In a glittering awards ceremony on 22nd August 2016, at the 26th International Congress of The Transplantation Society (TTS) in Hong Kong, Mrs. Lalitha Raghuram, Country Director, MOHAN Foundation received the “Women in Transplantation Hero Award 2016.” Women in Transplantation, a wing of The Transplantation Society, recognises the efforts of some outstanding women across the globe, working in the field of transplantation, and making a difference to the community. The award was presented to Mrs. Raghuram by Dr. Nancy Ascher, incoming president of The Transplantation Society and Dr. Philip O’Connell, the current President of The Transplantation Society. She shared the award with Dr. Elmi Muller, Head of the Transplant Unit at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.

Ms. Sujatha Suriyamoorthi, Manager – Information Systems, MOHAN Foundation also attended the conference that was held from 18th to 23rd August 2016. Her abstract on “Deceased organ donation in a public hospital – A model programme” was accepted for poster presentation, in which she showcased the deceased donation programme of Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) – the apex public sector hospital in Tamil Nadu. Only a handful of public hospitals in India are participating in this programme and RGGGH is the leading hospital in this sector with the largest number of multi-organ donors between 2010 and 2015. She also presented a paper on “Mobile apps to improve organ donation rate”. The three mobile apps that were developed by MOHAN Foundation are – 1) Donor Optimisation App (developed in association with NHS Blood and Transplant, UK) 2) Organ Registry/Allocation App 3) e-donor card app. Mrs. Lalitha Raghuram presented a paper on “Progress in deceased organ donor transplantation in India”. The team’s participation at the conference was supported by Mrs. Virginia Vaidhyanathan, Treasurer/ Founder, India United States Transplant Foundation, Inc. (I-USTF).