When a call comes in to NDRI’s Fulfillment Center from a tissue bank, eye bank or organ procurement organization, it usually signals heartache for a family. Yet it’s also a beautiful sound of hope for countless patients and their families waiting for life-changing treatments and cures that may be discovered when a family’s gift of tissue or organs is matched with a researcher’s need.
Dana Rosales has fielded thousands of such calls in various roles with the Fulfillment call center over the last two decades. Today, she oversees and trains the team of 10 coordinators and shift managers who field as many as 50 calls to NDRI in a 24-hour period, carefully matching available human tissue with researchers around the world who depend on it to advance their work. Her team verifies donor consent and authorization, notifies researchers of available tissue, facilitates biospecimen shipment, confirms receipt and maintains NDRI’s Rhythm database.
Each call is different, and many are the result of heart-wrenching circumstances. But this St. Joseph’s University biology alumna knows that the painstakingly detailed work her team performs around the clock to connect donor families and tissue source sites with researchers has a direct impact on biomedical discoveries that help people every day.
“I love the anticipation of not knowing what’s coming my way with the next call,” says Dana. “The work we do is very important.”
