Resolving the Shortage of Organs for Transplantation: Ethics, Science, and Technology

On November 20th in 2009 the Rutland Institute for Ethics and the South Carolina Clinical and Translational Research Institute convened a one-day conference at the Medical University of South Carolina with the goal of developing a consensus report on strategies for resolving the critical shortage of organs for transplantation.

Forty-five individuals attended from around the state, representing a wide variety of disciplines. Five invited speakers introduced the topics of organ donation, xenotransplantation, regenerative medicine, and health law and the attendees then formed focus groups with the objective of determining “Recommendations for Action”. The results and conclusions from this conference were recently published in the Journal of the South Carolina Medical Association volume 106: pages 209-213, 2010.

The gap between the number of patients with end-stage organ failure, who need a replacement organ, and the number of medically suitable organs for transplantation has grown for the past 20 years, resulting in the deaths of 6,000-7,000 patients annually for lack of a suitable replacement organ. Solving the problem of the inadequate supply of organs for transplantation has been daunting and it is hoped that our consensus recommendations, which included specification of organizations within South Carolina that are best positioned to undertake the recommended actions, leads to genuine progress. Click here to read the article.



Kelvin G.M. Brockbank, Ph.D.



Kelvin G.M. Brockbank, Ph.D.
President and Chief Science Officer,

Cell & Tissue Systems, Inc.

Faculty Affiliate, Georgia Tech/Emory Center for the Engineering of Living Tissues