Saving time and expanding the reach of life-saving organ transplants

Nate Alexander ’17

Head of Operations, Blade

MAJOR: FINANCE

Nate Alexander ’17 founded BLADE Medical Mobility Organ Procurement Program, which provides end-to-end organ transplant services via air and ground travel. After graduating from Notre Dame with a bachelor’s in finance and working in investment banking, Alexander left the financial industry to pursue his passion for aviation. In March 2018, he began work for BLADE Urban Air Mobility and then started his program the next year.

Expeditious transportation is critical for organ transplantation; for every hour an organ is outside of the human body, surgical success rates decrease materially. When every minute counts, Alexander uses his business and aviation knowledge to improve lives and give second chances. His organ procurement program has completed over 700 successful organ procurement flights, which not only saves lives but also reduces hospital costs by millions of dollars and cuts critical travel times down by one-third vs. traditional medevac providers. He continues to expand the life-saving transplant operations for BLADE and extend the reach of the program nationwide, with organ transplants being successfully delivered from donors throughout the United States.  

In 2019, Alexander also helped design the Urban Air Mobility New York City Airport Transfer Program, which moves more people in and out of the city centers than any air travel provider in the world.