatments of kidney failure are just around the corner, where it seems they have been for a long time. So it's perhaps appropriate that this optimistic look at emerging technologies was published on April 1, but I think that's just an accident.

Beyond kidney dialysis and transplantation: what’s on the horizon? by Hamid Rabb, Kyungho Lee, and Chirag R. Parikh, J Clin Invest. 2022 Apr 1; 132(7): e159308., Published online 2022 Apr 1. doi: 10.1172/JCI159308

"There are currently over 750,000 patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the United States. Globally, 2.6 million patients receive renal replacement therapy with either dialysis or a kidney transplant, which is estimated to double in number by 2030 (1). Kidney care was revolutionized by the invention of the dialysis machine in 1943 by Willem Kolff and the subsequent development of the arteriovenous fistula in 1960 by Belding Scribner. The first successful human kidney transplantation was performed in 1954 by Joseph Murray, teaming with John Merrill, and has since become the treatment of choice for patients with ESRD. Although there have been only incremental innovations since that time, recent exciting developments in kidney research have the potential to transform treatment beyond dialysis and transplantation. Here, we highlight five emerging approaches for ESRD."

They go on to briefly discuss:

• Wearable and bioartificial kidneys
• Kidney-on-a-chip
• Growing a new kidney from stem cell–derived organoids
• Immune tolerance protocols for kidney transplants
• Xenotransplantation

National Living Donor Assistance Center (NLDAC) support for lost wages and dependent care

 NLDAC, the National Living Donor Assistance Center, is spreading the word on the new ways it can reimburse expenses incurred by living organ donors who meet a means test and have no other sources of support.  Here are two relevant pages from their recent brochure:

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Earlier post (in connection with which matching budget increases have since come through):

Sunday, September 27, 2020

Removing financial disincentives to living organ donation: HRSA publishes Final Rule

U.S. kidney transplant statistics for 2020

 Here's a recent report in the American Journal of Transplantation: 

OPTN/SRTR 2020 Annual Data Report: Kidney

K. L. Lentine,J. M. Smith,A. Hart,J. Miller,M. A. Skeans,L. Larkin,A Robinson,K. Gauntt,A. K. Israni,R. Hirose,J. J. Snyder First published: 10 March 2022 https://doi.org/10.1111/ajt.16982

Abstract: "The year 2020 presented significant challenges to the field of kidney transplantation. After increasing each year since 2015 and reaching the highest annual count to date in 2019, the total number of kidney trans- plants decreased slightly, to 23642, in 2020. The decrease in total kidney transplants was due to a decrease in living donor transplants; the number of deceased donor transplants rose in 2020. The number of patients waiting for a kidney transplant in the United States declined slightly in 2020, driven by a slight drop in the number of new candidates added in 2020 and an increase in patients removed from the waiting list owing to death-important patterns that correlated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The complexities of the pandemic were accompanied by other ongoing challenges. Nationwide, only about a quarter of waitlisted patients receive a deceased donor kidney transplant within 5 years, a proportion that varies dramatically by donation service area, from 14.8% to 73.0%. The nonutilization (discard) rate of recovered organs rose to its highest value, at 21.3%, despite a dramatic decline in the discard of organs from hepatitis C-positive donors. Nonutilization rates remain particularly high for Kidney Donor Profile Index ≥85% kidneys and kidneys from which a biopsy specimen was obtained. Due to pandemic-related disruption of living donation in spring 2020, the number of living donor transplants in 2020 declined below annual counts over the last decade. In this context, only a small proportion of the waiting list receives living donor transplants each year, and racial disparities in living donor transplant access persist. As both graft and patient survival continue to improve incrementally, the total number of living kidney transplant recipients with a functioning graft exceeded 250,000 in 2020. Pediatric transplant numbers seem to have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The total number of pediatric kidney transplants performed decreased to 715 in 2020, from a peak of 872 in 2009. Despite numerous efforts, living donor kidney transplant remains low among pediatric recipients, with continued racial disparities among recipients. Of concern, the rate of deceased donor transplant among pediatric waitlisted candidates continued to decrease, reaching its lowest point in 2020. While this may be partly explained by the COVID-19 pandemic, close attention to this trend is critically important. Congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract remain the leading cause of kidney disease in the pediatric population. While most pediatric de- ceased donor recipients receive a kidney from a donor with KDPI less than 35%, most pediatric deceased donor recipients had four or more HLA mis- matches. Graft survival continues to improve, with superior survival for living donor recipients versus deceased donor recipients."

