AST and ASTS Announce New AJT Editor-in-Chief
Friday, February 7, 2020
On behalf of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, we are pleased to announce the selection of Sandy Feng, MD, PhD, as the next Editor-in-Chief of our shared journal, The American Journal of Transplantation (AJT). Dr. Feng is a Professor of Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, where she performs liver, kidney, and pancreas transplants. Dr. Feng is also the Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Surgery and the Director of the Abdominal Transplant Surgery fellowship program. She has mentored many medical students, residents, fellows, and junior attendings in clinical and translational research. Dr. Feng will assume this title in August 2020. To successfully transition the journal, she will work through the end of the year with current Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Allan Kirk.
Dr. Feng’s research interests center on exploring mechanisms of spontaneous tolerance, and approaches to induce tolerance in adult and pediatric liver transplant recipients. She is the overall principal investigator for multiple NIH-funded, multi-center tolerance trials, and has also served as a site principal investigator for a diverse portfolio of trials testing novel immunosuppression regimens in both kidney and liver transplantation.
Dr. Feng has held numerous leadership roles, including:
- For the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, she has served as Councilor-at-large, as well as Chair of the Scientific Studies, Communication, and Vanguard Committees;
- For the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, she has been the Chair of the Liver Transplantation and Surgery Committee and the Liver Transplantation and Surgery Special Interest Group;
- For the American Society of Transplantation, she has been the Chair of the Kidney Pancreas Advisory Committee;
- For the American Transplant Congress, she has been both a Member and Co-Chair of the Executive Planning Committee; and
- For the United Network for Organ Sharing, she has been Vice-Chair and subsequently Chair of the Organ Availability and Data Advisory Committees.
Finally, to address the primary challenge that faces transplantation today – organ scarcity, Dr. Feng spearheaded a decade-long effort to establish an algorithm for the conduct of innovative research in deceased donors. These efforts have resulted in a study conducted by the National Academy of Medicine that provides critical guidance to overcome the ethical, regulatory, and logistical issues that currently obstruct this research that has tremendous potential to enhance the quality and increase the number of organs available for transplantation.
In addition to reviewing manuscripts for many high impact journals, Dr. Feng has served as Associate, Deputy, and Consulting Editor for AJT. She is also a member of the editorial board of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Dr. Feng welcomes this opportunity and shares, "AJT has succeeded as a vehicle to showcase high quality and impactful research, thereby shaping the global practice of transplantation. However, the explosion of knowledge coupled with the implosion of time embodies the primary challenge faced by AJT: the need to deliver more information more accurately and more effectively. My top priorities will be to:
- Maximize the efficiency and effectiveness with which we communicate with readers,
- Increase the value we provide to authors by ensuring editorial quality and integrity, and
- Expand our scope, ensuring that AJT is the venue for dialogue about everything transplant!"
We are excited to see the continued growth and evolution of AJT with this change in editorial leadership, while it continues to maintain the quality that our members and other readers have come to expect. We thank Dr. Allan Kirk for his exceptional leadership during his tenure as Editor-in-Chief, and his commitment to ensuring a smooth transition of leadership for the AJT. Also, we wish to thank the members of the AJT Editor-in-Chief Search Committee for a job well done. Please join us in wishing Dr. Feng great success in this new role.
Emily Blumberg, MD
AST President
Lloyd E. Ratner, MD, MPH
ASTS President