Special to SID&T
Our Advisory Board Answers “Why SID&T”?
Our newest Advisory Board member, Michael J. Goldstein, MD, FACS joins leading transplant surgeons, researchers, ethicists, and organ donation experts in sharing about the importance of the mission of Science in Donation & Transplant.
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Special to SID&T
Flawed Organ Allocation Sequence Policy is Costing Lives
Despite annual lifesaving donation and transplant records being set, in 2025 some donors are removing themselves from registries as sensational stories, often taken out of context, are the new hallmark of media reporting, Congressional hearings and federal regulators on this complex issue. Sadly, this is not just a contemporary tale of conspiracy theories that run amok but the result of decades of federal mismanagement and recent perhaps more nefarious takeover strategies ... Read more →
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Special to SID&T
Impact of ORGANize Fear-Mongering on Patients’ Lives
It’s been almost a year since ORGANize, a venture capital & investment banker backed group that is targeting nonprofit Organ Procurement Organizations (OPO), publicly implicated the Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliate (now part of Network for Hope) in misconduct, for following a hospital MD’s diagnosis and honoring a family’s decision to donate organs upon his death ... Read more →
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Special to SID&T
If the Final Rule Stands, Can For-Profit Donation and Transplantation be Averted?
In 1984, with life-saving organ transplantation on the cusp of dramatic growth, Congress passed the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA). Its architects were determined to create an equitable system. The Task Force on Organ Transplantation urged the source of deceased donor organs should be altruistic, to protect the poor from being preyed upon by the well-off for their organs ... Read more →
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Special to SID&T
SID&T Endorses a True Experts Pushback to the New York Times
After reading Brian Rosenthal’s New York Times front page article, “A Push for More Organ Donations is Putting Donors at Risk”. Donation and transplant expert Tom Mone, retired OPO and Hospital CEO submitted the following response:
Rosenthal’s article has a fundamental flaw: Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) do not determine if a patient has a terminal neurological injury, OPOs do not communicate the terminal nature of the injury and futility of continued care to the family, OPOs do not declare death prior to … Read more →
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Special to SID&T
Latest Published Research Confirms Major Flaws in CMS Governing Rule
The authors (Schold, Lopez et.al) analyzed yearly performance variability, compared data sources, and examined the impact of CALC versus CALC-adjusted, which excludes donors with potential contraindications. There was significant year-to-year variability in CDC CALC tiers with 36%-41% of OPOs changing tiers year-over-year, making reliance on 1 year problematic.
“It is challenging to confidently de-certify OPOs based on one of the two without knowing which data source is more accurate.” … Read more →
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Special to SID&T
SID&T RFI Submission to House Ways and Means Committee Misguided Questions
The United States House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means recently requested information on Organ Procurement Organizations. Again in this critical area of healthcare a Congressional committee parrots political special interest and not science. SID&T takes them on. The coming chaos in the donation and transplant system is not due to the so-called issues enumerated in the Request for Information. The issue for Congress and America is … Read more →
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Special to SID&T
Filing by SID&T
Responsible medical and scientific research voices in the organ donation and transplant field have long recognized the failure of CMS’s governing rule. The agency’s documented history of failure and overreach can now be highlighted as a potential precursor to its necessary repeal. Recently the Office of Management and Budget requested information on regulations that should be rescinded. SID&T delivered an irrefutable argument for rescission ... Read more →
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Special to SID&T
A Wrong Fix for Tampa and the Nation’s Organ Transplant System
by Anthony Watkins, MD SID&T Advisory Board
Tampa Bay Times April 18, 2025Few lifesaving medical procedures rely as deeply on partnership and coordination as organ transplantation. The moment a patient receives the call for a potential organ is only possible because a grieving family, during an incredibly vulnerable time, agrees to give the gift of life. A dedicated Organ Procurement Organization then works with hospitals to make that miracle possible ... Read more →
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Special to SID&T
The Repetitive History of CMS Failing Patients and Donors with Flawed Metrics for OPOs
Over the fifty plus year history of Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) in the United States, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has empirically and repeatedly failed to develop and adopt a reliable and comprehensive assessment of their relative performance. Charged by Congress with this responsibility in 1984, it took CMS until 1998 to adopt its first measure ... Read more →
Hear From the SID&T Advisory Board
Hear From the SID&T Advisory Board
The Latest
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40% of OPOs Will Shutter in 2026 if Congress Doesn’t Take Action
The United States has the most successful and sophisticated organ donation and transplant system in the world, yet, inexplicably, federal lawmakers have failed to take action to protect it from profit seeking special interests that are working behind the scenes to dismantle it.
