Mark L. Barr, MD

Areas of expertise include: Heart and lung transplantation, mechanical circulatory support /artificial heart technology, living donor lung transplantation, immunobiology, extracorporeal photochemotherapy and organ preservation.

Dr. Barr is Co-Director of Cardiothoracic Transplantation and Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. Dr. Barr is past president of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. He has served on the Board of Directors for both the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and is a Deputy Editor of the American Journal of Transplantation.

Dr. Barr's translational science research interests include transplant immunology and pulmonary physilogy. Dr. Barr has served on several AST - and OPTN-related committees and task forces and was recently appointed as Chair of the UNOS Thoracic Committee. He was also recently appointed by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to serve on her Advisory Committee for Organ Transplantation (ACOT).

Emily A. Blumberg, MD

Areas of expertise include: Transplant-related infections, transplantation in HIV-infected individuals, viral infections in transplant patients, donor-derived infections, and use of newer antimicrobial agents in transplant recipients.

Dr. Emily A. Blumberg, an expert in transplant infectious diseases, has been a member of the AST Infectious Disease Committee and Community of Practice since 2001, and served as chair 2006-2008. She has also been a member of the AST Training and Workforce, Education, Nomination, and Awards and Grants Committees. She is also a member of the joint AST/ASTS Biovigilance Task Force. Dr. Blumberg has participated in clinical trials evaluating diverse antimicrobial agents in transplant recipients and is a site investigator for the NIH-sponsored trial studying the safety and efficacy of transplantation in patients with HIV. A Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, she also serves as director, Transplant Infectious Diseases and program director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship there. She is currently the chair for the UNOS Disease Transmission Advisory Committee.

David M. Briscoe, MD

Areas of expertise include: basic research issues, NIH funding, new/future immunosuppressive agents and chronic rejection.

Dr. David M. Briscoe has authored over 70 original publications and review articles. He recently chaired AST's Public Policy Committee and serves on several advisory committees pertaining to the promotion of transplantation research. He is a past councilor of AST, a member of the National Honors Society and the American Society for Clinical Investigation. Dr. Briscoe has received several awards for his research activities, including a Basic Science Investigator Award of the AST.

Dr. Briscoe graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1982. He performed his initial residency training in General Medicine and Pediatrics in Ireland and at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. He trained in vascular immunobiology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and completed his renal fellowship at the Children's Hospital, Boston in 1991. Subsequently, he joined the faculty at the Children's Hospital, Boston, where he established a vascular biology and transplantation research program. He also serves as Director of the Pediatric Nephrology Training Program at the Children's Hospital, Boston.

Jeffrey S. Crippin, MD

Areas of expertise include: liver transplantation; chronic hepatitis C, pre- and post-transplant; chronic hepatitis B; cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease; and public policy.

Dr. Jeffrey S. Crippin was president of AST 2006-2007. He also previously served as secretary-treasurer and chair of the Public Policy Committee. Dr. Crippin has participated in multiple studies related to liver transplantation and chronic disease. He currently holds the position of medical director, liver transplantation at Barnes Jewish Hospital as well as professor of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. Dr. Crippin is the Marilyn Bornefeld Chair in Gastrointestinal Research and Treatment and the Associate Chairman for Clinical Programs for the Department of Medicine. From 1991 to 2000, he was medical director, liver transplantation at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

Robert S. Gaston, MD

Areas of expertise include: Kidney transplantation, minority issues, living donor issues, access to transplantation/waiting list, immunosuppression and clinical trials.

Dr. Robert Gaston is the current President of the AST. He is Medical Director for kidney and pancreas transplantation, as well as Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Gaston has also chaired or co-chaired numerous committees within the society. In addition, Dr. Gaston has served on the AST/ASTS Joint Council since 2007. Dr. Gaston, a former associate editor of American Journal of Transplantation, has chaired several national and international symposia and conferences relating to kidney transplantation. In 2008, Dr. Gaston chaired the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) Task Force on Living Donor Follow-up.

William Harmon, MD

Areas of expertise: Pediatric nephrology and immunosuppression for children with organ transplants.

Dr. William Harmon is Director of the Nephrology Division of Children's Hospital, Boston and Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Harmon received his residency and fellowship training at Children's Hospital, Boston. He was then appointed as the first pediatric director of the division's dialysis unit and later the kidney transplant program. He was named division chief in 1987 and he continues to lead the largest pediatric nephrology training program in the country.

Dr. Harmon has served as chairman of the Board of Directors of the New England Organ Bank, as President of the American Society of Transplantation and as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Pediatric Transplantation Association. He is the president of the North American Pediatric Renal Trials and Collaborative Studies (NAPRTCS) and has served all three terms on the UNOS Board of Directors. He was the only pediatrician appointed to the Advisory Committee for Organ Transplantation (ACOT) of DHHS and is one of three editors of Pediatric Nephrology and Pediatric Organ Transplantation. He has directed several multi-center clinical trials sponsored by NIAID and is currently chairman of the steering committee of NIAID's Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation in Children (CTOT-C).

