New Interim Chief Executive Officer shares vision to emphasize focus on patients
McBride has served in a variety of senior leadership roles at UNOS, most recently as Chief Operating Officer.
Maureen McBride, Ph.D., has assumed the role of Interim CEO of United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). McBride is the first woman and the first person with a Ph.D. to hold this position. Prior to this role, McBride served for 27 years in a variety of senior leadership roles at UNOS, most recently as the Chief Operating Officer.
McBride has already re-shaped her senior leadership team, naming patient engagement as a high priority.
“As the nation’s organ donation and transplant system reaches a crucial turning point, I am incredibly honored to undertake this important role,” McBride says. “Our community has seen lifesaving success over the previous decades and together, we just surpassed the historic milestone of 1 million transplants thanks to so many generous donors and their families. From increasing transplants to expanding equity, we are proud of everything our community has accomplished, but we also believe more can and must be done.”
In her new position, McBride is committed to working with the UNOS Board, federal partners, Congress, and members of the organ donation and transplant system to pursue projects and initiatives that build on ongoing successes while addressing community needs and concerns.
“I and my team share a bold vision for a more equitable, inclusive, and responsive UNOS,” McBride explains. “The field is constantly evolving and we are evolving with it. Our community is both innovative and forward-looking, and working together, we will challenge ourselves to reach even higher heights.”
Key areas of focus identified by McBride for system-wide advancement include patient engagement and empowerment, advocating for holistic, evidence-based, patient-centered policy solutions at the federal level, and optimizing the requirements of the OPTN Contract, including opportunities to better support research into equitable access to care and the national waitlist. McBride will seek support from both the Board of Directors and the community for these and other improvement opportunities.
The Congressionally mandated report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), as well as the report from the Senate Committee on Finance, will continue to inform efforts to improve, expand and engage.
“Dr. McBride has the know-how, the experience, the relationships and the integrity to lead UNOS into an even brighter future,” says Jerry McCauley, M.D., President of the UNOS Board of Directors. “From her robust working relationship with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to her decades of experience managing, leading and serving at UNOS, Dr. McBride is uniquely qualified to serve as Interim CEO and to help lead the community during this unprecedented moment.”
The Board of Directors has begun a national search for a permanent CEO.
