Donor Diaries
Donor Diaries is a podcast that delves into the beauty and complexity of living organ donation. Tune in to hear extraordinary stories of people who choose to share their organs and give the gift of life. The world of kidney and organ donation is a powerful testament to kindness, love, and the human spirit.
With over 90,000 individuals on the kidney transplant waitlist and about 13 people dying each day while waiting, the urgency is real. One in three Americans is at risk for chronic kidney disease, and one in nine already suffers from it, often unknowingly.
Donor Diaries offers unfiltered narratives from living donors and candid insights from transplant experts, aiming to elevate the conversation around organ donation. Our goal is to bring this crucial issue to the forefront, so no patient has to wait in vain or suffer needlessly.
Donor Diaries
Coffee and Kidneys with Al Roth | EP 20
Exchanging kidneys is a complicated process that involves multiple collaborations between kidney patients, living donors, transplant centers, insurance companies, airlines and more. It’s truly remarkable if you stop to think about the number of people and organizations that need to come together to make 1 paired exchange possible. We only started exchanging kidneys between non-compatible pairs a little over 20 years ago, so it’s a somewhat new process. Have you ever wondered how this was made possible?
Meet Nobel Laureate Al Roth who is an economist and Stanford University professor. Al designs markets. He’s one of the prominent players who has made kidney exchange possible. In a nutshell, his work has revolutionized kidney exchange around the world by using economic theory to make kidneys more available.
In October 2012, Al was the co-recipient of the 2012 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, together with Lloyd S. Shapley, for “ the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design."
Al Roth is well known for his application of economics to real world problems. In this podcast episode we touch a wide range of topics ranging from paired exchanges, prostitution, surrogacy, and more. All of these markets are examples of repugnant markets. Kidney Donation can be characterized as a repugnant market, and Al will tell us all about it!
Show Notes
Abundant/ CrowdSource for Life Film
Al Roth’s Blog
Al Roth’s Website
Freakonomics Make Me a Match Episode with Al Roth
