Privacy Policy

AST Privacy Policy
The American Society of Transplantation (AST) is committed to the protection of the privacy of its members and other visitors interacting with AST. To that end, AST assures information provided online is used responsibly and appropriately.

AST collects and uses information that, alone or in combination with other information, could be used to identify you ("Personal Data") to:

• deliver our products and services
• process applications to join programs
• inform you of various opportunities
• provide support (as described below)

We are committed to making reasonable efforts to secure the information you provide us, and we use a variety of security technologies and procedures to protect against unauthorized access to or alteration, disclosure, or destruction of your Personal Data.  We restrict access to your Personal Data to our employees and service providers who need the information to operate, develop, or improve our services.

When using our online services, you will be given the opportunity to consent to the policies and practices described in this Privacy Policy.

Please note:  AST is considered the data controller for the processing of your Personal Data.

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or the security of your Personal Data, please contact us at info@myast.org or call at 856-439-9986.

Data We Collect, How We Use and Disclose It
AST collects two types of information when you visit our websites:

• Personal Data (such as your name, address, telephone number, email address, demographic information and credit card information)
• Non-Personal Information (such as information regarding the pages on our site that you have visited and your IP address).

AST does not collect Personal Data unless you choose to provide it. For example, Personal Data is collected through:

• Membership application and dues renewal processes
• Grants and awards submission process
• Conference registration process
• Job bank orders
• Publication/merchandise purchases
• Through other services or procedures AST may implement from time to time

You are not required to submit any Personal Data to access the public areas of our websites. However, to gain access to the "members-only" resources, conference registration and other personalized features on the AST websites, users are asked to register and provide limited Personal Data. This information is submitted voluntarily. 

We use Personal Data we collect (unless otherwise restricted by law), for the following purposes:

• AST Websites and Online services
  • Improve our web content and identify popular areas of the website
  • Respond to visitor and member needs, interests and preferences
  • Develop new products and services.
• Services Support
  • We use Personal Data to provide support or other services you have ordered from us, as well as service updates.  Such use is necessary for the performance of the contract between us.
  • We also use Personal Data to respond directly to your information requests (including registrations, other specific requests or inquiries).  This is necessary to respond to or implement your request prior to entering into a contract with us.
• Disclosures to Third Parties
  • AST makes member contact information available to AST members through the Membership Directory in the "members-only" section of the AST website.
  • AST may disclose information about you: (i) if we are required to do so by law, court order or legal process; (ii) in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements; (iii) under the discovery process in litigation or arbitration; (iv) to enforce AST policies, contracts, or other rights; (v) to collect amounts owed to AST; (vi) when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm or financial loss or in connection with an investigation or prosecution of suspected or actual illegal activity; or (vii) if in good faith we believe that disclosure is otherwise necessary or advisable.
  • AST reserves the right to disclose or transfer any information we have about you in the event of a proposed or actual reorganization, sale, lease, merger, joint venture, assignment, amalgamation or any other type of acquisition, disposal or financing of all or any portion of AST or of any of our assets (including should AST cease to exist, become insolvent, enter into receivership or any similar event occur).  Should such an event take place, we will endeavor to direct the transferee to use Personal Data in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy.
  • AST may share Personal Data with our service providers and consultants for our internal business purposes or to provide you with a service that you have requested.  AST requires its service providers to agree in writing to maintain confidentiality and security of Personal Data they maintain on our behalf, including not to use it for any purpose other than the purpose for which we retained them and to notify AST if they decide that they can no longer comply with that obligation.
• Marketing
  • We use your Personal Data to contact you regarding information we think may be of interest to you.  Additionally, AST may send emailed content on behalf of a third party.  If you do not wish to receive marketing materials, brochures, or emails from AST, you may inform us at any time of your preference by contacting us at info@myast.org or 856-439-9986.
  • You may also unsubscribe from our marketing communications by clicking on the "unsubscribe" link located on the bottom of our emails.
  • On occasion and where legally permissible, AST sells member names and addresses (in spreadsheet format) for one-time use only to approved requesters. The Personal Data we provide to third parties in these circumstances may include names and addresses provided by members, but will not include phone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses or demographic information. Users may request that AST refrain from disclosing any of their information to certain third parties. Please contact us at info@myAST.org or call 856-439-9986 if you decide at any time that you do not wish to share your information. Please note that AST does not sell lists containing EU member information to third parties.
  • Where required by the applicable law (for example, if you are an EU resident), we will send you marketing materials only with your consent, which is collected when you provide us with your Personal Data.  In such case, if you do not provide us with your consent for this purpose, we will not send you this information.
  • With your permission, we may also use information you provide as a testimonial posted on our websites.
• Correspondence
  • If you correspond with AST via email, postal service, our web forms, or other form of communication, we may retain the correspondence and the information it contains.  We may use this information for business purposes, including responding to your inquiry, notifying you of AST-related opportunities, and other marketing purposes (please read the Marketing section above for more information on our marketing practices and how to unsubscribe).

Credit Card Information
AST does not disclose credit card information provided by its members and other users except to third parties that assist with processing credit card purchases. When members and customers choose to pay by using their credit cards, AST submits the information needed to obtain payment to the appropriate payment processor.  AST does not retain this credit card information after the transaction is completed unless a user chooses to create a saved account.  If the user does create a saved account, the user's credit card information is stored in an encrypted format.

