UNOS DonateLife

May 8, 1998

UNOS Wins Local, National Recognition for Technology

Richmond, VA  --The information technology developed by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has received the Greater Richmond Technology Council's 1998 Breakthrough Technology Award.

UNOS technology is used to manage the nation's organ transplant waiting list, match organs with the patients who need them and maintain a massive database of clinical follow-up data on every transplant recipient. UNOS' organ matching technology has been evolving since the late 60s when transplant pioneers at Virginia Commonwealth University's Medical College of Virginia, Duke University and a handful of other mid-Atlantic medical centers agreed to share donated kidneys among all of their patients. By 1986 the group had grown into a national organ sharing network. Since then, UNOS has facilitated nearly 200,000 kidney, pancreas, liver, lung, heart and intestinal organ transplants.

Headquartered in Richmond, Va., with a staff of 160, UNOS uses its innovative technology to unite the country's 896 transplant programs and 63 organ procurement organizations, as well as hundreds of healthcare volunteers, ethicists, transplant patients and families of donors in an open and collaborative electronic environment. Through the Internet and a hybrid of applications, UNOS provides the U.S. transplant community with an interactive forum for information sharing, research, policymaking and the continuous quality improvement of transplant care delivery.

UNOS Director of Information Technology Berkeley Keck accepted the award at the Council's awards banquet, dedicating it to the 56,000 patients currently waiting on the nation's organ transplant waiting list. Quoting the national ad campaign encouraging Americans to sign donor cards and share the decision with their next of kin, Keck appealed to the prestigious gathering of more than 500 local technology business leaders to "Share Your Life. Share Your Decision."

In addition to this prestigious local award, the technology UNOS developed to accomplish its lifesaving mission has received Federal Computer Week's Monticello Award. Only 10 computer systems from America's private and public sectors were selected for this award.

UNOS has also been nominated for a 1998 Computerworld Smithsonian Award in the Medicine category. Recognized by Computerworld Smithsonian twice before, UNOS technology is featured in the Smithsonian's permanent technology collection.

UNOS Executive Director Walter Graham commented, "We are honored by all this recognition. We work very hard to provide our members with the technological tools they need to maximize use of the limited supply of donated organs, increase transplant success rates and provide patients and professionals the data they need to make informed personal and clinical decisions." Keck added, "Over the years we have assimilated standard technologies in unique and expanded ways. The system we've developed plays a critical role in our ability to galvanize and serve the nation's transplant community, and to ultimately help the thousands of patients who wait desperately for an organ transplant."

Currently, more than 56,000 men, women and children are registered for organ transplants, however an average of 10 patients die every day while waiting. UNOS members work together to increase organ donations by encouraging individuals to sign an organ donor card and to discuss their decision with their next of kin.

UNOS is a non-profit membership organization that has operated the nation's Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network since 1986 through a contract with the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.