Harrison Cole
Office Hours: By appointment
B.A. Geography, The University of Texas at Austin, 2014
My research falls at the intersection of two phenomena: the systemization of transplant logistics and the commodification of transplantable organs.
In order to meet a historically high demand for transplantable organs, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is implementing protocols for the standardization of transplant organ shipping. Simultaneously, biotechnology companies are researching processes to optimize existing organs (such as through ex vivo lung perfusion), as well as increase the number of available organs for transplant (xenotransplantation). My own research aims to set the operations of these entities against the historical and contemporary operations of logistics and supply chain enterprise in the United States. I seek to outline intersections and departures between private and transplant logistics in order to challenge and expand the notion of logistics as fundamentally utilitarian, and set an agenda for future biomedical logistics research.