Your Rights Concerning Your Data

Subject to applicable law, you have the following rights in relation to your Personal Data:

• Right of Access:  Upon request, we will confirm whether we are processing your Personal Data and, if so, provide you with a copy of that Personal Data.
• Right to Rectification:  If your Personal Data is inaccurate or incomplete, you are entitled to have it rectified or updated.  If we have shared your Personal Data with others, we will inform them about the rectification where possible.  Where possible and lawful to do so, we will also tell you with whom we shared your Personal Data so that you can contact them directly.
• Right to Erasure:  You may ask us to delete or remove your Personal Data and we will do so under some circumstances.  However, we may not delete your Personal Data under all circumstances.
  • If we have shared your data with others, we will tell them about the erasure request where possible.
  • Upon request, and where possible and lawful to do so, we will also tell you with whom we shared your Personal Data so you can contact them directly if you so choose.
• Right to Restrict Processing:  You may ask us to restrict the processing of your Personal Data in certain circumstances, such as where you contest the accuracy of that Personal Data or object to us processing it.  These restrictions may limit our ability to provide services to you.  We will inform you before we lift any restriction on processing.
  • If we have shared your Personal Data, we will inform those parties about the restriction where possible.  Upon request and where possible and lawful to do so, we will tell you with whom we shared your Personal Data so you can contact them directly.
• Right to Data Portability:  You have the right to obtain your Personal Data you have given to us to execute a contract with you.  We will provide your Personal Data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.
• Right to Object:  You may request that we stop processing your Personal Data under the following circumstances:
  • If we are relying on our legitimate interest to process your Personal Data - unless we demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing; or 
  • If we are processing your Personal Data for direct marketing.
• Right to Withdraw Consent:  If we rely on your consent to process your Personal Data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.  This will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on your prior consent.
• Right to Lodge a Complaint with the Data Protection Authority:  If you have a concern about AST's privacy practices, including the way we have handled your Personal Data, you can report it to the data protection authority that is authorized to hear those concerns.  You may also contact us at any time regarding AST's privacy practices.  AST's contact information is contained in the "Contact Us" section below.

To exercise any of the above rights, please contact us at info@myast.org.

Legitimate Interest - "Legitimate interests" means the interests of the AST in conducting and managing our organization.  For example, we have a legitimate interest in processing your Personal Data to analyze how the websites and our services are being used by you, and to ensure network and information security, as described in this Privacy Policy.

When we use your Personal Data for our legitimate interests, we make sure to consider any potential impact on you, and your rights under data protection laws.  Our legitimate interests do not automatically override your interests.  We will not use your Personal Data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you, unless we have your consent, we are required to carry out that processing by a contract we have with you, or those activities are otherwise required or permitted to by law.

How We Collect Non-Personal Identifiable Information
AST collects Non-Personal Information from visitors to our websites. This information includes but is not limited to the number of hits per page, cookies, IP addresses, or other 'environmental'/system variables. AST collects information about a user's IP address and utilization of our websites to guide us in improving the design of our websites to meet our users' needs.

We may use information about your IP address to help diagnose problems, administer our websites, analyze trends, track visitor activity, and gather information to identify visitor preferences.  

We may also use your IP address to enhance our security and investigate potential security issues.

Aggregated Data - We may compile, anonymize and/or aggregate Non-Personal Information and other information collected about our websites' visitors and use such anonymized and/or aggregated data for our business purposes, including disclosing such data to our partners, service providers, advertisers and/or third parties for marketing or promotional purposes.  This Aggregated Information does not identify any individual user.

NOTE - AST does not link Non-Personal Identifiable Information with Personal Data.

"Cookies"
Cookies are files that contain information created by a web server and stored on a user's electronic device (computer, tablet, phone). Cookies transmit non-personal information back to the website.

AST uses cookies and other technologies to analyze website trends, administer our websites, track users' movements around our websites, gather demographic information about our user base, and to collect information regarding browsing habits to present information that may be relevant to you and your interests. 

When you first visit the AST websites, you will be asked to consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies in accordance with this Policy. If you accept we will store cookies and similar technologies on your device.

Cookies are not used to disseminate Personal Data about users or to analyze any information that specific users have knowingly or unknowingly provided. When a user logs in, the system will ask whether the user approves of the attachment of a cookie.

You may set your browser to not accept cookies, or to warn you when a cookie is being placed on your computer.  If you choose not to accept cookies, your ability to navigate the website may be limited.

Third Party Advertising
AST permits third-party advertisers to provide advertisements to you through our website.  AST does not provide any Personal Data to advertisers other than in aggregated or de-identified fashion.  Advertisers may also download cookies onto your computer, or use other technology like web beacons, to enable them to recognize your computer each time they send you an advertisement whether you are visiting the AST site or another site.  Thus, the advertiser can deliver targeted advertisements that they believe would be of most interest to you.  AST does not have access to or control of the cookies that may be placed on your computer by third-party advertisers.  AST also uses remarketing services to advertise to you on third party web sites after you have visited our website.

In some instances, you can opt-out of receiving personalized ads from third party advertisers and ad networks.  Advertisers and ad networks that are members of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) or who follow the Digital Advertising Alliance's Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising provide opt-out choices at the following websites:

NAI Website
DAA Website

Do Not Track Signals
Some web browsers and devices allow you to broadcast a preference that your activities online not be "tracked." At this time, our website does not take action in response to "do not track" signals.

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Approved by the AST Executive Committee:  January 23, 2003

Revisions approved by the AST Board:  May 22, 2018