Mission and Vision

The Work We Do

New England Donor Services (NEDS) coordinates organ and tissue donation in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, the eastern counties of Vermont and Bermuda. Through its federally designated organ procurement organization, New England Organ Bank (NEOB), and its centralized tissue donation services operation, NEDS serves thousands of donor families each year who have generously made the choice to donate and honors the decision of those who registered as donors and gave the gift of life.

Operating one of the 56 OPOs that make up the nation’s donation system, NEDS works with nearly 200 hospitals and serves 14 million people in our region, screening nearly 50,000 potential donor referrals annually. Working sensitively with the donor families, NEDS staff leads donation authorization discussions, maintains medical support of potential donors, coordinates recovery surgeries, allocates organs according to the national transplant waiting list and directs transport of organs to transplant centers and tissues to processors.

NEOB was established in 1968 as the first independent OPO in the country, founded by Nobel Laureate Dr. Joseph Murray who performed the first successful organ transplant at Boston’s Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in 1954. NEDS was formed in 2017 as an affiliation of two OPOs, LifeChoice Donor Services and New England Organ Bank and merged the OPOs in 2021.

You may view our most recent annual report here.

Our Mission

To save and heal lives through organ and tissue donation.

Our Vision

To be a leader in the development and implementation of strategies to increase the life-saving and life-enhancing gifts of organ and tissue donation through effective relationships with our clinical partners, donor families and communities we serve.