Peter S. Heeger, MD

Areas of expertise include: Nephrology, transplant Immunology.

Dr. Heeger is a Professor of Medicine and Immunology and Director of Transplant Research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He received his medical training at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), completed an internship and residency at Temple University Hospital (Philadelphia), and completed a clinical and research Nephrology fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Heeger currently spends his time directing a basic science and translational transplant immunology program funded by the National Institutes of Health, as well as overseeing all clinical transplant research at Mount Sinai. He is the leader of a laboratory-based training grant in transplant immunobiology (NIH funded) and is a dedicated medical educator.

Dr. Heeger’s academic interests and publications have focused on mechanisms of transplant rejection and biomarkers of transplant outcomes in human transplant recipients. Dr. Heeger is a member of the American Society of Transplantation (AST), The Transplantation Society, the American Society of Nephrology, the National Kidney Foundation, and the American Association of Immunologists. He is an associate editor of the American Journal of Transplantation and a reviewer for multiple journals relevant to transplantation. As an active participant of the AST, Dr. Heeger serves on the Education Committee, the Awards and Grants Committee, and the Annual Meeting Review Committee and was a previous member of the Basic Science Committee. He received the 2000 Wyeth Basic Science Young Investigator Award from the AST.

Maryl Johnson, MD

Areas of expertise include: heart transplantation, heart allocation, cardiac allograft vasculopathy, organ donation, and heart retransplantation.

Dr. Maryl R. Johnson is the currently the Past President of the AST. Dr. Johnson has been a member of the AST Board of Directors since 2004, serving as Secretary-Treasurer 2006-2009, and President-elect 2009-2010. She has served on numerous AST committees, including the Membership Committee, Financial Advisory Committee, Organ Donation Advisory Council, Nominating Committee and the Awards and Grants Committee. She has been listed in Best Doctors in America and Who's Who in America several times. She has served as a resident member of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Advisory Council, National Institutes of Health, and a member and chair of the NIH review panels. Currently medical director, heart failure and transplantation at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison, Wis., Dr. Johnson's research interests include heart failure and transplantation in women and the use of mechanical circulatory support in patients with severe heart failure. She has also served as chair of the Heart Failure and Transplant Committee of the American College of Cardiology and is a current member and past chair of the UNOS Thoracic Organ Committee.

Michael R. Lucey, MD

Areas of expertise include: Hepatology and gastroenterology.

Dr. Michael R. Lucey authored or co-authored more than 100 original papers, review and chapters. He has co-authored three texts related to liver transplantation. His research interests include selection for and outcome of liver transplantation, transplantation for alcoholic liver disease, and management of end-stage liver disease. Dr. Lucey served as president of the American Society of Transplantation 2003-2004, and has been a member of the Manpower Committee, Public Policy Committee, the Planning Committee for the Annual Meeting, and Liver and Intra-Abdominal Organs Committee, of which he was chair in 1995.

In 1985 Dr. Lucey came to the University of Michigan where he was a fellow in the Division of Gastroenterology for two years before joining the faculty. While at the University of Michigan, Dr. Lucey became Medical Director of the Liver Transplant program. He moved to the University of Pennsylvania in 1995 as Director of Hepatology. In 2001 he became Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He is Program Director of the Fellowship in Transplant Hepatology.

Joren C. Madsen, MD, DPhil

Areas of expertise include: Heart transplantation, sensitized recipients, donor management, transplant immunobiology, and LVADS.

Dr. Joren C. Madsen was a past president of the AST. He divides his time between cardiac surgery, basic transplant immunology research, teaching and administrative work. He received his medical training at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and completed a surgical internship, residency and cardiothoracic fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. He studied transplant immunology at Oxford University, which led to a D. Phil. (Ph.D. equivalent) from Balliol College. A professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and the W. Gerald and Patricia R. Austen Distinguished Scholar in Cardiac Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Madsen is the Director of the MGH Transplant Center and the Section Chief of Cardiac Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He formerly chaired numerous AST committees and in 2002, he received the AST Fujisawa Basic Science Award.

Roslyn Bernstein Mannon, MD

Areas of expertise include: clinical and basic transplantation and recipient complications with a focus on kidney allograft fibrosis, novel targets of chronic allograft injury, and the contribution of BK virus in chronic allograft injury.

Dr. Roslyn Bernstein Mannon currently serves as the AST President-Elect. She has also served in leadership roles on numerous AST committees and is co-chair of the American Transplant Congress Planning Committee. A graduate of Duke University Medical School, Dr. Mannon currently holds the posts of Professor of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Director of Research at Alabama Transplant Center.

Board certified in internal medicine and nephrology, she also served as medical director of transplantation at the National Institutes of Health Transplantation Branch 2000-2008. She has authored or co-authored over 85 articles and reviews on immune monitoring, chronic allograft injury, transplantation complications, and tolerance trials.

