In 2005, Dr. Delmonico was elected president of the United Network of Organ Sharing/Organ Procurement Transplant Network (UNOS/OPTN) after 2 decades of UNOS committee leadership.
As the Director of Medical Affairs (DMA) of TTS, Dr. Delmonico convened transplant professionals, legal scholars, and ethicists to draft the ground-breaking Declaration of Istanbul (DOI) in 2008. This international policy document defined organ trafficking and transplant tourism, called for the equitable distribution of deceased donor organs and for the safety of transplant recipients and the wellbeing of living donors. The DOI is perhaps one of the most influential documents to standardize practices in the history of transplantation. Dr. Delmonico also collaborated with the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop WHO Guiding Principles of practice, subsequently adopted by the World Health Assembly.
Dr. Delmonico served as Chief Medical Officer of New England Donor Services, formerly New England Organ Bank (NEOB), for 25 years. His local and national leadership has been profound in establishing the medical suitability of organs derived from deceased donors. Dr. Delmonico also initiated the first regional program of paired kidney donation in the United States in 2000 under the auspices of the NEOB.
In 2016, Dr. Delmonico was appointed by Pope Francis to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences following his nomination by Nobel Laureate Joseph Murray.
Dr. Delmonico served as president of The Transplantation Society from 2012-2014.