The Organ Donation and Transplantation Alliance will partner with AlloEd to present a Donation and Death Investigation Workshop on Sept. 14, 2026, in New Orleans, providing focused training to promote evidence preservation and strengthen relationships between donation professionals and their death investigation partners.
The workshop will take place immediately before The Alliance’s 2026 National Critical Issues Forum, scheduled for Sept. 15-16 in New Orleans. Registration for the workshop is available as an add-on during registration for the National Critical Issues Forum. General meeting registration is required to attend the workshop.
Strengthening Critical Partnerships
Medical examiners, coroners and other medicolegal death investigation professionals play an integral role in organ and tissue donation cases that fall under their jurisdiction. Their responsibilities may include determining cause and manner of death, preserving evidence and maintaining the integrity of the investigative process.
Donation and recovery procedures can introduce additional considerations when physical findings, clinical imaging, toxicology samples or other evidence must be preserved. In some cases, organ or tissue recovery may occur before a death investigator has viewed the body. Clear communication, reliable documentation and a shared understanding of each profession’s responsibilities can help protect the investigation while preserving opportunities for donation.
“Medical examiners, coroners and donation professionals share a responsibility to protect the integrity of the death investigation while honoring the potential to save and heal lives through donation,” said Jon Boyd, founder of AlloEd. “This workshop will provide practical tools, a stronger understanding of each profession’s responsibilities and a foundation for the trusted relationships that make effective collaboration possible.”
AlloEd provides training and consultation designed to help donation organizations and death investigators establish collaborative working relationships, preserve evidence and mitigate potential disruptions related to the donation process.
A Practical, Multidisciplinary Agenda
The workshop will examine the operational, clinical, legal and investigative considerations involved in shared donation and death investigation cases.
Educational sessions will address:
- Medicolegal death investigation systems, jurisdiction and chain of custody
- Death pronouncement, donation after circulatory death and brain death
- Forensic toxicology methods, sample collection and retention
- Forensic photography and documentation of physical findings
- The use of clinical and postmortem imaging in shared cases
- Pediatric death investigations involving potential organ donation
- Documentation, courtroom testimony and the use of donation records in litigation
The pediatric session will explore particularly complex cases involving suspected abuse, homicide and other forensic concerns. Faculty will discuss how clinicians, organ procurement organizations and death investigators can preserve evidence and coordinate their responsibilities while evaluating the potential for donation.
Workshop Faculty
The multidisciplinary faculty includes professionals with expertise in organ and tissue donation, forensic pathology, medicolegal death investigation, pediatric critical care, forensic imaging and law enforcement:
- Jonathan Boyd, MS, LSSBB, CTBS, director of tissue acquisition at Lonza Inc. and founder of AlloEd
- Brian Ehret, F-ABMDI, chief forensic investigator at the Center for Forensic Sciences in Syracuse, New York
- Jamie M. Elifritz, MD, chief medical officer and partner of the Forensic Radiology Group
- Catherine Miller, MD, district medical examiner for Palm Beach County, Florida
- Thomas Nakagawa, MD, FAAP, FCCM, associate medical director at HonorBridge
- Javier Nieto, MD, CSA, CPTC, abdominal organ recovery surgeon at LifeGift
- Meg Parks, manager of donation services relations at LifeGift
Registration Information
The Donation and Death Investigation Workshop may be selected as an add-on during registration for the 2026 National Critical Issues Forum. Attendance is limited to registered forum participants, and separate workshop registration is required.
The National Critical Issues Forum will convene hospital system, transplant, organ procurement organization and physician leaders Sept. 15-16 to examine innovations, challenges and collaborative strategies to increase organ donation and transplantation.
About AlloEd
AlloEd maximizes the gift of organ and tissue donation by providing training and education to current and future donation professionals. Through virtual and in-person education, workshops, consultation and advisory services, AlloEd supports effective practices and collaborative relationships across donation, transplantation and medicolegal death investigation. Learn more at www.alloed.org.
About The Alliance
The Organ Donation and Transplantation Alliance (The Alliance) is a nonprofit organization that develops relevant, targeted and scalable learning solutions for the organ donation and transplantation community of practice, including organ procurement organizations, transplant centers and hospitals where donations occur. Through its “All Teach, All Learn” approach, The Alliance unites professionals across the health care continuum to promote collaboration, share effective practices and advance innovations for the benefit of restoring lives through transplantation. Learn more at www.organdonationalliance.org.