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SID&T Supports NASEM Study
Understand the TIMELINE where HHS ignores the coming, then published, landmark NASEM Report and our outreach to Secretary Becerra to adopt that report’s recommendations.
See SID&T Facts and Reform outlining the truth about our nation’s organ procurement and transplant system and the science-based path forward.
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HRSA Continues Its Heavy Hand of Censorship
The frustrating history of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) failure to establish reliable performance metrics for Organ Procurement Organizations persists today, as SID&T has learned about a federal agency threatening a health research firm that was contracted to work with OPOs to develop an unbiased alternative to CMS’ latest flawed rule…
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CMS OPO Metric Bias Against Large OPOs Research Summary
Continuing research into the controversial Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) metric for ranking the performance of Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) provides more evidence that unless CMS changes course, the metric will give biased results that won’t withstand scrutiny…
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SID&T Letter to Federation of American Scientists Calls Out Jennifer Erickson
In the US, there are 160 transplants per million population; once again, the highest rate in the world. In France, there are 101 per million; in Brazil, it’s 45. Moreover, the US leads the world in the rate of donation growth. From 2017-22, the rate of donation growth in Europe has been …
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SID&T to NPR: Jennifer Erickson Promotes Junk Science on Organ Donation
On its April 13, 2024 program, NPR’s Weekend Edition ran a story, “Patients die everyday waiting for organ transplants. The problem goes beyond donations.” The story was almost entirely based on an interview with Jennifer Erickson, who was identified as a …
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SID&T Responds to the NY Times Story: Organ Transplant System in Chaos
The New York Times’ recent investigation, “Organ Transplant System ‘in Chaos’ as Waiting Lists Are Ignored,” was a worthy attempt to untangle the fraught and dysfunctional relationship between the organ donation and transplantation system and their federal regulators...

SID&T
Science in Donation and Transplant is a non-profit devoted to the support and education of members and stakeholders in the donation and transplant communities. Donors and transplant recipients alike deserve a well-aligned, science-based system. We advocate reform in concert with leading medical practitioners for enhanced coordination and alignment among organ procurement organizations and transplant centers. Our goal is ensuring that the metrics and measures used to credential, license, designate and certify donation and transplant organizations are grounded in science and protected from political whim and private financial influence.
Hear From the Experts That Support Reform
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Anthony Watkins, MD
The Surgical Director of the Center for Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program at Tampa General Hospital. Prior, Dr. Watkins was an attending transplant surgeon and clinical assistant professor of surgery at NYU Langone Health.
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Matthew Cooper, MD
Chief of Transplantation, Director of Solid Organ Transplant and a Professor of Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Mark B. Adams Distinguished Professor of Surgery.
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Dr. J. Thomas Rosenthal
Dr. J. Thomas Rosenthal, a recognized donation and transplant expert joins SID&T’s call for legitimate reform. In our interview with one of America’s most trusted and experienced experts in organ donation and transplant calls for …
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Anne Murphy, MBA, FACHE
Consultant and former Chief Administrative Officer, Department of Learning Health Sciences University of Michigan Medical School, and Transplant Center Administrative Director – University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers.
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Herb Conaway, MD
Dr. Conaway Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the New Jersey General Assembly Health Committee joins SID&T call for legitimate reform and the need for health care equity.
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Dr. Gerald Wilson
The Surgical Director of the Center for Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program at Tampa General Hospital. Prior, Dr. Watkins was an attending transplant surgeon and clinical assistant professor of surgery at NYU Langone Health.
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Michael J. Goldstein, MD, FACS
Dr. Goldstein serves as the Director of the Division of Organ Transplantation at Hackensack University Medical Center OPTN/UNOS surgical program director for adult and pediatric kidney transplantation, and pancreas transplantation.