Darren Stewart \u201998 MS decided long ago to donate his organs when he dies\u2009\u2014\u2009and he hopes you will too. After all, improving access to life-saving transplants is part of his job description.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stewart, 47, is the principal research scientist for the United Network for Organ Sharing\u2009\u2014\u2009a Virginia-based nonprofit that oversees organ transplants in the U.S. under a contract with the federal government. After turns in the aircraft and banking industries, he joined UNOS in 2008. He\u2019s been crunching transplant data ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among other things, he tracks donor numbers, how long patients wait for an organ and survival rates at more than 250 U.S. hospitals where transplants are done. The aim is a process that\u2019s fair, equitable and transparent. \u201cWe\u2019re mining all this data to make better decisions,\u201d says Stewart, who works from his home in Coatesville, Pa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year alone, he contributed to or led five peer-reviewed studies. One that examined a points-based system for ranking lung transplant recipients is expected to trigger reforms later this year. \u201cOne of the big challenges in our field is ensuring we\u2019re maximizing the organ supply that\u2019s available today,\u201d he says, \u201cand there\u2019s a lot of reason to believe we\u2019re not quite there yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the big challenges . . . is ensuring we\u2019re maximizing the organ supply that\u2019s available today.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s why he\u2019s proud of leading a simulation to learn how transplant doctors use kidney biopsy results to decide whether to accept a match from a deceased donor. The findings bolstered claims that transplant-quality kidneys were being discarded, and recommended reforms are under review as a result. Previously, Stewart\u2019s models led to a new way to calculate patients\u2019 time on the waiting list\u2009\u2014\u2009an overhaul that boosted transplant rates among Blacks and Hispanics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, he says, the work\u2019s not done. More than 100,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for a kidney, liver, heart, lung, pancreas, intestines, combinations of organs, or tissue\u2009\u2014\u2009and every 10 minutes another name is added to the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n
By Carole Tanzer Miller<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Darren Stewart \u201998 MS decided long ago to donate his organs when he dies\u2009\u2014\u2009and he hopes you will too. After all, improving access to life-saving transplants is part of his job description.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stewart, 47, is the principal research scientist for the United Network for Organ Sharing\u2009\u2014\u2009a Virginia-based nonprofit that oversees organ transplants in the U.S. under a contract with the federal government. After turns in the aircraft and banking industries, he joined UNOS in 2008. He\u2019s been crunching transplant data ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among other things, he tracks donor numbers, how long patients wait for an organ and survival rates at more than 250 U.S. hospitals where transplants are done. The aim is a process that\u2019s fair, equitable and transparent. \u201cWe\u2019re mining all this data to make better decisions,\u201d says Stewart, who works from his home in Coatesville, Pa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year alone, he contributed to or led five peer-reviewed studies. One that examined a points-based system for ranking lung transplant recipients is expected to trigger reforms later this year. \u201cOne of the big challenges in our field is ensuring we\u2019re maximizing the organ supply that\u2019s available today,\u201d he says, \u201cand there\u2019s a lot of reason to believe we\u2019re not quite there yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the big challenges . . . is ensuring we\u2019re maximizing the organ supply that\u2019s available today.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s why he\u2019s proud of leading a simulation to learn how transplant doctors use kidney biopsy results to decide whether to accept a match from a deceased donor. The findings bolstered claims that transplant-quality kidneys were being discarded, and recommended reforms are under review as a result. Previously, Stewart\u2019s models led to a new way to calculate patients\u2019 time on the waiting list\u2009\u2014\u2009an overhaul that boosted transplant rates among Blacks and Hispanics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, he says, the work\u2019s not done. More than 100,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for a kidney, liver, heart, lung, pancreas, intestines, combinations of organs, or tissue\u2009\u2014\u2009and every 10 minutes another name is added to the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Darren Stewart \u201998 MS works on research to help improve how vital organs get to recipients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"subtitle\":\"Darren Stewart \u201998 MS works on research to help improve how vital organs get to recipients.\",\"displayCategoryID\":5,\"caption\":\"\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10],"tags":[201,308,911,1206],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"displayCategory":{"term_id":5,"name":"Best Bets","slug":"best-bets","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":39,"filter":"raw"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1781"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5032,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions\/5032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1781"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=1781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}