Giving Voice to the Human Experience of Organ Transplantation

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Every 17 minutes, a patient dies while waiting for an organ transplant with an annual shortfall of more than 25,000 organs. Behind these numbers lies an urgent call to rethink how we tell the story of organ donation — and how we inspire change.

Now, the Center for Research, Education, Innovation and Transformation in Organ Donation (REIMAGINE), part of the Department of Surgery at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, is launching the “REIMAGINE Podcast,” a new conversation series that explores what it means to care, give and be transformed by our connections with others in the transplant community. The podcast invites listeners into a space of inquiry and curiosity through conversations about compassion and the contemplative traditions with clinicians, donor families, living donors, researchers, policy leaders and scholars. These human stories open the door to deeper questions about meaning, connection and healing.

The series will launch in February 2026 and will be available on all major streaming platforms.

“The ‘REIMAGINE Podcast’ creates a space where we can explore the complexities of organ donation and transplantation together — not from a place of certainty, but from a place of inquiry,” says host Gabriel Schnickel, MD, MPH, executive director of the REIMAGINE Center and chief of the Division of Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery in the Department of Surgery. “This podcast is also about compassion, generosity and how we support one another through the most vulnerable moments of life. These themes stretch far beyond the walls of a hospital.”

Drawing from more than 15 years as a transplant surgeon, Schnickel brings a deeply human lens to each conversation to highlight the hope, loss, generosity and complexity that define both transplantation and the broader human experience.

The first three episodes include:

Episode 1: Why we’re here: Reimagining organ donation and transplantation

In this opening episode, Schnickel shares his personal journey that led him to create the “REIMAGINE Podcast.” He reflects on the transformative nature of transplantation, the joy of giving someone a second chance at life, the complexity of a system shaped by great need, loss and generosity, and the moments that continue to humble and inspire him. Rather than offering answers, episode 1 invites listeners into a shared space of curiosity, compassion and honest questioning about what it means to care for one another in the most vulnerable moments of life.

Episode 2: Two gifts, one heart: A conversation with organ donor Anh Nguyen

Anh Nguyen shares her story of becoming a living kidney donor. After her friend developed kidney failure, Nguyen stepped forward to donate a kidney, and years later she returned to UC San Diego Health to give again, this time donating part of her liver to a child she had never met. She reflects on the gratitude she felt waking up from surgery, the compassion she learned to extend to herself during recovery, and the quiet joy of knowing that two families, and generations to come, will carry forward from her gifts.

Episode 3: Compassion at the end of life: What palliative care can teach the transplant world

Gary Buckholz, MD, and Kimberly Bower, MD, are pioneers in hospice and palliative medicine at UC San Diego and deeply committed educators in the art of compassionate communication. In this episode, they discuss how palliative care principles can enrich organ donation and transplant conversations and why the future of medicine depends on listening, presence and humility.

“The stories we share on the ‘REIMAGINE Podcast’ remind us that people are capable of extraordinary compassion,” says Schnickel, who is also a professor in the Department of Surgery and transplant surgeon at UC San Diego Health. “My hope is that listeners walk away feeling connected to each other, the broader community and the deeper questions that shape who we are.”