Select Page

About UNOS

Saving lives together

About UNOS

Saving lives together
UNOS blue and green day 2024

Who we are

UNOS is a nonprofit organization with decades of experience in helping save lives through research, technology, innovation and education.

UNOS employee discussing research in front of whiteboard
UNOS My Why Campaign
UNOS organ center 2024

Our mission is to unite and strengthen the donation and transplant community to save lives.

Read more

What we do

Since 1986, UNOS has managed the nation’s Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) under contract with the federal government.

In addition, our portfolio encompasses broader public-health projects through our work developing innovative new technologies and initiatives, conducting data-driven research and analysis, providing expert education and consulting services, advocating for patients, and being a leader in bringing communities together to save lives.

Our work

Organ donation and transplantation policy

Donation & transplant

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation System

Learn more about the OPTN.

Maze with lightbulb illustration
Research & consulting
Services to advance human health and well-being
  • Support countries around the globe to establish transplant system standards, policies, and monitoring and compliance frameworks.
  • Provide expert consulting services in biostatistics, software engineering, research science and data analysis.
  • Develop custom plans to medical device, pharmaceutical and other health companies for data capture, analysis, and real-time reporting.

Learn more about our research and consulting services.

UNOS manages and operates the OPTN database

Products & technology

Cutting-edge solutions to help save more lives
UNOS offers educational webinars, brochures and videos for professionals and patients

Advocacy & education

Outreach & resources to advance our lifesaving mission

From the beginning, our focus was a lifesaving mission

The first successful organ transplant in the U.S. took place in 1954. But even as the field of transplant medicine continued to grow through the next two decades, there was no organized national system to match donor organs to suitable transplant candidates. The South-Eastern Organ Procurement Foundation (SEOPF), an organization of transplant hospitals and OPOs in the Southeastern U.S., established a computerized database in 1977 to improve the organ matching process. They named the database the “United Network for Organ Sharing.”

In 1984, Congress passed the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) calling for an Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) to be created. UNOS incorporated as an independent, non-profit organization in 1984 and was awarded the initial contract for the OPTN in 1986. Today, UNOS has grown to an organization of more than 450 employees dedicated to the mission of saving lives.

Learn more about the history of UNOS

Share This