Non-profit organisation recovering organs and tissue for transplantation, with a Florida division covering west-central Florida plus operations in Georgia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
LifeLink Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit community service organisation dedicated to the recovery of life-saving and life-enhancing organs and tissue for transplantation. In Florida, its work is carried out through LifeLink of Florida, the division responsible for organ and tissue donation across west-central Florida. The foundation has operated for more than 40 years and employs more than 700 professionals across multiple states and territories.
The foundation runs five distinct divisions. Alongside LifeLink of Florida, these are LifeLink of Georgia, serving Georgia and parts of South Carolina; LifeLink of Puerto Rico, covering Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands; the LifeLink Transplantation Immunology Laboratory; and the LifeLink Tissue Bank, which handles tissue recovery and banking for transplantation. Technical work spans transplantation immunology, tissue banking, organ and tissue donation, clinical research and transplant clinical outcomes.
LifeLink Foundation collaborates with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and supports research intended to increase the supply of transplantable organs and tissues. The organisation was founded by nephrologist Dr. Dana Shires and a group of innovators, and has grown from a few employees to its present scale. Staff work in what the foundation describes as a sensitive, diligent and compassionate manner, consistent with its mission-driven, non-profit focus on donation.
