Kidney exchange updates

 Here are three kidney papers and proposals that I've noted recently,  which will have implications for the growing interest in international kidney exchange on a global scale:

Klaassen MF., de Klerk M, Dor FJ.M.F., Heidt S, van de Laar SC., Minnee RC., van de Wetering J, Pengel LH.M. and de Weerd AE. (2025) Navigating a Quandary in Kidney Exchange Programs: A Review of Donor Travel versus Organ Shipment. Transpl. Int. 38:14804. doi: 10.3389/ti.2025.14804

Abstract:  In multicenter kidney exchange programs (KEPs), either the explanted kidney must be shipped, or the donor must travel to the transplanting center. This review describes the available data on these two approaches and formulates recommendations for practice. We searched for studies addressing organ shipment or donor travel in KEPs. Data were categorized into four domains: cold ischemia time (CIT), logistics, donor/recipient perspectives and professional perspectives. From 547 articles screened, 105 were included. Kidneys are shipped in most countries. Prolonged CIT due to shipment may increase the risk of delayed graft function, but does not seem to impact graft survival. Planning the shipment requires a robust logistical framework with guaranteed operating room availability. Donor travel is reported to be both emotionally and financially distressing for donors and exposes them to inconsistencies in donor evaluation and counseling across centers. Reduced willingness to participate in KEP when travelling was reported by 36%–51% of donors. Professionals generally support offering organ shipment to donors not willing to travel. In conclusion, the decision between donor travel or organ shipment should be tailored to local circumstances. Healthcare professionals should prioritize minimizing barriers to KEP participation, either by facilitating organ shipment or reducing the burden of donor travel. 

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Neetika Garg, Joe Habbouche, Elisa J. Gordon, AnnMarie Liapakis, Michelle T. Jesse, Krista L. Lentine,
Practical and ethical considerations in kidney paired donation and emerging liver paired exchange,
American Journal of Transplantation,
Volume 25, Issue 11,  2025, Pages 2292-2302,
ISSN 1600-6135,  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajt.2025.07.2459.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1600613525028382)
 

Abstract: Since the first kidney paired donation (KPD) transplant in the United States in 1999, the volume and scope of KPD has expanded substantially, accounting for nearly 20% of living donor kidney transplants in 2021-2022. This review article discusses the practical and ethical issues specific to paired donor exchange that patients, transplant centers, and exchange programs commonly encounter. Access to paired donor exchange and education of candidates regarding the potential benefits, risks, and logistics of KPD are important considerations. Transplant centers and patients must consider practical issues including wait times, allocation and matching strategies, assessment of organ quality, complex donors, cold ischemia time, and risks of broken chains. Protections available to donors from current KPD programs, the potential psychosocial effects, and the ethical concerns related to variable access and the proprietary nature of private exchange programs are also discussed. More detailed, timely data collection at a national level, and ability to merge national data with individual donor exchange registries will enable the analysis of the impact and outcomes of future trends in paired donation. KPD experience and key concepts may inform liver paired exchange, which has been used internationally to expand living donor liver transplantation and is emerging in the United States.

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Alliance for Paired Kidney Donation (APKD) Launches Wish Upon a Donor: A Hope-Focused Advocacy Program Helping Kids Who Need Kidneys Find Living Donors

"TOLEDO, OHIO / ACCESS Newswire / December 9, 2025 / The Alliance for Paired Kidney Donation (APKD) is proud to announce Wish Upon a Donor, a groundbreaking program that amplifies the voices of families fighting for a better and brighter future for their child. While pediatric kidney patients cannot advocate for themselves, their parents can - and too often, they face this battle alone. Wish Upon a Donor helps families share their child's story, shining a light on their hopes, dreams, and urgent need for a living kidney donor.

...

"The onboarding process is fast and simple, taking just 10-15 minutes to complete, and finalized videos are sent to patients in just one to three days. Participation is free, and patients retain full control over how and where their stories are shared.

