The clinical success of transplantation for the treatment of organ failure has resulted in a severe organ shortage; for example, there are currently almost 100,000 individuals in the U.S. on the waiting list for kidney transplantation. Despite efforts, the total number of deceased and living organ donations remains flat at about 17,000. Consequently, waiting times and wait list mortality is at an all-time high. Organ allocation policies are determined based on legislated priorities, and organs are distributed based on suboptimal algorithms. There is a growing interest in optimizing organ utilization, while preserving the ethical equipoise between equity, justice, and utility. This trans-disciplinary symposium focuses on the use of advanced data-driven and model-based approaches to promote evidence-based policy changes that would make the U.S. organ transplant system more efficient and equitable. After introducing the process of determining national allocation policies, the speakers will focus on the use of scientific approaches to decrease current national inefficiencies and geographic disparities for organs from deceased donors and to inform allocation policy that optimizes utilization. The session will discuss the use of market design science to increase live donor transplantation, including addressing the problem of donor-recipient mismatches, the concept of regulated markets for live donors, and ethical considerations of live donor incentives.