Everyone knows that an organ transplant can save a life but did you know that non-transplantable organs and tissues donated for research and education can affect millions of lives?

Researchers today study disease with the help of donated human organs that do not meet the criteria for transplantation. Donated organs in research affect untold numbers of patients who can benefit from the medical advances that result from their use in ongoing studies. In addition to studying major organs, our partnership with Platinum Training provides health care professionals from all over the world the opportunity to continue their education. This opportunity is critical given the rapid advances being made with surgical techniques and medical devices. IIAM serves to connect donors and the institutions that train our doctors, nurses and other health care professionals to improve the health of living patients.



How Donor Organs and Tissues Help Research
Research centers throughout the United States need donated organs and tissues on an ongoing basis for studies that could lead to breakthroughs in treatment for many of humankind's most devastating illnesses including:

If you would like more information about donating for education, click here for more information from IIAM or call 1-800-486-IIAM. An IIAM coordinator will answer your questions.



Choosing the Research Option
If you would like to donate your body, your organs or tissues for medical research after death, make the necessary plans now. Signing a donor card, informing your physician, or making a living will are ways of indicating your wish to donate. Most important, share your decision to donate with your family and friends. After all, the final decision to donate will rest with your next-of-kin.



Gift of Body / Whole Body Donation
Donating your body to medical science will lead to better and healthier lives for countless people.

Your decision can help medical researchers develop new treatments for illnesses, give medical educators the tools they need to teach life-saving surgical techniques or advance the work of those who develop surgical instruments and revolutionary medical equipment.

Age and most medical conditions are not barriers to donation. IIAM can determine if you qualify. Call 1-800-486-IIAM or Click here for contact information.

There are no costs associated with donation. In the case of Whole Body Donation, there may be no funeral expenses of any kind. Interment of cremains will be at IIAM's Pennsylvania or Arizona burial site or the family can request that they be returned to them.

Additionally, IIAM does not require pre-registration. The decision to donate can be made at the time of death.

Click here for more information from IIAM or call 1-800-486-IIAM. An IIAM coordinator will answer your questions.



Gift of Body Program
"... She had kindness and compassion in her heart...
the decision to give to help others was her last best gift."

The IIAM Gift of Body Program provides donors a unique and special way to help improve and save lives.

Unlike most body donation programs, IIAM's Gift of Body Program requires no pre-registration.

A Gift of Body donation through IIAM is easy to arrange. A donor can plan it before death, or it can be done by a donor's next-of-kin or guardian after death.

Make your wishes known
If you are interested in donating your body to medical research and education, you can make your plans now. The decision to donate starts by signing an IIAM Donor Card which is separate from a donor registry or other organ/tissues donor card you may have already completed. Making your decision known to family, friends and caregivers or documenting your decision through an advanced directive, living will, or to the person who has been given power of attorney for medical decisions will enable your wish to be carried out.

Click here for a downloadable(PDF) of the IIAM Gift of Body Donor Card.

Fulfilling a Donor's Wishes
Family members are often the ones who must carry out a loved one's decision to donate. When a grieving family knows that the deceased wanted to donate but didn't sign the necessary documents, the family is empowered to act on his or her behalf. Sometimes a family decides to donate because it would be in keeping with their loved one's life and character.

Gift of Body Benefits
In addition to giving the donor the satisfaction of helping medical research and education, IIAM covers all costs associated with the Gift of Body Program. That includes cremation at IIAM's expense and, if the family chooses, no-cost interment at a special IIAM memorial interment site.

IIAM's Role
IIAM is a link between donors and scientific research and education, providing much needed anatomical tissues and organs to researchers, scientists and clinicians throughout the United States. Researchers may be working in the same region as the donor or doing work in an area of medical research of special interest to the donor and/or the donor family.

Here is what donor families are saying: