On May 2, the South Suburban Chicago Chapter of Links, Inc., honored Jack Lynch, Senior Advisor for Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network, for his pioneering work in the field of organ and tissue donation. During the event, Lynch and other leaders in organ and tissue donation and transplantation informed and educated attendees about the importance of being a registered organ donor, the facts of kidney disease and how it disproportionately affects the African American community.
Lynch is responsible for developing and maintaining communications that promote organ and tissue donation within selected community groups and hospitals. Additionally, Lynch oversees donor education programs in the African-American communities throughout Illinois and northwest Indiana.
Prior to joining Gift of Hope in 1987, then known as the Regional Organ Bank of Illinois, Lynch was a manager of hospital development for Sandoz Pharmaceuticals in Hanover, N.J. Recognized as a leader in addressing organ donation and education in the African-American community, in 1993 he was appointed by former Illinois Gov. George Ryan to serve as chairman of the Illinois Department of Public Health Organ Donation Committee. A member of numerous health care and donation-related organizations, he is a guest instructor at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, the University of Illinois School of Public Health in Chicago and the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago. In addition to speaking at numerous hospitals and organ transplant programs across the country, Lynch has frequently been interviewed on minority organ and tissue donation for local, regional and national media including a CBS “48 Hours” segment on donation, and “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
After attending Chicago city colleges including Chicago State University, he went on to participate in the master med program at Meharry Medical College in Nashville.
About Gift of Hope
Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network is a not-for-profit organ procurement organization entrusted by the nation’s health care system with coordinating organ and tissue donation and providing donor family services and public education in Illinois and northwest Indiana. Gift of Hope works with 180 hospitals and serves 12 million residents in its donation service area. Gift of Hope has coordinated donations that have saved the lives of more than 25,000 organ transplant recipients and improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of tissue transplant recipients.
