HHS Secretary Adds
New Members to Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation
Scope
is Expanded to Include Advice on Increasing Organ Donation
HHS
Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced the appointment
of 21 new members to the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on
Organ Transplantation.
The committee will advise the Secretary on all aspects
of organ donation, procurement, allocation and transplantation,
including a review of organ allocation policies developed
by the nation’s transplantation network.
With
today’s announcement, Secretary Thompson expanded the committee
from 20 to 41 members and amended its charter to expand the
scope of its responsibilities to include advising the Secretary
on ways to increase organ donation nationally.
“The
science of organ transplantation has made remarkable advances.
What was once rare and experimental is now almost common
and routine for some kinds of transplants.
However, our efforts to promote donation have not kept
pace with the science or the need. We need not only transplant experts but also passionate advocates
and new ideas if we’re going to increase organ donation,”
Secretary Thompson said.
The
advisory committee is chaired by Nancy L. Ascher, M.D., Ph.D.,
liver transplant surgeon and Professor and Chair at the Department
of Surgery, University of California at San Francisco.
The initial meeting of the committee is tentatively
scheduled for Dec. 3 and 4 in Washington, D.C., and the committee
is expected to meet three times a year.
Previously appointed and new members bring a broad
array of experience and expertise to the committee including
19 physicians, eight transplant recipients or family members
of a recipient, six nurses, and two organ donor mothers, all
with critical experience regarding organ transplants.
In
April, Secretary Thompson launched a new national initiative
to encourage and enable Americans to “Donate the Gift of Life.”
The initial step in the campaign included the launch
of a national “Workplace Partnership for Life,” in which employers,
unions and other employee organizations will join in a nationwide
network to promote donation.
New
members include:
·
Phil
H. Berry, Jr., M.D., Orthopedic Surgeon, Dallas, Texas, liver
transplant recipient.
Founded Southwest Transplant Foundation.
·
Robert
P. Charrow, Attorney with Crowell & Moring, LLP, Washington,
D.C., responsibilities include reimbursement and regulatory
issues under Medicare, Medicaid and Veterans Health Care Acts,
formerly Principal Deputy General Counsel of HHS (1985-1989).
·
Catherine
C. Crone, M.D., Director of Psychiatric Services at Inova
Lung Transplant Center, