India-United States Transplant Foundation Inc

I-USTF is a vision of thanks from the family of one of the world's longest living heart recipients. Even before he received a heart transplant in 1992, Dr. V.S. Vaidhyanathan, was treated by several physicians and surgeons who did their initial medical training in India. 

In 2002 the Vaidhyanathans moved from Buffalo, N.Y. to Miami, Florida and met two Indian transplant surgeons who planned on returning to India to do cardiac and multi-visceral transplant surgery. 

In those days, there were no systems or programs for cadaveric organ transplants in India. Transplant surgeons had to be the program. They had to find their patients, and find their donors. They had to oversee the matching of the organs from donor to recipient, and they had to oversee the follow-up care, even training the nursing staff in the special needs of the transplanted patient. This was not a viable way to work. Soon, both of their surgeon friends left India in order to practice transplant surgery.

As a volunteer with the Transplant Foundation in Miami, Virginia Vaidhyanathan realized there was a special niche for transplant families to give thanks. She developed I-USTF in 2004 to work in support of cadaveric transplant programs in India. India's transplant programs have grown over the years, and the need for I-USTF to support educational programs for transplant professionals in India has grown.  ------ India's Cadaveric Organ Transplant programs are developing rapidly, with subsequent need for enhanced education and training for medical professionals in the field. I-USTF is working closely with India's leading transplant programs including NNOS (National Network for Organ Sharing) and the Mohan Foundation to facilitate in-house and foreign based education and training for Organ Procurement Professionals and Transplant Coordinators.

I-USTF serves as a liaison between transplant organizations in India and people in the U.S. who want to assist with the development of pre and post- operative care and education programs in lndia. I-USTF supports development of donor education programs for schools/colleges in India and the U.S.

I-USTF actively participates in international Transplant organizations. Members of the I-USTF Board have attended Transplant Conferences of the International Society of Organ Donation and Procurement (ISODP) and the Transplantation Society (www.tts.org). I-USTF Board Members have participated in Transplant conferences in India for NNOS, the National Network for Organ Sharing and the National Deceased DonorTransplantation Network, NDDTN. I-USTF Board Members are members of the Transplantation Society, ISODP, National Association of Transplant Coordinators (NATCO) and the Transplant Foundation. The Advisory Board of I-USTF consists of respected transplant professionals from India and the United States.