Wish Upon a Donor offers a range of support for families as they seek living donors, including:

Production of a personalized, high-quality video designed to reflect the patient's wishes, personality, and future - not just their disease

Dedicated campaign webpage to make it easy to convert interest into action

QR-coded postcards and magnets for sharing in local communities

Social media guidance to help families and supporters spread the word

Spanish- and English-language outreach materials for broader access

A living donor mentor to answer any non-medical questions about the process

"Wish buddy" volunteers to assist with video narration and/or sharing patient videos with a broader audience

When interest is generated through the Wish Upon a Donor campaign, APKD ensures both patients and transplant centers are effectively supported with guidance grounded in real-life experience from a dedicated living donor mentor. The organization manages all incoming donor inquiries, educates potential donors on the process, protections, and realities of living donations, and then refers qualified donors to an appropriate transplant center partner. APKD maintains communication and support throughout the evaluation and donation process. This approach empowers potential donors with education while easing the burden on transplant centers."
 

The Union of Concerned Scientists celebrates the NSF

 The Union of Concerned Scientists reminds us of some of many things government support of science has contributed to:

What Do Duolingo, The Magic School Bus, and James Bond Have in Common? The US National Science Foundation 

"Its story begins with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who during World War II recognized the decisive role that scientific research played in national success. As the war ended, Roosevelt envisioned a way to carry that same scientific energy into peacetime; to support knowledge not just for defense, but for discovery. This vision became law under President Harry S. Truman in 1950 with the National Science Foundation Act , establishing a federal agency devoted to “promoting the progress of science” and “advancing the national health, prosperity, and welfare.” 

"Today, NSF accounts for only 0.1% of federal spending but supports roughly a quarter of all federally funded basic research at US colleges and universities. And that research underpins many of the everyday technologies we rely on. 

"75 Years of benefits for the American public 
Ever watch The Magic School Bus or Bill Nye the Science Guy? Those Millennial science classics were funded by NSF. When your local meteorologist points to a Doppler radar image tracking storms or hurricanes, that technology too has NSF roots. If you’ve ever undergone an MRI scan, used American Sign Language (ASL) resources, or benefited from a kidney exchange program, NSF funding helped make those possible."

...

and much more at the link...  

Ethical considerations and global cooperaton in transplantation, Wednesday in Cairo

It's Wednesday morning in Cairo, and here's today's conference schedule, which will include discussion of (and voting on) global cooperation in transplantation. (See my earlier post for context.) 

 

