Agimol Pradeep wins global nursing award for organ donation work

UK-based nurse Agimol Pradeep has won the Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award 2026, receiving a $250,000 prize for her work addressing the organ and stem-cell donation gap within South Asian communities.

Pradeep, a senior transplant coordinator at King's College Hospital and honorary senior lecturer at the University of Salford, was selected from 134,000 entrants representing 214 countries. Her initiative, Upahaar, has registered more than 10,000 South Asian stem-cell donors since 2012.

Her work was inspired by disparities in transplant access, where South Asian patients often face longer wait times due to the need for ethnic matches. Pradeep's research identified that low registration rates were driven by misinformation, religious concerns, and social stigmas rather than a lack of willingness to donate. She intends to use the prize money to expand her initiatives and fund nursing education.