The Wayne State University School of Medicine Hematology Oncology Peer Education interest group will conduct a Gift of Life Drive on the medical campus for the next two weeks in an effort to register more organ donors.

The drive is part of a statewide challenge to add more names to the Michigan Organ Donor Registry.

The WSU School of Medicine and main campus are competing in the 2012 Gift of Life Campus Challenge. The challenge pits Michigan colleges in a friendly competition to determine which educational institution can register the most new organ donors.

Arjun Gowda, a first-year medical student and HOPE board member, said there is a lack of comprehensive education concerning organ donation.

“Most people understand the issues, but are not fully aware of the process. For instance, a transplant donor's medical care team is completely separate from the transplant team to ensure that a donor's treatment is not compromise,” Gowda said. “I worked in a neuro intensive care unit for two years and we would often deal with patients whose sudden illness would leave them in total brain death. These are patients who are ideal candidates for organ donation as most of their vital organs are intact, however if they did not decide to donate previously the decision is left to the patient’s family members. My main goal in the drive is to give people the opportunity to make the decision themselves.”

Over the next two weeks, HOPE will sponsor the drive on the medical campus and at the Detroit Medical Center. Adding your name to the registry is quick and simple, and can save as many as eight lives and improve the lives of 50 more through tissue donation.

Donor registration will take place at the following dates, times and locations:

Feb. 7 from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Scott Hall cafeteria

Feb. 8 from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Scott Hall cafeteria

Feb. 14 from noon to 1:30 p.m. in front of the Detroit Receiving Hospital cafeteria

Feb. 16 from noon to 1:30 p.m. in front of the Detroit Receiving Hospital cafeteria

Feb. 17 from 1 to 5 p.m. in the Shiffman Medical Library