NEW YORK -- Do you have the power within yourself to save someone's life in a time of need? We all do -- in the form of our heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, intestines, pancreas and corneas. Yet these organs and tissues, which could do the world a world of good, are too often interred with our bones, to paraphrase Shakespeare. 

Believing future doctors can narrow the gap between supply and demand, last fall two students at Weill Cornell Medical College -- Brant W. Ullery '08 and Avnish Deobhakta '08 -- founded the Medical Students for the Advancement of Transplantation (MSAT) to raise awareness about organ donation for medical students and the public alike, and to build a support system among organ donors and recipients. At the inaugural meeting May 5, the students invited Rob Kochik, clinical director of the New York Organ Donor Network, to describe scenarios in which organ donation could save a life.

Kochik discussed the challenges in approaching patients about the delicate subject of donating organs, which can be recovered following brain or cardiac death. Though there is a shortage of organs, Kochik framed the challenge as "a health-care problem with a solution." He stressed that many misconceptions still surround the issue of organ and tissue donation.

While the public supports it in theory, he said, few patients or family members will consent in practice. The doctor plays a critical role in the decision making. "[Providing] accurate and timely information to the patient's family, and their hospital experience, is key to fighting the consent paradox," Kochik said.

MSAT also invited speakers who have received lifesaving transplants. New York resident Christine Galan, 42, one of the first heart-liver transplant recipients, narrated her story of chronic illness and sudden hope. "I went from knowing I was going to die to knowing I was going to live," she said. 

MSAT's ongoing speaker series will feature prominent transplant surgeons, organ donors and recipients, and public health policy advocates.

To date, MSAT has developed a national "pen pal" program that connects pediatric patients undergoing organ transplantation. The group also has created a mentoring program between medical students and pediatric transplant patients and has launched a youth outreach program to educate high school and middle school students in New York City about organ and tissue transplantation. 

In the future, MSAT hopes to develop media materials to chronicle the lives of patients undergoing organ and tissue transplantation. They also are developing an internship program for medical students interested in the study of organ donation, transplantation or disease prevention.

• Each day, an average of 17 people waiting for organs die in the United States because no organs can be found for them. In 2004, there were 6,200 such deaths.
• More than 83,000 people nationwide are waiting for organ transplants.
• One organ donor can save up to eight lives. One donor can improve up to 50 lives through corneal, bone, skin and other tissue transplants.
• All people -- regardless of age -- can become an organ donor, simply by letting their families know their wishes. New York residents must sign an organ donor card and enroll through the New York State Organ and Tissue Donor Registry at http://www.donatelifeny.org/enroll/registry.html.