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President's Blog

The Story Behind the First Successful Penis Transplantation
August 18, 2016 Posted by achandraker

As our membership becomes more and more diverse, it’s increasingly important that this blog cover a range of topics that interest a wide spectrum of those involved in transplantation. With this in mind, I’ve invited my colleagues Drs. Cetrulo and Ko to provide some insight on the first penis transplant in the United States and what this means for the future of VCA. 

Curtis Cetrulo, Jr., MD, FACS, FAAP Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Surgery Dicken S. C. Ko, MD, FRCSC, FACS, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Urology

We...

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Leadership in Transplantation
June 27, 2016 Posted by achandraker

Anil Chandraker, MD, FRCP, FAST, Brigham & Women's Hospital

Starting a new year as president of the American Society of Transplantation is a daunting task and quite rightly leads to a great deal of introspection. Having been a member of the society for many years before coming onto the board of directors, I recognize that it is not always easy to discern what the board does or why it does it.

My own belief is that the AST should always be about leadership in transplantation: that is why our organization exists, and that is why we choose to join it. Leadership is easy to...

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Promoting Organ Donation
June 13, 2016 Posted by Anonymous

Reg Green, recipient of the 2016 AST Transplant Advocacy Award

I am the father of Nicholas Green, a seven-year old boy from California who was shot during an attempted carjacking while we were on vacation in Italy and whose organs my wife Maggie and I donated to seven Italians, four of them teenagers.

That was in 1994. Scarcely a day has gone by since then that I have not tried somehow to increase awareness of the donor shortage. Therefore, I was delighted to have been given the AST’s 2016 Transplant Advocacy Award. (Thank you to everyone involved and especially to...

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80,000 Minutes
June 07, 2016 Posted by jallan

As I wind down my AST presidency, I have given much thought as to what to say at my presidential address. If you figure that there are 4,000 people at the ATC, and that I will have about twenty minutes to fill, the simple math is that I will be taking 80,000 minutes of your collective lives with my address. That’s equivalent to about 56 days of human life. For me, this is a source of anxiety. I've always tried to be respectful of others' time, and would feel terrible if, at the end of my address, everyone at the ATC said, "Well, there's twenty minutes of my life that I'll never get back...

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In Memoriam: William E. Harmon, MD

May 29, 2016 Posted by jallan

I have invited my colleague Richard Fine to share a remembrance in honor of Bill Harmon's passing. An AST Past-President and respected member of the field, Bill will be missed by many.

Richard N. Fine, MD

On May 29, I lost a personal friend, and the field of transplantation lost a pioneer in pediatric transplantation.

Bill Harmon was a giant in the field of pediatric nephrology. After completing his training in pediatrics and pediatric nephrology in 1978, Bill joined the faculty Boston Children’s Hospital in the Division of Pediatric Nephrology led by Warren E....

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"Help the Doctor": AJT Updates
May 02, 2016 Posted by jallan

I have invited the American Journal of Transplantation editor, Allan Kirk, to blog about some exciting changes at the AJT. Since its inception over 15 years ago, the AJT has been the leading journal covering both the science and practice of transplantation. We are very fortunate to have Allan at the helm of what is really one of the crown jewels of the AST’s education portfolio. As I’m sure most of you realize, the traditional model of print publication and deriving revenue from print advertising has been eroded by advances in electronic technology and the different ways in which readers...

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The Heart Track: A Summary of the CEOT Breakout Sessions
April 27, 2016 Posted by jallan

The AST’s fourth Cutting Edge of Transplantation (CEOT) meeting included a separate Heart Track, co-sponsored by Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, to engender review and discussion of important issues being faced in the field of heart transplantation under the aegis of the "Resolving the Organ Shortage: Practice, Policy, Politics" theme of the conference.

Evan Kransdorf, MD, PhD; Jon Kobashigawa, MD

 

In the first session, "Increasing the Donor Heart Pool":

Tom Mone from the organ procurement agency (OPO) OneLegacy opened the session by offering strategies to ...

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CEOT 2016: Behind the Scenes
April 27, 2016 Posted by jallan

If you attended AST's Cutting Edge of Transplantation (CEOT) 2016, I’m glad you were a part of the record number of attendees we welcomed to the Arizona Biltmore this past February. During nearly 30 hours of sessions over three days, you had the chance to work with fellow transplantation professionals to explore the history behind the organ shortage and discuss how to address these issues moving forward. Anil Chandraker’s blog post highlights the science of CEOT, and now...

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CEOT 2016: Bridging the Gap Between Research and Clinical Care
April 13, 2016 Posted by jallan

"Surround yourself with good people and get out of their way."

Although elements of the above quotation have been ascribed to the likes of Ben Franklin and Ronald Reagan, my favorite variation of this quotation is attributed to Keith Reemtsma (often referred to as the father of xenotransplantation), who said, "surround yourself with good people, get out of their way, and borrow their slides on occasion."

I am reminded of this quotation for only one reason: the spectacular success of this year’s CEOT meeting. I honestly think that CEOT 2016 was the best winter meeting ever...

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Narrowing Racial Disparity in Kidney Transplant Outcomes
March 10, 2016 Posted by jallan

To conclude our three-part blog series on how the AST and its members are working to mitigate racial disparities in transplantation, I have invited AST member Tanjala Purnell to summarize her recent study of trends in kidney transplant outcomes among black recipients. Overall, her findings give reason for optimism, as her data show that traditionally underserved populations are indeed gaining ground as outcomes for recipients of all races steadily improve. No doubt more work needs to be done in the area; the AST remains committed toward reaching our strategic goal of seeing all...

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