Transplant Center Leadership

April is National Donate Life Month, established in 2003 to raise awareness of organ, eye, and tissue donation and to honor the generosity of organ donors. Those of us privileged to work in transplant bear witness to the everyday miracles facilitated by organ donors and recognize the profound need, as over 121,000 Americans currently await transplant. 

Organ donation is often described as the most sacred way to leave a legacy. Legacy is a concept that I think we struggle with in modern society, often equating “leaving a legacy” with amassing wealth, fame, power, or influence. Organ donation provides us with a much more human and empathetic view of legacy. The direct legacy of organ donation is unequaled – up to 8 lives transformed through organ donation and numerous others impacted through eye and tissue donation. Organ donation assigns meaning to loss: as has been described by donor family members, organ donation creates a miracle out of the worst day for a mourning family and allows their loved one to live on through others in an immediate and measurable way. 

But the legacy of organ donation might be most profound in the ripple effect it creates beyond those immediately affected. Organ donation inspires those of us in the field of transplantation to make certain we are doing everything possible to extend access to transplantation to all those in need. Organ donation inspires others to consider organ donation themselves, multiplying the effect of the gift. Organ donation also expresses trust in our teams and the field of transplantation in general, to honor the gift by making certain each organ is delivered to the most appropriate recipient. 

Ultimately, organ donation expresses a value – it is a statement that suffering should be lessened and life should be extended. It demonstrates the impact of generosity and selflessness, values that seem threatened sometimes in our polarized and individualistic society. Nowhere is that better demonstrated than through living donation. At UM Health we are experiencing historic levels of interest in living donation, as individuals come forward daily to learn about living kidney or liver donation. Most remarkably, many of these individuals come forward as non-directed donors, meaning they have reached out to our Transplant Center not because of the illness of a loved one or friend, but because they recognize there are people in need. Non-directed donors historically have made up 1-3% of living donors – in 2026 so far half of our living donor liver transplants have been made possible by non-directed donors. This collective generosity represents the greatest of legacies. 

Organ donors save lives. This month, and every month, we honor them.

Thank you all for the work you do daily for our patients and programs, extending the 60-year legacy of the UM Health Transplant Center.

-Chris