US White House Holds Summit on Organ Transplantation

[Clark]

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajt.13942/full

White House Holds Summit on Organ Transplantation
Authors
      Sue Pondrom
      First published: 21 July 2016
      DOI: 10.1111/ajt.13942
AJT
Volume 16, Issue 8
August 2016
Pages 2241–2242

Abstract
In June, the White House announced plans to invest nearly $200 million to increase organ donation and decrease the size of the transplant waiting list in the United States. In this issue of “The AJT Report,” we review the plans and discuss how they may impact the field of transplantation.
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“We must all do our part to lift up donors, donor families and patients by supporting efforts to shorten the donor waiting list. Together we can improve and save lives by celebrating those who give of themselves, whether as living or registered donors, to provide the greatest gift there is to offer.”
—President Barak Obama
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“In collaboration with AST and ASTS, HRSA announced a coalition with patient organizations and other stakeholders to support living donors and ensure appropriate metrics are in place to help more patients receive deceased-donor transplants. The coalition also will provide education and resources for potential living donors, address financial and other barriers to donation and ensure that living donors have long-term medical follow-up and access to care. In fall 2016, HRSA will release findings from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients on the feasibility of establishing a national living donor registry to obtain information about long-term health and socioeconomic outcomes of living organ donation.”
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“ASTS, Baylor University Medical Center, the Cleveland Clinic, Fahrenheit 212, Mount Sinai Health System, ORGANIZE and the University of Chicago Medicine are launching an anonymous, nondesignated living donor database. With Donate Life America, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh will reach out via social media to increase the availability of living donor organs. Johns Hopkins is working with the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and Novartis to launch the Live Donor Champion Program, developed by Dorry Segev, MD, PhD, to overcome common barriers to finding a living kidney donor. Northwestern University will tailor a Live Donor Champion model for this program. In kidney transplantation, the NKF will launch a nationwide campaign, The Big Ask/The Big Give, to promote awareness of living kidney donation for recipients who have trouble asking someone to consider the procedure.”
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[Clark]

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajt.13947/full

Editorial
The White House Organ Summit: What It Means for Our Field
      T. L. Pruett,
 A. Chandraker
 
      First published: 21 July 2016

      DOI: 10.1111/ajt.13947

AJT
Volume 16, Issue 8
August 2016
Pages 2245–2246

Abstract
The presidents of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons discuss initiatives announced at the White House Organ Summit in June 2016, and how the transplantation field may build on those in the future.
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“Living Donation Coalition: The Health Resources and Services Administration, in collaboration with the AST and ASTS, will develop a coalition that includes patient organizations and other stakeholders within the transplant community and commits to addressing three key areas: providing education and resources for potential living donors to make informed decisions about donation, ensuring that living donors have long-term medical follow-up and access to care, and removing financial and other barriers to donation.”
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“ASTS, Baylor University Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic, Fahrenheit 212, Mount Sinai Health System, ORGANIZE, and the University of Chicago are launching a collaborative to explore the design and development of an Anonymous, Non-designated Living Donor Database. While only one donor is required for any particular transplant patient, for many transplant recipients, multiple potential donors are identified; this project will help centers direct these additional willing donors fairly and ethically to other donation opportunities, including to start living donor chains.”
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“We call on all those in transplantation or who are connected to transplant patients to apply their ingenuity and hard work toward reaching that day when no patients die on the waiting list—when there is not a waiting list at all! It will take all of us—government, scientists, clinicians, and everyone on the transplant team—to get there. But we are confident it will happen. We are committed to making it happen.”
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