Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and delivering life-transforming therapies for patients with severe and life-threatening rare diseases, will be a lead sponsor of the 2015 National Donor Memorial Award for Excellence.
From its start in 2010, United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has used The National Donor Memorial Award for Excellence to honor “unsung heroes” for their exceptional dedication to increasing organ donation in their local communities. Like the Donor Memorial itself, the award acknowledges that no transplant takes place without the donor. Award nominees are submitted by organ procurement organizations around the country.
Awarded each year at the UNOS June board meeting, the award recipient is flown to Richmond, Va., for the National Donor Memorial Award for Excellence ceremony at the National Donor Memorial. The award recipient’s two-day visit includes tours of UNOS and the National Donor Memorial.
The National Donor Memorial, supported entirely by private and charitable contributions, honors organ and tissue donors, and their families, who have saved and enhanced the lives of others through their generous gifts.
A private, nonprofit organization, UNOS serves as the nation’s organ transplant system and oversees the world’s most comprehensive database of clinical transplant information under contract with the federal government. UNOS operates the 24-hour computerized organ sharing system, matching donated organs to patients registered on the national organ transplant waiting list. UNOS seeks to increase organ donation through education and improve transplant success rates through outcomes-based research and policymaking. Transplant scientists and health officials recognize UNOS-developed technology applications as the international model for organ sharing. Income from UNOS’ for-profit business lines support the UNOS mission to advance organ availability and transplantation by uniting and supporting its communities for the benefit of patients through education, technology and policy development.
