Gift of Life Pres. & CEO to Deliver Juniata Commencement Address

WHAT: Juniata College 143rd Commencement Address to be delivered by national healthcare leader.

WHO: Howard M. Nathan, President and CEO of Gift of Life Donor Program and 1975 graduate of Juniata College, will deliver the Commencement Address at Juniata College’s 143rd Commencement Ceremony. He will also receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Nathan will be introduced by 17-year-old liver transplant recipient Onyi Kenine, whose life-saving organ transplant was coordinated by Gift of Life.

WHEN: Saturday, May 15, 2021

10 a.m. – Class of 2021 Commencement Address

4 p.m. – Class of 2020 Commencement Address

Video and photos available Saturday afternoon here.

WHERE: Juniata College

1700 Moore Street

Huntingdon, PA 16652

Commencement will be viewable by live stream at www.juniata.edu/commencement

BACKGROUND

A 1975 graduate of Juniata College, Howard Nathan is recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on organ donation and transplantation. Nathan joined Gift of Life Donor Program in 1978 and has served as President and CEO since 1984. Under his leadership, he has grown Gift of Life to be the largest organ procurement organization (OPO) in the U.S., responsible for coordinating the most life-saving organ donations every year for the past 13 years. He is the longest-serving CEO of any OPO in the U.S.

In 2004, Nathan founded Gift of Life Institute, an international training center for organ and tissue donation professionals, offering comprehensive, interdisciplinary resources to increase donation outcomes, including skills-based learning, continuing education, collaborative research, and consulting services.

In 2011, Nathan founded Gift of Life Family House, which provides affordable lodging, meals, and supportive services for transplant patients and their families who travel to Philadelphia for transplant-related medical care.

As one of the world’s leading authorities on organ and tissue donation, Nathan has published more than 400 scientific papers and abstracts on organ and tissue donation. He has traveled to more than 30 countries to share best practices. Nathan serves on numerous national and international leadership boards and is frequently featured in the media.

Nathan has provided his expertise to many prestigious national and international organizations. He has served as President of the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO), Donate Life America and the International Society for Organ Donation and Procurement and has served on numerous other boards throughout his career. He received an appointment form the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to serve on the National Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation.

His advocacy and contributions to the scholarship of transplantation have been recognized with numerous awards from national and international organizations. Nathan is the recipient of many Lifetime Achievement Awards and was honored with Juniata’s Alumni Achievement Award in 2017.

Nathan’s dedication to Juniata includes volunteering at regional alumni events, serving as a Juniata Admissions Ambassador, and supporting Juniata job-shadowing programs for health professions students. He was awarded a Juniata Alumni Achievement Award in 2017. Nathan and his wife, Liz, also established a summer internship for Juniata students at Gift of Life.

Gift of Life Donor Program

Gift of Life Donor Program is the non-profit, federally designed organ procurement organization, working with 128 acute care hospitals and 15 transplant centers to serve 11.3 million people in the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware. Thanks to is compassionate community, for the past 13 years, Gift of Life has coordinated the most organ donors in the United States. Its annual donation rate, 55 organ donors-per-million-population, ranks among the highest in the world. Since 1974, Gift of Life has coordinated more than 52,500 life-saving organs for transplant, and approximately 1.75 million tissue transplants have resulted from the generosity of donors and their families. One organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people, and a tissue donor can improve the lives of more than 100 others. For more information or to register, visit donors1.org.

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