8:00 AM 08:30 AM	Opening Session of Ethical Consensus Global Consensus on Emerging Ethical Frontiers in Transplantation: Innovations & Global Collaboration	HALL A
Strategic Co-Leaders (Alphabetical)	Alvin E. Roth (Stanford University, USA) John Fung (University of Chicago, USA) Mark Ghobrial (Methodist Hospital, Houston, USA) Osama A Gaber (Methodist Hospital, Houston, USA) Sandy Feng (UCSF, USA) Valeria Mas (University of Maryland, USA)
Chairs (Alphabetical)	Ahmed Elsabbagh (University of Pittsburgh, USA) Medhat Askar (Baylor University, USA) Mohamed Ghaly (Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar) Mohamed Hussein (National Guard Hospital, KSA)
Scientific Committee (Alphabetical)	Abdul Rahman Hakeem (King’s College Hospital, UK) Dieter Broering (KFSHRC, KSA) Hermien Hartog (Groningen, the Netherlands) Hosam Hamed (Mansoura University, Egypt) Manuel Rodriguez (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico) Matthew Liao (Center for Bioethics, New York University, USA) Nadey Hakim (King’s College, Dubai, UAE) Stefan Tullius (Harvard Medical School, USA) Varia Kirchner (Stanford University, USA) Wojciech Polak (Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands)
Leadership of Jury Committee (Alphabetical)	Chair: John Fung (University of Chicago, USA) Vice-Chairs Hatem Amer (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA) Lloyd Ratner (Columbia University, USA) Maye Hassaballa (Cairo University, Egypt)
08:30 AM 09:30 AM	State of Art Lecture (1, 2)	HALL A
Chairpersons (Alphabetical)	Mahmoud El-Meteini (Ain Shams University, Egypt) Mehmet Haberal (Baskent University, Turkey) Sandy Feng (UCSF, USA)
08:30 AM 09:00 AM	From Dr. Starzl to the Future: The Evolution of Transplantation and the Call to Continue the Journey John Fung (University of Chicago, USA)
09:00 AM 09:30 AM	Organ Transplant Ethics: How Technoscientific Developments Challenge Us to Reaffirm the Status of the Human Body so as to Navigate Innovation in a Responsible Manner Hub A.E. Zwart (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands)
09:30 AM 11:00 AM	Working Group 1:	HALL A
Chairpersons (Alphabetical)	Ali Alobaidli (Chairman of UAE National transplant committee) Hermien Hartog (Groningen, The Netherlands) Khalid Amer (Military Medical Academy, Egypt) Lloyd Ratner (Columbia University, NY, USA) Thomas Müller (University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland)
09:30 AM 09:50 AM	Keynote Lecture: Xenotransplantation: Scientific Milestones, Clinical Trials, Risks, and Opportunities Jay Fishman (MGH, USA)
09:50 AM 11:00 AM	WG1 Presentation & Panel Voting Matthew Liao (Center for Bioethics, New York University, USA) Hosam Hamed (Mansoura University, Egypt) Daniel fogal (New York University, USA)
11:00 AM 11:30 AM	Coffee Break
11:30 AM 01:00 PM	Working Group 2:	HALL A
Chairpersons (Alphabetical)	Daniel Maluf (University of Maryland, USA) Karim Soliman (University of Pittsburgh, USA) Marleen Eijkholt (Leiden University Medical Centre, Netherlands) Refaat Kamel (Ain Shams University, Egypt) Varia Krichner (Stanford University, USA)
11:30 AM 11:50 AM	Keynote Lecture: Smart Transplant: How AI & Machine Learning Are Shaping the Future Dorry Segev (NYU Langone, USA)
11:50 AM 01:00 PM	WG2 Presentation & Panel Voting Hub A.E. Zwart (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands) Varia Krichner (Stanford University, USA) Eman Elsabbagh (Duke University, USA) Mohammad Alexanderani (University of Pittsburgh, USA)
01:00 PM 02:30 PM	Working Group 3:	HALL A
Chairpersons (Alphabetical)	Ahmed Marwan (Mansoura University, Egypt) Ashraf S Abou El Ela (Michigan, USA) Mostafa El Shazly (Cairo University, Egypt) Peter Abt (UPenn, USA) Philipp Dutkowski (University Hospital Basel, Switzerland)
01:00 PM 01:20 PM	Keynote Lecture: Ischemia-Free Transplantation: A New Paradigm in Organ Preservation and Transplant Medicine Zhiyong Guo (The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, China)
01:20 PM 02:30 PM	WG3 Presentation & Panel Voting Jeffrey Pannekoek (Center for Bioethics, Cleveland Clinic, USA) Abdul Rahman Hakeem (King’s College Hospital, UK) Georgina Morley (Center for Bioethics, Cleveland Clinic, USA)
02:30 PM 03:30 PM	Lunch Symposium	HALL B
03:30 PM 05:00 PM	Working Group 4:	HALL A
Chairpersons (Alphabetical)	David Thomson (Cape Town University, South Africa) Lucrezia Furian (University Hospital of Padova, Italy) May Hassaballa (Cairo University, Egypt) Abidemi Omonisi (Ekiti State University, Nigeri) Vivek Kute (IKDRC-ITS, Ahmedabad, India)
03:30 PM 03:50 PM	Keynote Lecture: Framing the Conversation: Ethical considerations at the foundation for global transplant collaboration Marleen Eijkholt (Leiden University Medical Centre, Netherlands)
03:50 PM 05:00 PM	WG4 Presentation & Panel Voting Alvin Roth (Stanford University, USA) Marleen Eijkholt (Leiden University Medical Centre, Netherlands) Michael Rees (University of Toledo, USA) Ahmed Elsabbagh (University of Pittsburgh, USA) Nikolas Stratopoulos (Leiden University Medical Centre, Netherlands)
05:00 PM 05:30 PM	Closing Session of Ethical Consensus Global Consensus on Emerging Ethical Frontiers in Transplantation: Innovations & Global Collaboration	HALL A
Strategic Co-Leaders (Alphabetical)	Alvin E. Roth (Stanford University, USA) John Fung (University of Chicago, USA) Mark Ghobrial (Methodist Hospital, Houston, USA) Osama A Gaber (Methodist Hospital, Houston, USA) Sandy Feng (UCSF, USA) Valeria Mas (University of Maryland, USA)
Chairs (Alphabetical)	Ahmed Elsabbagh (University of Pittsburgh, USA) Medhat Askar (Baylor University, USA) Mohamed Ghaly (Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar)
05:10 PM 05:30 PM	State of Art Lecture (3): Reflections from a Transplant Pioneer: Ethics, Policy, and the Future of Global Collaboration Ignazio R. Marino (Thomas Jefferson University, Italy/USA)

