Alonzo Mourning Honored
When the man of the moment, Miami Heat all star and philanthropist Alonzo Mourning, walked on stage to accept the inaugural Miami Transplant Institute Humanitarian Award, a crowd of nearly 400 stood up and applauded thunderously. Mourning, with customary humility, thanked the presenter, UM President Donna E. Shalala, and the audience, which included several of his fellow organ transplant recipients. Mourning, who underwent a kidney transplant in 2003, became spokesman for the Transplant Institute in 2008 and has been spreading the word about the skilled surgical teams that perform more than 500 life-saving adult and pediatric transplants each year, making the institute one of the busiest in the nation.
