Today, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) announced the Virginia General Assembly passed a commending resolution in honor of UNOS’ 40th anniversary and the contributions it’s made to the organ donation and transplant system, both in Virginia and across the nation.
The commending resolution was introduced by Delegates Betsy Carr and Delores McQuinn and Senator Lamont Bagby and was passed on March 7, 2024. Founded in March 1984, UNOS was established to help match transplant patients with organs. The company is named after the first computer-based organ matching system, the United Network for Organ Sharing.
“We’re honored the Virginia General Assembly has recognized UNOS and the decades of innovation and work that has gone into helping hundreds of thousands of patients get the transplants they need,” said Maureen McBride, Ph.D., CEO of UNOS. “But the work UNOS has accomplished over the years has truly been a community-wide effort. Every transplant is the result of a system-wide collaboration and an unwavering commitment by transplant hospitals, organ procurement organizations, selfless donors and more, to help save lives.”
For more information on the work UNOS is doing to help strengthen the organ donation and transplant system, please visit UNOS’ action agenda.
Here’s the full copy of the commending resolution:
House Joint Resolution NO. 362
Commending the United Network for Organ Sharing
WHEREAS, the United Network for Organ Sharing, the mission-driven nonprofit organization that manages the nation’s organ donation and transplantation network, celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2024; and
WHEREAS, established in Richmond in 1984, the United Network for Organ Sharing, more commonly known as UNOS, leads the network of transplant hospitals, organ procurement organizations, and thousands of volunteers who are dedicated to honoring the gifts of life and to making lifesaving transplants possible for patients in need; and
WHEREAS, UNOS was formed from the South-Eastern Organ Procurement Foundation, which Virginia Commonwealth University–Medical College of Virginia transplant surgeons helped create to develop the first computer-based organ matching system, called the United Network for Organ Sharing; and
WHEREAS, the United Network for Organ Sharing system was developed to address the problem that many organs were not being transplanted because transplant teams could not find a compatible recipient while the organ was still viable; and
WHEREAS, UNOS, named after that revolutionary technology, has helped facilitate more than one million organ transplants in the United States since the launch of the first matching system; and
WHEREAS, in 2023, more than 46,000 transplants, including 1,300 in the Commonwealth, were performed, twice the number of transplants that were performed 25 years ago; and
WHEREAS, UNOS is involved in many aspects of the organ donation and transplant process by managing the national transplant waiting list and the database containing information on every organ transplant performed in the United States; and
WHEREAS, UNOS matches donors to recipients 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and monitors those matches to ensure allocation policies are followed; and
WHEREAS, UNOS also educates transplant professionals about their important roles in the donation and transplantation process and supports patients, families, and caregivers through that process; and
WHEREAS, with more than 490 employees, UNOS has continued to grow and establish new technologies, organ allocation policies, and initiatives to help transform the nation’s organ donation and transplant system and to ensure patients across the nation have equitable access to transplants; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend the United Network for Organ Sharing on the occasion of its 40th anniversary; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the United Network for Organ Sharing as an expression of the General Assembly’s admiration for the organization’s contributions to the Commonwealth and the nation.
About UNOS
United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is the mission-driven non-profit serving as the nation’s transplant system under contract with the federal government. We lead the network of transplant hospitals, organ procurement organizations, and thousands of volunteers who are dedicated to honoring the gifts of life entrusted to us and to making lifesaving transplants possible for patients in need. Working together, we leverage data and advances in science and technology to continuously strengthen the system, increase the number of organs recovered and the number of transplants performed, and ensure patients across the nation have equitable access to transplant.
