Overcoming Disparities in Living Donor Kidney Transplantation in the USA: the Promise of Academic and Community Stakeholder Partnerships

Purpose of Review: Living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) has been shown to be the optimal treatment for clinically suitable patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Despite the benefits, racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities persist in receipt of LDKT. These disparities may be mitigated through the development of academic and community-based partnerships. Recent Findings: This article provides a systematic review of existing academic-community partnerships designed to address disparities in LDKT for adult populations in the USA. Few academic-community partnerships exist that were designed to specifically address LDKT disparities. Among the 7 existing partnerships identified within this review, the majority were developed as part of grant-funded interventions targeting healthcare access, health education, and health attitudes and behaviors as barriers to LDKT. Summary: Future work is needed to identify practical methods for expanding LDKT partnerships among health equity researchers, healthcare practitioners, transplant centers, and other key stakeholders, including patients, families, faith-based leaders, policy makers, and medically underserved communities.