The REIMAGINE Center Symposium  

The UC San Diego Center for Research, Education, Innovation and Transformation in Organ Donation (REIMAGINE) was founded in July 2023 to address the urgent public health crisis caused by the dire organ shortage and ever-increasing need for transplants. According to the Center, a patient on the waitlist dies every 17 minutes and there is a shortfall of over 25,000 organs annually.

On September 20, 2024, the Center hosted its first symposium called REIMAGINE Organ Donation and Transplantation: Paving the Path to 60k. Thought leaders from across the country attended the event, which featured presentations by UC San Diego Department of Surgery faculty members Gabriel Schnickel, M.D., M.P.H., executive director of REIMAGINE, and Aleah Brubaker, M.D., Ph.D., among others.

The featured talks focused on the four pillars of the Center, which include Education and Innovation; Equity, Policy, Ethics, and Economics; Compassion, Mindfulness, and Burnout; and Basic and Translational Sciences. The talks also included a moderated discussion to develop ideas about how to reimagine the organ donation and allocation system to bring about change.

“This is the first time an academic institution has a dedicated center where organ donation and allocation are the sole focus, and UC San Diego is perfectly positioned to make a huge impact,” says Schnickel.

 Over 120 people registered for the symposium, and the team aims to make it an annual event. In the future, Schnickel wants to invite physicians and researchers from other countries to help guide the implementation of more robust organ donation and allocation systems across the world.