Dr. Jeffrey Veale, professor of urology and director of the UCLA Kidney Transplantation Exchange Program, has won the 2023 Terasaki Medical Innovation Award for his role in developing the delayed-immune-tolerance protocol, which can help kidney transplant recipients reduce their reliance on immunosuppressive medications.
The award, presented by the National Kidney Registry, recognizes Veale for his contributions and scientific breakthroughs in kidney transplantation. He has helped advance kidney transplant chains, under which incompatible live donor/recipient pairs are essentially mixed and matched with compatible pairs in “chains” that can stretch to dozens of donors and recipients. The chains are typically launched by an altruistic donor.
He also pioneered the kidney voucher program, through which a living donor can donate a kidney when convenient, and their loved one or friend who has kidney disease receives a voucher for a future transplant when needed. These efforts have extended the availability of scarce kidneys for transplantation and freed recipients from dependence on immunosuppressive drugs that can come with detrimental side effects.