 

Kidney exchange in Operations Research (and elsewhere)

 Kidney exchange is an important medical innovation that has given rise to literatures not only in medicine but in economics, computer science and operations research. (That diversity of literatures is related to the interdisciplinary growth of market design.)

Here's a new survey of the OR literature on kidney exchange.

Mathijs Barkel, Rachael Colley, Maxence Delorme, David Manlove, William Pettersson, Operational research approaches and mathematical models for kidney exchange: A literature survey and empirical evaluation,  European Journal of Operational Research, 2025, ISSN 0377-2217, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.059.

Abstract: Kidney exchange is a transplant modality that has provided new opportunities for living kidney donation in many countries around the world since 1991. It has been extensively studied from an Operational Research (OR) perspective since 2004. This article provides a comprehensive literature survey on OR approaches to fundamental computational problems associated with kidney exchange over the last two decades. We also summarise the key integer linear programming (ILP) models for kidney exchange, showing how to model optimisation problems involving only cycles and chains separately. This allows new combined ILP models, not previously presented, to be obtained by amalgamating cycle and chain models. We present a comprehensive empirical evaluation involving all combined models from this paper in addition to bespoke software packages from the literature involving advanced techniques. This focuses primarily on computation times for 49 methods applied to 4320 problem instances of varying sizes that reflect the characteristics of real kidney exchange datasets, corresponding to over 200,000 algorithm executions. We have made our implementations of all cycle and chain models described in this paper, together with all instances used for the experiments, and a web application to visualise our experimental results, publicly available.
Keywords: Combinatorial Optimisation; OR in health services; Kidney paired donation; Cycle packing; Computational experiments
 

"Better to exchange kidneys than bombs."

 Some coffee cups  should naturally come in pairs, so that you have one for a friend in need. (These recently arrived in the mail, from Laurie Lee)

Better to exchange kidneys than bombs

I was quoted as having said that to Marco della Cava, the USA Today reporter who wrote about the first kidney exchange between Israel and the UAE.

“Better to exchange kidneys than bombs,” says Roth, adding that using computers to search the world for medical solutions radically increases the chances of patients getting help. “International boundaries are artificial markers. Kidney disease doesn’t care about that.”

Thursday, September 30, 2021 Kidney Exchange between Israel and the UAE (in USA Today, yesterday)

How three Jewish and Arab families swapped kidneys, saved their mothers and made history by Marco della Cava, USA TODAY, Wed, September 29, 2021 AM 

Heroines of organ donation

Last week I had the opportunity to see a screening of the movie Abundant, about non-directed organ donors, who have donated organs to strangers.  Here is a snapshot of me and two of the donors who tell their story in the film, Laurie Lee and Laura Diaz Moore.  They are both pretty inspiring.

 

 See also this story.

