Novel program tackles troubling disparities in organ transplants
A novel program in Tennessee aims to interest more Black and other minority medical students in organ transplants, to help ease troubling disparities.
Meharry Medical College students Teresa Belledent, center, is helped with her operating room clothing as Emmanuel Kotey, right, waits his turn June 15, 2023, in Jackson, Tenn. Fresh off their first year at Meharry, six students spent the summer shadowing a donor agency to learn the complex steps that make transplants possible: finding eligible donors, broaching donation with grieving families, recovering organs and matching them to recipients sometimes hundreds of miles away. “There are very few transplant surgeons who look like me,” said Dr. James Hildreth, president of Meharry Medical College, which teamed with Tennessee Donor Services for the project — one of several by historically Black colleges and universities to tackle transplant inequity.
LPN scrub nurse Ashton Conrad, center, and other members of the organ recovery team pause for a moment of silence to honor the organ donor before procurement surgery begins June 15, 2023, in Jackson, Tenn.
Meharry Medical College students Emmanuel Kotey, center, and Teresa Belledent, right, watch as the liver and kidneys are removed from an organ donor June 15, 2023, in Jackson, Tenn. They’re part of a novel pilot program to encourage more Black and other minority doctors-to-be to get involved in the transplant field, increasing the trust of patients of color.
Meharry medical students Teresa Belledent, left, and Emmanuel Kotey, right, arrive at Jackson-Madison County Hospital shortly after midnight to observe an organ procurement surgery on June 15, 2023, in Jackson, Tenn. Belledent, of Miami, recalled her mother saying not to check the organ donor box when she got her driver’s license -– because of a widespread myth that doctors won’t work as hard to save the life of a registered donor. “Now that I’ve seen the process, it’s crazy to even think about,” Belledent said. “In the ICU, no one’s looking through stuff and trying to find your license, look for the (organ donor) heart on there.”
Meharry Medical College student Teresa Belledent gets help putting on her eye protection as she watches an organ procurement surgery June 15, 2023, in Jackson, Tenn. Belledent has long wanted to become a surgeon. She spent her childhood in Haiti and recalls family friends with kidney disease and no access to transplants. Specializing in transplant surgery “is definitely on the list because I like the idea of being able to give someone a second chance.”
Meharry Medical College student Teresa Belledent, left, is helped with her operating room clothing by Deana Clapper, associate executive director of Tennessee Donor Services, before an organ recovery surgery June 15, 2023, in Jackson, Tenn.
An organ recovery team works to remove the liver and kidneys from a donor June 15, 2023, in Jackson, Tenn. Only about 1% of deaths occur in a way that qualifies someone to even be considered for donations, and hospitals must alert agencies fast enough to evaluate candidates and approach families.
Meharry Medical College students Emmanuel Kotey, center, and Teresa Belledent, right, observe an organ recovery surgery June 15, 2023, in Jackson, Tenn. Kotey thinks he’ll become a general practitioner and pledges his patients “young to old, will know about organ donation.”
Surgical instruments are arranged during an organ procurement surgery June 15, 2023, in Jackson, Tenn.
Meharry Medical College student Emmanuel Kotey watches as Dr. Marty Sellers, right, removes the liver and kidneys from an organ donor June 15, 2023, in Jackson, Tenn. Sellers gives precise instructions: place your right hand here, pinch this spot, clamp that one. The students learn to trim fat from a kidney, help with a biopsy and stitch the wound, and feel the lung nodule that proved cancerous – opportunities they normally wouldn’t get until far later in training.
Dr. Marty Sellers hands the liver of an organ donor to LPN scrub nurse Ashton Conrad, left, on June 15, 2023, in Jackson, Tenn. Cancer was later found in the donor’s lungs so the liver couldn’t be used for transplant.
Deana Clapper, associate executive director of Tennessee Donor Services, left, photographs a liver after it was removed from an organ donor on June 15, 2023, in Jackson, Tenn. The photograph and other information is sent on to the transplant team of the waiting organ recipient. Cancer was later found in the donor’s lungs so the liver couldn’t be used.
A liver is prepared for transport after it has been removed from an organ donor June 15, 2023, in Jackson, Tenn. Cancer was later found in the donor’s lungs so the liver couldn’t be used for transplant.
Dr. Marty Sellers, left, and Meharry Medical College students Emmanuel Kotey, second from right, and Teresa Belledent, right, examine a kidney after it was removed from an organ donor on June 15, 2023, in Jackson, Tenn. Cancer was later found in the donor’s lungs so the kidney couldn’t be used for transplant.
Dr. Marty Sellers, right, talks with Meharry Medical College students Emmanuel Kotey, left, and Teresa Belledent, center, after an organ procurement surgery June 15, 2023, in Jackson, Tenn.
Meharry Medical College students Samuel Ademisoye, left, and Austin Brown, center, take part in a discussion with Michael Clay, Director of Family Services, right, at the Tennessee Donor Services headquarters June 16, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. Brown of Memphis says his grandfather “absolutely despised medicine," and died of a heart attack after refusing an artery-clearing stent.
Dr. James Hildreth, president and CEO of Meharry Medical College, speaks during an interview June 15, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. “I’m a firm believer that students can’t get really excited about something they’re not exposed to,” said Hildreth, who thinks early experiences like this could help diversify the transplant field.
Tennessee Donor Services Executive Director Jill Grandas works in her office June 15, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. Overall, Black patients make up 28% of the waiting list for all organs but account for just about 16% of deceased donors. Increasing donor diversity also helps improve the odds of finding a good match. “How do we close that gap?” was the question Jill Grandas, Tennessee Donor Services’ executive director, took to Dr. James Hildreth, president of Meharry Medical College.
Meharry Medical College student Mikhail Thanawalla, right, watches and listens as Sonya Smith, a referral screening specialist, takes a call at the Tennessee Donor Services headquarters June 15, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. The many steps to successful donation “are like gears in a machine and the entire machine breaks down if one gear fails. That’s my biggest takeaway,” says Thanawalla of Scottsbluff, Neb.
Meharry Medical College student Mikhail Thanawalla talks with Daphne Myers, right, after Myers spoke with a group of Meharry students June 17, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn., about the decision of her late son to be an organ donor before his death at age 26. A donor representative asked Myers all about her son — how Haston Stafford Myers Jr. always helped others and loved to sing. Only then did Myers learn her son was a registered organ donor and realized she supported his choice.
Daphne Myers, right, and her daughter, Latrice Gardner, hold a picture of Myers' son and Gardner's brother, Haston Myers Jr., on June 17, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. Earlier, the two talked to a group of Meharry Medical College students about Haston Myers' decision to be an organ donor before his death at age 26. A donor representative asked Myers all about her son — how Haston Stafford Myers Jr. always helped others and loved to sing. Only then did Myers learn her son was a registered organ donor and realized she supported his choice.
Thousands die awaiting a transplant because there aren't enough donated organs and some don’t get a fair chance, including Black Americans. A novel program aims to help ease troubling disparities.
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