Interim CEO chosen to lead organ donation and transplant organization through time of change, opportunity
Maureen McBride, Ph.D., has been named CEO of United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the mission-driven, non-profit organization that serves as the nation’s organ donation and transplant system — the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) — under contract with the federal government.
“We conducted an exhaustive nationwide search for a new CEO and were pleased to find that the most qualified candidate is Dr. McBride,” said UNOS Board President Jerry McCauley, M.D., who chaired the Search Committee. “She impressed the Committee with her innovative spirit, clear-eyed vision of transformational change at UNOS and knowledge of the challenges facing the organ donation and transplantation community today. Since taking over as Interim CEO seven months ago, Dr. McBride has shown that she embodies a much-needed change in approach and operations at UNOS. She has put the organization on a new trajectory by increasing transparency and communication with the organ donation and transplantation community, regulators, Congress and the public, and advancing new initiatives to modernize and improve the organ donation and transplant system to benefit patients and ensure public trust.”
Under McBride’s leadership, UNOS released an Action Agenda earlier this year, a comprehensive set of improvements in critical areas of the transplant system, including transparency, accountability, equity, transportation and modernization.
Maureen McBride, Ph.D.
McBride has worked for UNOS since 1995. She has served as Interim CEO since October 2022 and before that, as Chief Operations Officer managing the OPTN contract. She was also the organization’s Director of Research from 2006 to 2014 and contributed to more than 50 research manuscripts and publications.
As CEO, she directs the efforts of 450 UNOS staff to ensure that the nation’s organ donation and transplant network efficiently and fairly serves the needs of transplant candidates and recipients, living donors and donor family members, and professionals in the field. She will be the first woman to lead the organization.
“I am humbled, thrilled and energized to be selected to serve as CEO of UNOS,” McBride said. “As long as there are patients in desperate need of organs, we have more work ahead of us. As we move forward in our mission to save more lives, I look forward to leading UNOS during a time of immense change. As I said in my first official remarks as Interim CEO: we can do better, we must do better, and we will do better. We are excited to show our ongoing commitment to saving lives, how we are best situated to help usher in proposed improvements and how our expertise should remain an integral part of the system. Additionally, I am excited to continue working with UNOS’ non-OPTN business lines to enhance and grow our organization.”
In selecting McBride, the UNOS Corporate Affairs Committee agreed this is a pivotal moment in the organization’s history. They cited her leadership skills and proven ability to navigate organizational change both internally and externally as the lifesaving work continues and as UNOS prepares to respond to the federal government’s upcoming RFPs for the new OPTN contract.
This includes her institutional knowledge of UNOS and the entire organ donation and transplant community; her experience in the field; her commitment to clear and frequent communication to build trust, understanding and consensus; and her unquestioned commitment to the organization and its mission to save as many lives as possible through organ donation and transplantation.
She received her bachelor of science in mathematics from Loyola College in Maryland and her Ph.D. in biostatistics from Virginia Commonwealth University, Medical College of Virginia.
McBride has served as the Executive Director of the OPTN since October 2022. She will begin her new role with UNOS immediately.
