UNOS DonateLife

July 24, 2002

Organ Center Turns 20

Richmond, Va. -- Twenty years ago this week national organ sharing got its start. The Kidney Center, now the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) Organ Center, began operating the first national organ allocation system as a one-year pilot project to test the effectiveness of a centralized organ allocation and transplantation center.

Joined by organ donors and recipients, local municipal and business leaders and the local transplant community, UNOS today celebrated 20 years of continuous operation of the Organ Center. At today's celebration UNOS Executive Director Walter Graham said, "The Organ Center has been an integral part in the history of transplantation. We're especially proud of the dedicated men and women who have staffed the Organ Center, making its life-saving efforts possible."

During that first year the goal was to increase the utilization of donated kidneys and to decrease the costs of transporting those kidneys.

Twenty years later, the UNOS Organ Center is recognized by the transplant community as a vital fixture that holds the national transplant process together. Since July 1982, Organ Placement Specialists have been available without interruption around the clock 365 days a year to help place organs for transplantation, arrange transportation for organs, maintain the national patient waiting list and provide informational and logistical support to the U.S. transplant community.

According to Jim Creger, UNOS Organ Center Quality Manager and an original Kidney Center employee, "In the first full year, we made efforts to place 1,081 kidneys or three kidneys per day." Last year the Organ Center attempted to place 4,847 kidneys or 13 each day. During 175,320 hours of continous service, they have run more than 80,000 organ matches and worked on 60,000 organ placements.

Richmond-based UNOS, a private non-profit organization, manages the nation's organ transplant system through a contract with the federal government and oversees the world's most comprehensive database of clinical transplant information. UNOS staff operates the 24-hour computerized organ sharing system, matching donated organs to patients registered on the transplant waiting list. UNOS also seeks to increase organ donation through education and improve transplant success rates through outcomes-based research and policymaking. UNOS-developed technology applications are recognized internationally by transplant scientists and health officials as the model for organ sharing.