Stanford conference on extending kidney exchange

  We'll be welcoming many of our transplantation colleagues to a conference at Stanford today.

 

 

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Earlier:

Tuesday, February 27, 2024 Stanford Impact Labs announces support for kidney exchange in Brazil, India, and the U.S.

 

WHO Resolution on Kidney Disease and Transplantation

The  78th World Health Assembly in May, 2025 recognized kidney failure as a global problem, with transplantation as the preferred treatment.

Here's a news story from the International Society of Nephrology (ISN):

Historic win for kidney health as WHO adopts global resolution

Here's the resolution:

WHO Resolution: Reducing the burden of noncommunicable diseases through promotion of kidney health and strengthening prevention and control of kidney disease

"The Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly

...

"(PP5) Recognizing that approximately 674 million people live with chronic kidney disease, comprising 9% of the global population2 and concerned that kidney disease is one of the fastest-growing causes of death globally and is projected to become the fifth leading cause of death by 2050, with a projected 33% increase in age-standardized death rate and a 28% increase in age-standardized disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) if no action is taken;

"(PP6) Recalling resolution WHA77.4 on increasing the availability, ethical access, and oversight of the transplantation of human cells, tissues, and organs, which urges countries to adopt preventive strategies and incorporate transplantation into the continuum of care of non-communicable and other diseases that may lead to the need for transplantation in accordance with their national contexts, and that requests the Director-General to support Member States in implementing the elements of the Resolution, particularly through the design of a Global Strategy on Donation and Transplantation." 

...

" URGES Member States, in accordance with their national context and priorities, to: 

...

"(6) take measures to promote progressive access to kidney replacement therapy, of which kidney transplantation is preferred, enabling timely referral for transplantation, as well as by implementing interventions to maximize the availability of organs for clinical use aligned with the WHO Guiding Principles on human cell, tissue and organ transplantation"

 #########

 As I've noted elsewhere, the WHO has some counterproductive policies regarding transplantation (and blood and plasma donation, etc), but this particular resolution seems like a positive one.

Evicting Science from D.C.: the NSF building and it's History Wall

 Evidently the NSF is taking up too much government real estate, here's the story from (appropriately enough) Scientific American:

Trump Administration Ousts National Science Foundation from Headquarters Building.  Employees at the National Science Foundation say they’ve been blindsided by a plan for the Department of Housing and Urban Development to take over their offices.  By Robin Bravender & E&E News 

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I certainly hope that the new occupants will treasure the building's U.S. National Science Foundation HISTORY WALL

 

 I'm particularly fond of tile 45 of the mosaic that makes up this mural: "45. Breakthroughs in economics inspired new software that streamlines organ matches like kidney exchanges."

Kidney exchange on the NSF History Wall

 

 Here's the description of the full history wall, and all the images.

U.S. National Science Foundation HISTORY WALL
A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR
"This beautiful mural provides an amazing visual history of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), spanning nearly 7 decades of scientific discovery and innovation and depicting NSF’s impact on the nation. This is a legacy that belongs to all of us, and to the nation.

"It is a sampling of NSF’s impact through curiosity-driven, discovery-based exploratory research and use-inspired, solutions-focused translational research. This mural epitomizes the mission of NSF — “To promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense.”
 
