National Organ and Tissue Donation Day under the auspices of the Biomedicine Agency
On June 27, 2025, an important event took place at the entrance to the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital site in conjunction with National Organ and Tissue Donation Day, under the auspices of the French Biomedicine Agency.
The Greffes+ collective, a group comprising numerous activist associations and represented by Cédric Émile, vice-president of the Greffe de Vie Foundation, signed the Charter of Donation Ambassador Faculties with Bruno Riou, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, and the Charter of Donation Ambassador Hospitals with the Director of the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Ms. Pauline Maisani, and the Director General of the Biomedicine Agency, Ms. Marine Jeantet.
Also present at the signing were Mr. Aurélien Mollard, representing the Director General of our GHU, Ms. Christine Welty, Prof. Fimonena Conti and Dr. Claire Goumard, co-presidents of our GHU's Transplantation Federation, Dr. Sarah Drouin, appointed by the dean for this purpose, and prominent figures such as Prof. Didier Houssin, former director of the French Transplant Agency, precursor to the Biomedicine Agency, as well as most of the heads of departments involved in organ and tissue donation and transplantation in our respective institutions.
L’activité de transplantation d’organes et de greffes de tissus a toujours été une activité phare de la Pitié-Salpêtrière et un centre d’intérêt pour notre faculté tant sur le plan de l’enseignement que de la recherche. La coordination des prélèvements d’organes et de tissus de la Pitié-Salpêtrière a été à la pointe de la recherche sur l’optimisation du don d’organes, s’attelant à pouvoir organiser tous les types de prélèvements de patients en mort encéphaliques, en arrêt cardiaque (Maastricht 2), dans le cadre d’une limitation thérapeutique (Maastricht 3) ou en chambre mortuaire pour les tissus.
The transplant teams at Pitié-Salpêtrière (heart, liver, kidney) are among the most dynamic in France. The transplant federation, which brings together all departments involved in transplantation, not just clinical ones, has expanded its scope to cover the entire GHU and has become a major forum for interdisciplinary exchange. The AP-HP, together with Inserm and three universities in the Paris region (Sorbonne University, Paris Saclay, and Paris Cité), has just created a university hospital federation (FHU) dedicated to transplantation. For more than 30 years, the charter of the Pitié-Salpêtrière emergency department has enshrined the prioritization of organ removal and transplantation, a situation that is unique in France. The Faculty of Health organizes the only national day dedicated to tissue procurement and will incorporate internships into its health service for health students as part of an initiative to raise awareness of organ and tissue donation among high school students, under the leadership of Dr. Laure Surgers and Ms. Viviane Justice for hospital coordination.
As of January 1, 2024, there were 21,866 patients on the waiting list for a transplant, all organs combined, and the Biomedicine Agency estimates that out of 23 people on the waiting list, only 15 receive a transplant, 2 to 3 die without receiving a transplant, with the lists continuing to grow. For transplant patients, it means a return to normal life, and for corneal transplant patients, it means the end of a terrible visual impairment. Organ donation is an opportunity to save up to seven lives, or even more with tissue transplants. Eighty percent of French people are in favor of organ donation, but the opposition rate was 36% in 2023 and continues to rise. Informing the public about organ and tissue donation is therefore essential to facilitate it and combat a number of misconceptions. (https://www.agence-biomedecine.fr/fr/don-et-greffe-d-organes-et-de-tissus/le-22-juin-la-journee-nationale-pour-parler-du-don-d-organes-et-sauver-des-vies).
The Faculty of Health Sciences at Sorbonne University and the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital are proud to be recognized as Ambassadors for Organ Donation by the Collectif Greffes+ and have no doubt that their respective teams will work tirelessly to honor this recognition.
Bruno Riou, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Sorbonne University
Ms. Pauline Maisani, Director of the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital