Researchers at URI to Study Organ Donations

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – Researchers at the University of Rhode Island have received a $1-million grant to promote organ and tissue donations among blacks and other minorities.

The grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration is the second URI has received in recent years; the first was $1.25 million to increase organ and tissue donation intentions among students at four historically black colleges in North Carolina.

The new grant will allow URI researchers to promote organ and tissue donation among black adults living in Guilford County, N.C., and launch behavior-change programs, such as smoking cessation and encouraging physical activity. Researchers from URI’s psychology and human development departments and the Cancer Prevention Research Center will run community donor-awareness campaigns meant to educate and motivate potential donors and their families.

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, about 50 percent of the more than 83,000 people registered on the national transplant waiting list are minorities.

“What we have learned from our previous work is that different community groups have differing values, beliefs about organ donation and different experiences with health care in general,” said Mark Robbins, an assistant professor of psychology who is one of the principal investigators on the grant. “Our goal is to find ways to increase awareness and donor willingness among the African American community, so that their ultimate transplantation experience may be optimized and more high quality tissue match transplantations can be accomplished.”