Christopher Causey ’85 helps drive major advancements in organ transplantation through board of directors leadership

Christopher Causey ’85 always knew he was going to work in health care. What the psychology major didn’t know as an undergraduate at The College of Wooster was that instead of using his knowledge of the human mind to help individuals live happier, healthier lives, he would be supporting groundbreaking research on the use of genetically modified pig hearts, kidneys, and other organs to save lives.

Since 2003, Causey has served on the board of directors of United Therapeutics Corporation, an $11 billion publicly traded biotechnology company focused on the development of innovative pharmaceutical therapies and technologies that both delay the need for a transplant and increase the availability of organs for transplant. In addition to producing xenohearts and xenokidneys for xenotransplantation, the company, which is a public benefit corporation, is working to develop regenerative lungs and 3D-printed lungs, livers, and kidneys. Causey believes these revolutionary achievements will eventually save millions of lives by addressing a very real and pressing need. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, almost 105,000 Americans are currently awaiting an organ transplant, and 17 people die every day before receiving one.

Recent advancements have demonstrated astonishing progress toward turning this dream into a reality. In September, New York University Langone Medical Center announced the conclusion of a 61-day study in which a United Therapeutics xenokidney functioned normally in a braindead patient. Just days later, surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center successfully transplanted a United Therapeutics xenoheart into a second living patient with end-stage heart disease.

“This is like landing the first person on the moon. It’s that big of a deal,” said Causey, who currently chairs the company’s Nominating and Governance Committee and has been formally affiliated with the company since its founding in 1996. “In the health care and scientific worlds, these are out-of-this-world achievements.”

As a board member for United Therapeutics, Causey communicates with investors about the company’s innovations. Here he’s observing human lungs on Ex-Vivo Lung Perfusion (EVLP) which reconditions sub-optimal lungs for transplantation. More than 350 human lungs, which would otherwise have been discarded, have been placed in patients in the U.S as a result of EVLP therapy.

Causey has spent most of his career in health care. After graduating from Wooster, he quickly discovered that he didn’t want to be a psychologist after all and decided to go to business school, earning his M.B.A. from The George Washington University. He served in senior executive roles for several health care companies, including Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Allina Health, before founding his own health care strategy and marketing consulting firm, Causey Consortium, in 2002. In every case, he was drawn to positions where there were issues to address or change to drive.

Causey credits Wooster with helping him develop the skills he needs to support change management. More specifically, he credits his Independent Study experience with teaching him what he calls the “art of incrementalism.” “It’s easy to get paralyzed by the size and scope of a project like I.S.,” he said. “I gained the confidence and ability to think about the project not in its entirety, but as a series of steps. Learning to view challenges as incremental processes has really helped me throughout my career. It’s been an efficient, effective way to achieve meaningful impact.”

Causey has been a member of Wooster’s Board of Trustees since 2015 and currently chairs the Trusteeship and Governance Committee. “It has been the most gratifying volunteer experience I’ve ever had,” he said. “The quality of the people on the board and the cabinet is exceptional. More importantly, helping ensure that young people today experience the benefits of a liberal arts education is near and dear to my heart.”

These benefits, according to Causey, include being exposed to a variety of different subjects and learning to think broadly.

“I think our society is really struggling right now with an absence of breadth of thought and perspective, and I view the liberal arts as being an important source of that,” Causey said. “I think about future leaders that we’re educating and supporting at The College of Wooster, and that motivates me to my core. I’m delighted to play a small part in their undergraduate journey.”

Posted in Alumni on November 9, 2023.