Reflections from AOPO 2022

This past June was my [Laura] first experience with the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO). After an informative call with Steve Miller, the CEO of AOPO, I felt like I had to attend this conference to meet all the amazing people that are working on the incredible mission to save lives through organ, eye, and tissue donation.  And I was not oversold. I attended the conference alone, still as a MBA student at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. While I was wandering the exhibits and listening to the presentations, often by myself, AOPO members would come up to me and introduce themselves. They were such a welcoming group of individuals. Throughout the conference I learned about changes within Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, donation allocation, as well as potential improvements that OPOs could make within their organization. All of the attendees would listen and participate actively, and I knew this was where I belonged. 

It was incredible to see all these people coming together over such an impactful mission, especially after the previous two conferences being canceled due to Covid. People told their stories in regards to transplants and the entire community felt connected. There were also numerous sessions on a variety of topics including breakouts on different areas of impact such as administration, authorization, clinical, development, public relations, and tissue.

In the end, I learned so much from all of the different individuals in attendance.  Even afterwards, I was able to call upon and email the AOPO “family” to help me create my company. To the people who have helped the most, you know who you are, and thank you.