Organ donation
Credits
Suman Prinjha
Is an anthropologist and obtained her PhD in 1999 from the London School of Economics. She was a Senior Researcher for Health Experiences Research Group and has conducted over 300 qualitative interviews across the UK on various health topics. Suman conducted the original interviews and research for the site in 2010-2011 before the 'opt out' system.
Professor Nicholas Mays
Nick is a social scientist with 45 years’ experience in health and social care research, and policy analysis, with a particular focus on evaluation of innovative policies. He is Professor of Health Policy in the Department of Health Services Research and Policy and was Director of PIRU from 2010 until the end of 2023. His main research interests are in organisational and funding innovations in health care systems, and in the politics of the health policy process.
He has worked in the NHS, in UK medical schools, for the King’s Fund and for the New Zealand Treasury where he was principal health policy advisor, 1998-2003. He was a trustee and board member of a What Works Centre – the Centre for Ageing Better, 2015-22. He is a Senior Associate at the Nuffield Trust, Member of The King’s Fund’s General Advisory Council and an Honorary Life Member of the Society for Social Medicine and Population Health. For more information see LSHTM website
Nick together with Leah McLaughlin ran the project 'Evaluation of the Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Act, 2019' their findings updated the site in 2026 to reflect the 'opt out' system for the organ donor register.
Leah McLaughlin
Is a Research Fellow and Research Officer at the School of Health Science, University of Bangor. Leah is interested in a wide range of health services research in particular organ donation and transplant, patient and public involvement and complexity science. For more information see the University of Bangor's website.
Leah together with Professor Nick Mays ran the project 'Evaluation of the Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Act, 2019' their findings updated the site in 2026 to reflect the 'opt out' system for the organ donor register.
Original site published in 2011
Advisory Panel
Deepak Mahtani
Interview participant
Dr Jennie Jewitt-Harris
Freelance Consultant; Founder and chairman of Transplant Links Community (TLC)
Jessie Cooper
PhD Student, University of Liverpool
Professor Kathy Rowan
Director, ICNARC
Neil O’Byrne
Development Manager, Transplant Support Network
Paula Aubrey
Organ donation specialist nurse, NHSBT
Pauline Weaver
Trustee, Donor Family Network
Professor Sue Ziebland
Research Director and Chair
Dr. Rachel Miller
HTO Steering Group member
Mr. Roberto A. S. Cacciola
Consultant Transplant Surgeon, Royal London Hospital
Wallee Mc Donnell
Interview participant
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Paulette Pratt (health writer) who helped us with recruitment, and all the participants and health professionals who helped us with this research. We would also like to thank Teressa Tymkewycz (specialist nurse) for providing the medical information clips for this section.
Supported by:
ICNARC - Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre
Evaluation of the Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Act, 2019
Discover more about the research behind the 2026 update of this website.
The content is based on research by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Bangor University, commissioned by The Department for Health England and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. The research involved interviews with over 100 families from across England and Wales.
The material on this site is supported by research carried out by the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Policy Innovation and Evaluation.
This is a summary of independent research funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) (Policy Innovation and Evaluation Research Unit). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.