A clinical investigation headed by UCSF transplant surgeon Peter G. Stock, M.D., Ph.D. (pictured far left) has led to the passage of the Hope Act lifting the ban on research into transplanting organs between HIV-positive donors and recipients. Dr. Stock was principal investigator on a large multi-center study testing the safety and feasibility of transplanting kidneys where both the donor and recipients were infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The group previously reported in NEJM that recipients of donated organs fared nearly as well as non-HIV infected recipients of similar transplants. A subsequent paper from Johns Hopkins projected that 500 to 600 H.I.V.-infected livers and kidneys would become available each year if the ban were repealed. Late in 2013, President Obama signed into bill a law overturning the ban on research in the area, a development with the potential to greatly increase the supply of kidneys to HIV-infected patients suffering from renal failure.