Brendan M. McGuire, MD, MS

Areas of expertise include: Liver transplantation and post-transplant liver failure

Brendan Martin McGuire, MD, MS, is medical director of liver transplant at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and has been at UAB since 1996. He graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1984 and has a Master’s Degree in Bioengineering from Penn State. He graduated from medical school in 1990 from the University of Pittsburgh. He completed his internal medicine residency and gastroenterology and hepatology fellowship from the University of Minnesota. He is board certified in internal medicine, gastroenterology, and transplant hepatology.

Dr. McGuire’s academic interests are focused in the management of patients with cirrhosis and acute liver failure and after liver transplant. He is a principal investigator on multiple clinical trials involving patients with cirrhosis sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and pharmaceutical companies. He is a fellow in the American College of Physicians and the American Gastroenterology Association. He is an active member of UNOS, the American Society of Transplantation (AST), the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), and the International Liver Transplant Society (ILTS). He is currently past-chair of the AST Liver and Intestinal Community of Practice.

Barbara Murphy, MD, FRCPI

Areas of expertise include: Renal transplantation and transplant immunology.

Dr. Barbara Murphy is a former president of the AST and currently holds the post of Irene and Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Professor of Medicine and Chief, Division of Nephrology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. She has served as chair of both AST's Education and ATC Program Committees and was also a member of the Joint Council. Dr. Murphy's area of interest is transplant immunology, focusing on the immunomodulatory role of MHC-derived peptides and genomics in transplantation. Dr. Murphy has garnered many honors, including AST's Young Investigator Award in Basic Science in 2003.

Scott M. Palmer, MD, MHS, FCCP

Areas of expertise include: Advanced lung disease, critical care medicine, pulmonary transplantation, biostatistics and clinical trials, transplant immunology.

Dr. Scott M. Palmer is an Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, as well as the Scientific Director of the Lung Transplant Program at Duke. Currently, Dr. Palmer is focused on leading Duke University's large multidisciplinary lung transplant research program, which is designed to improve long-term lung transplant outcomes through clinical, basic, and translational research.

Dr. Palmer was the first person to identify an important role for the innate immune system in human lung transplant rejection. His research has also linked gastroesophageal reflux to allograft dysfunction in lung transplantation and demonstrated that anti-reflux surgery can improve lung function in selected patients. He received the AST Clinical Science Investigator Award in 2008, as well as numerous other honors and awards. Dr. Palmer has served on AST's Education and Practice Guidelines Committees, has spoken for the Society and is the Chair for the Thoracic and Critical Care Community of Practice. He is also an active member of AST's Workforce Analysis Task Force.

Flavio Vincenti, MD

Areas of expertise include: Kidney disease and kidney and pancreas transplantation.

Dr. Flavio Vincenti has served on the staff of the Kidney Transplant Service at the University of California, San Francisco since 1976, following a one-year transplant nephrology fellowship there in 1975. Dr. Vincenti served as president of the American Society of Transplantation 2007-2008. He helped to establish AST's Clinical Trials Committee, which he chaired 2002-2004 and then chaired the AST's Development Committee. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Immune Tolerance Network and associate editor of CJASN. Dr. Vincenti is widely published and has authored or co-authored over 170 articles on transplantation. Dr. Vincenti was the primary investigator of several articles on the use of novel agents in renal transplantation, including daclizumad, efalizumab, and belatacept.

Steven A. Webber, MBChB, MRCP

Areas of expertise include: Heart transplantation, pediatric transplantation,
immunosuppression, antibody mediated rejection, and PTLD.

Dr. Steven A. Webber is a member of the AST Board of Directors. He has previously served on multiple committees for the Society. He is an NIH-funded investigator and co-editor of the textbook Pediatric Solid Organ Transplantation and the journal Pediatric Transplantation. He holds the positions of professor of pediatrics; division chief, pediatric cardiology; and medical director, Pediatric Thoracic Transplantation at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Additionally, he is past president of the International Pediatric Transplant Association and was the 2008 ATC Executive Committee program chair.

Lori J. West, MD, DPhil

Areas of expertise include: Immune tolerance and transplant immunology; pediatric heart transplantation; Canada.

Dr. West served as one of AST's councilors-at-large 2006 through 2009. She also serves as director of Heart Transplantation Research and professor of pediatrics, surgery and immunology for the University of Alberta. Dr. West has served in various capacities within AST, including on the Board of Directors, as past chair and board liaison on the Thoracic Transplantation Committee, and as a member of the Basic Science Committee and Awards and Grants Committee. She currently serves on the AST Public Policy Committee and the ASE Planning Committee. Dr. West is past president of the Canadian Society of Transplantation and is President-elect of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation; in The Transplantation Society she serves on the Basic Science Committee and the Steering Committee for the Women in Transplantation initiative. As director of the Heart Transplant Immunology Research Program at the University of Alberta, Dr. West's overarching goal is to develop a comprehensive research focus encompassing specific projects related to organ transplantation. Current projects range from molecular level "gene therapy" and cell biology investigations in murine transplant models through to clinical projects that include patient and population outcomes, quality-of-life studies and clinical drug trials. Bi-directional translational research is a crucial component in this regard, bridging the basic laboratory with the clinic.