[2][3] He has made significant contributions to the field of transplantation, including developing a mathematical model to facilitate a nationwide kidney paired donation program, both in the US and Canada.

[10] There are over 20,000 patients on the kidney transplant waitlist who have become highly sensitized, making finding a compatible donor extremely difficult.

[11] There are over 20,000 patients on the waitlist who have become highly sensitized, meaning that they have developed antibodies human leukocyte antigens—HLAs—key components of the immune system.

[14] Sommer Gentry and Dorry Segev found that the existing matching programs were not sufficient to accommodate the scale of the transplant waitlist in the United States.

Based on an algorithm created by the Canadian mathematician Jack Edmonds in 1965, the system improves paired donation by ensuring the maximum number of matches while still factoring in age, location and willingness to travel.

[15] Under the direction of Segev and Robert Montgomery, Johns Hopkins completed the first five-way donor kidney swap among 10 individuals.

[18] In May 2010, Brian Boyarsky sought out Segev's advice after doing previous research comparing transplant programs in different countries.

During his research, Boyarsky met Elmi Muller, who had been successfully transplanting organs between HIV+ donors and recipients in South Africa.

Both data sources allowed Segev and Boyarsky to estimate a possible 500 to 600 HIV+ donors in the United States, whose organs were currently being discarded.