About Research for Life
Research For Life is committed to providing compassionate services to donor families throughout Arizona and Southern California. Our whole body donor program brings donor specimens together with educators and researchers to advance medicine that improves or extends the quality of life for people worldwide.
Over the past decade, we have been a leader in our commitment to support responsible legislation that:
- Would require that tissue banks in Arizona be licensed and inspected.
- To mandate federal legislation that would regulate all whole body donor activities.
We also continually lobby to maintain the right of all persons to choose whole body donation. Whole body donors help to save lives and improve the quality of life for current and future generations.
As a leading anatomical whole-body tissue bank in the United States, we are accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB).
Donors can make a difference, and Research For Life can help facilitate their gift. We work with many cutting-edge organizations seeking to bring innovative medical devices or drug therapies to society that will improve or extend the quality of life for many people worldwide.
Research For Life is a no-cost program providing the services of transportation and cremation at no charge to the donor or the donor’s family.
Our Pledge to You
We at Research For Life have been granted an extraordinary privilege: to contribute our donors’ bodies to the future of science. Our priority is and shall always be to treat them with the utmost dignity and respect.
Our History
Laurie and Garland Shreves founded Research For Life in 2009. They both have a deep background in the funeral industry – spanning several decades. They believed that donor families deserved a higher level of care and service. Initially located in Chandler, Arizona, the lab moved to Phoenix, near Sky Harbor airport, in 2012. This move allowed for a larger building with space for training doctors and paramedics. These new facilities allowed Research For Life to offer better opportunities for learning with technology and state-of-the-art recovery facilities.
Our organization identified the growing need in Southern California to support those individuals who wished to become whole body donors. So, in 2011, the Temecula, California office was opened to the public.
As we grew, we recognized the importance of accreditation, licensure, and inspection within our industry. We committed to consistently meeting the highest possible standards for whole body donor programs to better serve our donors, their families, and our end users. Research For Life is 1 of only 7 accredited whole body donor organizations in the United States.
Since we opened our doors in 2009, we have served more than 10,000 families in Arizona and California. More families are choosing Research For Life for whole body donation over any other organization, and we are currently registering hundreds of future donors each month.
From our earliest beginnings, we have believed that transparency and public outreach are key to helping people understand the facts about whole body donation and its benefits to society. Research For Life hosts quarterly public tours of our facility, participates in public speaking tours, and offers in-service presentations for medical professionals. Since our beginnings over ten years ago, we have placed donors ahead of profits because it is the right thing to do.
Research For Life has just under 50 employees and provides anatomical specimens for medical education and research organizations worldwide.
Leadership Team
Licenses & Accreditations
AATB – American Association of Tissue Banks
Research for Life is a proud member of the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB). Our accreditation is characterized by our commitment to medical research and education.
Research For Life offers a full spectrum of accredited tissue services for our research and educational partners in the United States and all over the globe.
Proudly, our accreditations with the AATB offer our donors and their families the peace of mind that we operate and conduct our services with only the highest levels of quality, control, and integrity.
We are a licensed, accredited, and inspected Non-transplant Anatomical Donation Organization (NADO).
New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) & Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS)
Research for Life is licensed with the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) as well as the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS).
