Faces of Compassion: Julie Prigoff, when a career in transplant became personal

Jul 20 8:30am | Kristin Eggebraaten | @keggebraaten

For Julie Prigoff, transplant has been both a career and a deeply personal journey. Julie has spent nearly two decades at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, first as a transplant coordinator and now in her current role in Transplant Informatics. Years after beginning her career in transplant, the work became deeply personal when her husband needed a kidney transplant.

As a living kidney donor, Julie donated through a paired kidney exchange—giving the gift of life not only to her husband, but to another transplant recipient as well.

"In one word, my experience has given me gratitude," Julie shared. "Gratitude for the people who make the decision every day to donate, whether it's for someone they know or someone they've never met."

What is your role at Mayo Clinic, and where are you based?

I am the Clinical Operations Program Manager for Enterprise Transplant Informatics. Before joining Mayo Clinic in Arizona, I worked as a kidney transplant coordinator for seven years. After joining Mayo Clinic 18 years ago, I continued as a kidney/pancreas transplant coordinator before transitioning into my current informatics role.

What drew you to a career in transplant?

Patient education has always been my passion. Earlier in my nursing career, I worked as a Certified Diabetes Educator. Transplant allowed me to continue my love of educating patients while also supporting them and their families throughout their transplant journey.

When I joined Mayo Clinic's Transplant team, I had the opportunity to once again work with patients living with diabetes. What has kept me in transplant all these years is the incredible sense of teamwork. It truly is unlike anywhere else.

Can you share your personal connection to donation and transplantation?

Before I worked in transplant, I knew my husband had polycystic kidney disease (PKD), but we never expected he would eventually need a kidney transplant.

When that time came, we experienced firsthand the same compassion, support and excellence that Mayo Clinic's transplant teams provide every patient. My career path into transplant turned out to be unexpectedly personal.

What led you to become a living kidney donor?

For me, becoming my husband's donor simply made sense.

Because I had worked with the living donor team, I understood how well living donors do long term and how great the need is. Although we weren't blood type compatible, participating in a paired kidney exchange was an easy decision.

I never had doubts. It was an opportunity to help my husband while also helping another transplant recipient receive the gift of life.

What do you remember most about the donation process?

The incredible support from the living donor team.

Even though I understood the process professionally, no one ever assumed I already knew everything. Every step was explained, every question was answered, and I always felt informed and cared for. They also worked around my schedule since I was working full time and completing my master's degree.

How has that experience influenced how you approach your work each day?

I'm grateful for every person who chooses to become a donor, whether for someone they know or someone they've never met. My husband received his kidney because of one of those generous strangers, and I'll always be thankful.

I'm equally grateful to be part of a team that helps make transplantation and donation possible every day.

Julie grew up in Michigan but considers herself a Southern girl at heart after spending much of her life in the South. Today, she enjoys reading, hiking in the Arizona desert and trying her hand at desert gardening—even if, as she jokes, "the heat and bunnies usually win." She's also a devoted Atlanta Braves fan.

About Faces of Compassion
Faces of Compassion is a monthly series highlighting members of the Mayo Clinic Transplant community who are personally connected to organ, eye and tissue donation or transplantation. Through their stories, we honor the compassion and lived experience that inform the care our transplant teams provide every day.

HELPFUL LINKS