Rachael Wulf was certain she wanted to work in healthcare, but it wasn’t until her senior year of college that she was introduced to the field that would ultimately become her career.
“I happened to meet a guy who was in the Transplantation and Donation Sciences Program at The University of Toledo. It sounded really, really interesting. It was medical but there was a unique aspect to it,” she said. “I just knew after learning more about it that’s what I wanted to do.”
Wulf
Wulf, who enrolled at UToledo after graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Miami University, graduated from the yearlong master’s degree program in 2018 and immediately began working in the field.
She’s now director of innovation for Life Connection of Ohio, the nonprofit organ procurement organization that serves 24 counties in northwest and west central Ohio.
“I really don’t know where I would be if I hadn’t found this program. I’m so happy with where my career has led me. It’s just been a really great experience,” Wulf said. “I don’t ever see myself doing anything outside of what I currently do.”
More than 36,000 people in the United States received an organ from a deceased donor last year, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.
Getting those desperately needed organs prepared for transplantation falls largely on the shoulders of procurement coordinators.
“Organ donation is a complicated process. There are a lot of steps before surgeons can begin doing their work,” said Julie DeSantis, an assistant professor and director of UToledo’s Transplantation and Donation Sciences Program. “Procurement coordinators facilitate the entire organ donation from beginning to end. They are essential to making these life-saving procedures happen.”
A procurement coordinator’s work begins when doctors have exhausted all options for live-saving care and declared a patient brain dead.
Coordinators confirm the individual is a suitable donor, check donor registries and speak with the patient’s family about organ donation.
The coordinator then directs testing, orders medications to ensure the organs remain healthy enough to be transplanted and matches donor organs with recipients — all while keeping both the donor’s family and the prospective transplant center up to date.
“We consider ourselves triple advocates,” DeSantis said. “We’re advocating for the donor patient, the donor patient’s family and the recipient. These are obviously tragic situations and there’s a lot of grief. It’s our job to get them through this.”
Now in its 20th year, UToledo’s program was the first of its kind and remains the only academic program in the country specifically tailored to prepare students for careers coordinating and overseeing organ donation and transplantation.
Students enrolled in the program receive a multidisciplinary education that includes basic science and medical courses alongside classes that touch on the legal, ethical, sociocultural and behavioral dimensions associated with death, organ and tissue donation and transplantation. They also complete two internships before graduating with a master of science in biomedical science degree.
Welch
Paul Welch, who earned his undergraduate degree at Loyola University, heard about the Transplantation and Donation Sciences Program as he was looking for new opportunities after earlier plans for medical school didn’t come to fruition.
Though initially Welch saw it as a way to gain clinical experience and potentially prepare for another run at medical school, he’s found both the program and field to be a good fit for him.
“It’s a lot of hard work but you can expect that from any graduate study program,” he said. “I’m learning everything about donation — legal issues, ethical issues, I can take a pharmacology class. This semester I’m learning how to talk to families. I’m learning skills I can take throughout life.”
As he looks ahead to his internships, Welch said he feels confident about his future.
“This job is in high demand. Not a lot of people know about it and not everyone is going to like working with this kind of thing, but it is rewarding at the end of the day,” he said. “I’m walking out with all these skills and knowledge. I know I’ll be getting a job right out of this program.”
DeSantis said graduates have recently enjoyed a 100% job placement rate with an average starting salary of around $75,000.
“When this program was established, it was about getting students properly prepared for what they’re going to embark on,” DeSantis said. “Our students learn the job from inside out. They’re well rounded, well trained, know what to expect and they graduate with real-world experience. We put out the best coordinators in the industry.”
Wulf had multiple interviews lined up before completing her second internship. She ultimately began her career in Nevada as a procurement transplant coordinator before returning to Ohio for her current job in 2021.
She praised the program’s hands-on learning and the networking opportunities available to students.
“We’re able to connect what it actually looks like in the field at the same time we’re learning about it, which I thought was really important. Making those connections and building those relations also helped. It’s a small industry, so to have connections right away is helpful.”