.
1. From biochemistry to weather prediction, supercomputing and
supercomputing centers maintain U.S. leadership in S&T.
2. NSF’s next generation Arctic Research Vessel, RV Sikuliaq.
3. Carbon nanotubes have novel properties yielding new applications.
4. PCR, essential to genomics, was developed from Yellowstone microbes.
5. NSF research helps predict and prevent disasters such as wildfires.
6. Brain-machine interfaces, like retinal prostheses, promise new
applications in health and communications.
7. Shake tables, like this one from the Network for Earthquake
Engineering Simulation, protect lives and property.
8. Geckos inspire the development of polymers and directional
adhesion materials.
9. NSF provides funding to start-ups like Google.
10. The first permanent telescope at Kitt Peak opened in 1960.
11. Understanding the biology and epidemiology of vector-borne illnesses
is the subject of ongoing multidisciplinary research.
12. Ice cores provide an environmental look back in time.
13. Shows like Peep and the Big Wide World improve pre-school education.
14. With the submersible Alvin, researchers first discovered life in the extreme
environment of deep-sea vents.
15. S&E Indicators provide a broad base of quantitative information
on U.S. and international science and engineering enterprise.
16. NSF and NSB recognize excellence with the Alan T. Waterman Award,
the Vannevar Bush Award, and the National Medal of Science.
17. NSF is a leader in Arctic research.
18. NSF-funded search & rescue robots improve disaster response.
19. NSF computing history is illustrated here by PLATO (Programmed
Logic for Automated Teaching Operations) in 1969.
20. An atomic-resolution structure of the HIV capsid.
21. NSF promotes informal scientific education and literacy through
its support of programming like NOVA.
22. NSF’s SBIR program strengthens the role of small business in federally
funded R&D, as it did in cellular technology in the 1990s.
23. From CSNET in 1981, to NSFNET and beyond, NSF has supported
innovations that helped create the Internet of today.
24. NSF is a leader in Antarctic research.
25. The LIGO observatories confirmed Einstein’s predicted gravity waves.
26. The bioluminescent green fluorescent protein (GFP) from jellyfish is
a powerful cellular biology research tool.
27. Sequencing the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana paved the way for a
deeper understanding food crops and other plants.
28. The Graduate Research Fellowship Program is NSF’s longest
continuously operating program.
29. NSF support of scanning and RFID technologies, like bar codes, has
helped revolutionize commerce and connectedness.
30. Mathematics is fundamental to S&T.
31. NSF’s First Grant Book recorded awards from FY1952-FY1959.
32. NSF support of archaeology enhances our understanding of where
we come from and who we are.
33. NSF researchers are studying the global decline in amphibian populations.
34. In electronics and material science, graphene’s unique electrical
and physical properties promise new breakthroughs.
35. Vannevar Bush’s vision made NSF’s founding possible.
36. Doppler-On-Wheels studies extreme weather like tornados.
37. NSF supports GPS technology, such as the National Center for
Geographic Information and Analysis.
38. Neuroscience is a major area for NSF.
39. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) collects
environmental data via distributed sensor networks.
40. This Design Squad App illustrates NSF’s support of informal education
and advanced touch-screen technology.
41. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, located beneath the
US South Pole Station, studies the nature and properties of these particles.
42. NSF supports potentially transformative technologies like Virtual Reality.
43. Robobees are innovative autonomously-flying microrobots that
have potential impacts in many applications.
44. Quantum phenomena can yield novel technologies in computing
and communications.
45. Breakthroughs in economics inspired new software that streamlines
organ matches like kidney exchanges.
46. The Very Large Array is a component of the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory.
47. NSF was key to the development of the MRI, now an essential health tool.
48. This block-sorting robot tests how autonomous systems discern
their environment.
49. NSF support led to the study and systematization of ASL.
50. 3D printing has impacted manufacturing, design and the arts.
51. NSF supports research into bee colony decline and efforts to
save the bees.
52. The High-Performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for
Environmental Research is a modified jet that studies
the atmosphere.
53. Large-scale computing simulates complex systems like hurricanes.
54. Large-scale changes to seawater chemistry can damage coral reefs
and more.
55. Biometric identification—whether fingerprints, iris scans, or DNA—
is essential to security and forensics.
56. The social sciences, like linguistics, improve our understandings
of ourselves and our society.
57. In 2019, a global network of telescopes (Event Horizon Telescope)
with major NSF support captured the first ever image of a black hole.
58. With support for programs like The Magic School Bus, NSF supports
elementary and informal STEM education.
59. Robotics and automation, such that in this self-driving car,
promise to transform transport and more.
60. In 1991, NSF-funded researchers discovered the first of three
extra solar planets by using radio telescopes.
61. The bacterial enzyme, CRISPR, is revolutionizing biotech and health.
62. The 2008 Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is NSF’s latest
Antarctic research station.
Mural credit: Nicole R. Fuller

Kidney and liver exchange in India

 Here's an update from Dr. Vivek Kute and his colleagues on kidney and liver exchange in India.