Transplant coordinators

 Those of us adjacent to kidney exchange know that transplant coordinators are heroes, and I'm reminded of that by some recent news stories.

This is one, from YNET, by Tamar Ashkenazi, who runs the Israeli transplant organization. Transplant coordinators are nurses, and these flew to the Ukraine-Polish border to help care for refugees in transit:

Meet Israeli organ transplant coordinators who rushed to aid Ukrainian refugees  b yDr. Tamar Ashkenazi

"Among the earliest delegations Israel sent to Ukraine was one consisting of a group of organ transplant coordinators, who refused to remain neutral in the wake of the horrors of war. 

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And here are some stories about Charles Bearden, one of the first transplant coordinators in the U.S.:

Life-saving matchmaker By KEN BECK For the Grundy County Herald

"Bearden, the longest-practicing organ transplant coordinator in the U.S., has observed a world of changes in organ transplants since he began his career in the 1970s."

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Transplant coordinator Charles Bearden has placed nearly 3,000 organs  by KEN BECK news@wilsonpost.com

"Organ transplant coordinators typically work 24-hour shifts 15 days a month. If Bearden makes it to the end of 2022, he will have fulfilled that role 45 years."

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 And here's an old post containing a poem by Marisol Robles (one of the first kidney recipients in a global kidney exchange) about Susan Rees, the transplant coordinator for the Alliance for Paired Kidney Donation:

Thursday, November 3, 2016

La maga de riñones: The kidney conjurer (a poem about kidney exchange by Marisol Robles)

Kidneys on Kilimanjaro

 The Washington Post has the story

A group of organ donors is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro this week. They each have one kidney.  By Cathy Free

"“We thought, ‘How about if we use this climb to raise awareness and show everyone that you can still lead a healthy and active life if you donate a kidney?’ ” said McLaughlin, a former college soccer coach who lives in Seattle.

“It didn’t take long before we had 22 kidney donors signed up to make the trip,” he said.

"The group hopes the trek, which will begin Friday, will help dispel the notion that donors can’t live full lives with one kidney, said Kidney Donor Athletes founder Tracey Hulick, who donated a kidney to a stranger in May 2017.

...

"The group — which named its adventure the One Kidney Climb — hopes to reach Kilimanjaro’s 19,341-foot volcanic summit at sunrise on March 10, World Kidney Day."

Kidney Transplant Collaborative

 The Kidney Transplant Collaborative has a new grants program, that includes the following exciting initiatives:

1. Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates

Grant Project:  Pulsatile Perfusion from Procurement to Delivery at Accepting Centers 

Project Team:    David Dwyer, Transplant Center Liaison; Brian Roe, Chief Financial Officer; Jennifer Daniel, Organ Operations Director

2. Stanford University in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Grant Project:  Using Machine Learning to Improve Utilization and Reducing Discards in Deceased Donor Organ Allocation 

Project Team:  Itai Ashlagi, Associate Professor – Stanford; Paulo Somaini, Assistant Professor of Economics – Stanford; Nikhil Agarwal, Associate Professor of Economics – MIT

3. HonorBridge 

Grant Project:   Kidney Transplant in Rapid Organ Recovery from Donation after Uncontrolled Circulatory Death Donors 

Project Team:   Kimberly Koontz, Chief Operating Officer; Nissa Casey, Manager of Recovery Services; Joel Baucom, Director of Organ Operations; Lora Smitherman, Manager of Hospital Services

4. Columbia University in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic and the National Kidney Foundation 

Grant Project:   Using Shared Decision Making to Improve Kidney Transplantation Rates 

Project Team:  Sumit Mohan, Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology – Columbia University; Syed Ali Husain, Assistant Professor of Medicine – Columbia University; Kristin King, Data Analyst - Columbia University;  Anne Huml, Assistant Professor of Medicine – Cleveland Clinic; Jesse Schold, Director of Outcomes Research in Kidney Transplantation - Cleveland Clinic;  Peter Reese, Associate Professor of Medicine - University of Pennsylvania 

5. Cambridge85, LLC 

Grant Project:   Deceased Donor Kidney Chains 

Project Team:  Simon Keith, Founder/Principal ,Cambridge 85; Kelly Ranum, CEO, Louisiana Organ Procurement Organization; Diane Brockmeier, CEO, Mid-American Transplant; Kyle Herbert, CEO

Live on Nebraska;  Matt Wadsworth, CEO, Life Connection of Ohio