THE GREATEST GENERATION ����–����
The Living Bank founders were among the Greatest Generation. Our journey began with their trail blazing vision.
����The Living Bank was established by five Houston women and served as the Nation’s first organ donor registry.
Physicians around the world were beginning to understand that transplant was a lifesaving procedure for many types of organ failure.
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The Texas Medical Center is founded.
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The kidney was the first human organ to be transplanted successfully. Identical twin Ronald Herrick donated to his brother Richard.
FDA approves the use of Cyclosporine for transplant recipients, an immunosuppressant that lowers the body’s ability to reject a transplanted organ.
transplant.
The Living Bank celebrates 55 years of giving hope.
The Living Bank begins offering Independent Living Donor Advocate services nationwide via telehealth.
The Living Bank begins providing Independent Living Donor Advocate services in the Texas Medical Center.
The Living Bank launches the ILDAN™ Professional Education program.
FOUNDERS
GLEN KARSTEN
JOAN ANDERSON, PhD
Join us in honoring
AMY D. WATERMAN, P h D, FAST
Dr. Waterman is a national transplant innovator and the Deborah C. and Clifton B. Phillips Centennial Chair for Clinical Research in Transplant Medicine, a Full Professor, and the Director of Patient Engagement, Diversity, and Education, representing both J.C. Walter Transplant Center at Houston Methodist Hospital and the Houston Methodist Research Institute. In addition to many national transplant leadership positions, Dr. Waterman is a Fellow of the American Society of Transplantation. In 2018, she received the ClearMark Award of Distinction from the Center for Plain Language for her interactive digital application, My Transplant Coach, as well as a National Health Information Merit Award for two educational initiatives developed by Explore Transplant, a nonprofit consortium Dr. Waterman founded.
Dr. Waterman’s research has been supported by more than $28 million dollars in federal grants, and she has authored approximately 100 research articles and book chapters. She has designed 13 educational programs to help patients and potential living donors make informed transplant decisions. These programs have been disseminated to patients in hundreds of dialysis and transplant settings in the United States, Canada, and South Africa, in multiple languages. Dr. Waterman received her PhD in Social Psychology with an emphasis on patient education and behavior change from Washington University in St. Louis, MO and worked for 12 years at the University of California Los Angeles as a Professor in Residence.
OUR MISSION
is to eliminate the shortage of organs for lifesaving transplant by being a trusted education resource for living organ donation and the leading provider of advocacy services for living donors.
OUR VISION
is for living organ donation to be widely known, understood, and available to those needing a lifesaving transplant, and for living donors to receive the independent advocacy and support they need before, during, and after transplantation.
WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO
No one should die waiting for a transplant because they didn't know living donation was an option. And for the undiscovered heroes willing to donate, if only they had known, they have the power to save a life.