Kute, V. B., Patel, H. V., Banerjee, S., Aziz, F., Godara, S. M., Bansal, S. B., ... & Srivastava, A. (2025). Analysis of kidney and liver exchange transplantation in India (2000–2025): a multicentre, retrospective cohort study. The Lancet Regional Health-Southeast Asia, Volume 37, June 2025, 100597. 

Notes from Messina (kidney exchange and the Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti)

 We traveled last week from Prague to Sicily, for the Matching in Practice workshop in  Messina, which was rich in kidney exchange. I was glad to reconnect with the Director of the National Transplant organization, Dr. Giuseppe Feltrin, and with Professors Antonio Nicolò and Antonio Miralles.

But a funny thing happened first, at the University of Messina. I was inducted into the university's Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti, founded in the early 1700's, at a time when autocrats didn't look fondly on universities (imagine that!). The symbol of the Academy is a ship sailing in the Strait of Messina (between Scylla and Charybdis) with the motto "Inter utramque viam periclitantes," "Taking risks between both paths," reflecting (I was told) the perils of navigating the strait between scholarship and politics.  It seemed very appropriate for the times.

Here's the story in the local news: with a picture:

 

Notes from Prague (kidney exchange, market design, and progress on a new book)

I flew back to California yesterday, after spending some time in Czechia and Italy talking about kidney exchange.  Here is a video of the public talk I gave at Prague Castle.  Among other things it highlights the Czech kidney exchanges with Israel. (I had the pleasure of meeting  Prof. Jiri Fronek, the distinguished surgical pioneer who led the Czech side of that effort.)

https://youtu.be/jrrlNWMkQyE?feature=shared

I also had the privilege of visiting CERGE-EI  (Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute) where my host was Prof  Štěpán Jurajda.  He and I first met when we were both at the University of Pittsburgh in the 1990s.

And here's an interview with the Economic newspaper  Hospodářské noviny  that starts off with the optimistic notion that I may have just (largely) completed the draft of a new book:)

Zkoumá trhy, kde peníze nevládnou. Ledvinu ani lásku si za ně většinou nekoupíte, říká nobelista Alvin Roth [ He explores markets where money doesn't rule. You can't usually buy a kidney or love with it, says Nobel laureate Alvin Roth]

“Before flying from the USA to Prague, economist and Nobel laureate Alvin Roth managed to send the publisher a draft of his new book, which he is currently finishing. He calls it Controversial Markets. Between an afternoon lecture for students at the CERGE-EI Institute in Prague and an evening lecture at Prague Castle, he also found time for an interview with Hospodářské noviny, in which he outlines what his new book will be about. One of the controversial markets he deals with, for example, is the organ transplant market."

Matching Theory and Market Design: conference in Sicily.

 Here's the preliminary program for the

20th Matching in Practice Workshop  University of Messina, Department of Economics, Aula Magna 2, 15-16 May 2025

Thursday 15 May

9:00-9:15 Opening

9:15-11:00 Presentation session “Matching with externalities and equity concerns I” 

 Alexander Nesterov, Higher School of Economics  “Reserves in Targeted Admissions: A Mechanism Design Approach” 

 Guillaume Haeringer, Baruch College  “School Choice under Uncertainty: an Experiment” 

Antonio Romero Medina, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid  “Optimizing Daycare Enrollment: How To Avoid Early Applications”

11:00-11:15 Coffee break

11:15-13:00 Presentation session “Dynamic matching and incentives to participation I”

 Duygu Sili, Università degli Studi di Messina  “Costly Multi-Hospital Dynamic Kidney Exchange”

 Subhajit Pramanik, Università degli Studi di Padova  “A Dynamic Bargaining Framework for International Kidney Paired Exchange Program”

 Özgür Yilmaz, Koç University “Dynamically Optimal Kidney Exchange” 

13:00-14:00 Lunch

14:00-15:15 Seminar presented by the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics Prof. Alvin Roth (Stanford University)  “The Economics of Kidney Exchange: Kidneys and Controversies”  (open to the public)

16:00-22:00 Departure to and walk across Taormina, with gala dinner to follow at Ristorante La Botte.

Friday 16 May

9:00-10:45 Presentation session “Matching with externalities and equity concerns II” 

Flip Klijn, Institute for Economic Analysis (CSIC) and Barcelona School of Economics  “Characterizing No-Trade-Bundled Top-Trading Cycles Mechanisms for Multiple-Type Housing Markets”

 Péter Biró, Institute of Economics, HUN-REN KRTK “Ex-post Stability under Two-Sided Matching: Complexity and Characterization”

 Emre Dogan, HSE University “Incentivizing Public Lawyers and Enhancing Fairness via Sorting in Adversarial Systems”

10:45-11:00 Coffee break

11:00-12:45 Presentation session “Dynamic matching and incentives to participation II”

 Pietro Salmaso, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II  “Rationalizable Conjectures in Dynamic Matching”

Johanna Raith, IHW – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research “College Application Choices in a Repeated DA Setting: Evidence from Croatia”

 Sonal Yadav, University of Liverpool “Teacher Redistribution in Public Schools”

12:45-13:40 Roundtable  “Organ-donor exchange programs, international comparison” Moderator Prof. Antonio Nicolò (Università degli Studi di Padova), with the participation of Prof. Alvin Roth (Stanford University) and Dr. Giuseppe Feltrin (National Transplant Center)

13:40-14:30 Farewell lunch.

 The MiP Workshop is an annual meeting organized by the Matching in Practice network of European researchers working in the research field of Matching Theory and Market Design.

This year’s MiP workshop is funded by the following projects: Prin2022 “Externalities and fairness in allocations and contracts” (CUP J53D23004650006 – ID 2022HLPMKN) and PrinPNRR2022 “Incentivizing participation of compatible pairs in Kidney Paired Exchange Programs” (CUP J53D23015460001- ID P2022P5CHH), both funded by the European Union – Next Generation EU.

The Organizing Committee includes the Messina Unit Manager of the aforementioned projects, Prof. Antonio Miralles Asensio, and the Principal Investigators of both funding projects, respectively Prof. Maria Gabriella Graziano (University of Naples Federico II) and Prof. Antonio Nicolò (University of Padua). External members of the Scientific Committee are Prof. Caterina Calsamiglia (IPEG and ICREA, Spain), Prof. Rustam Hakimov (Université de Lausanne, Switzerland) and Prof. Péter Biró (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary).

One Nation One Swap: National kidney exchange in India

 In India, the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) wrote this week to all the State organizations (the SOTTOs) announcing the plan to form a nationwide kidney exchange program, called the "Uniform One Nation One Swap Transplant Program."

This has been the work of many people for a long time.  Of particular importance has been and will continue to be Dr. Vivek Kute from IKDRC Ahmedabad

 Here's the story in the Hindustan Times.

 NOTTO writes to states, UTs to implement swap organ transplant

Here's the letter itself:

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Earlier post:

Tuesday, February 27, 2024  Stanford Impact Labs announces support for kidney exchange in Brazil, India, and the U.S.

The End Kidney Deaths Act is reintroduced to the 119th Congress

 Resolved: lets be generous to nondirected kidney donors

H.R.2687 - To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a refundable tax credit for non-directed living kidney donations.
119th Congress (2025-2026) |
Sponsor:    Rep. Malliotakis, Nicole [R-NY-11] (Introduced 04/07/2025)
Committees:    House - Ways and Means; Energy and Commerce 

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Earlier

Tuesday, January 21, 2025 The debate over compensating organ donors is heating up

Tuesday, August 13, 2024 End Kidney Deaths Act intoduced in Congress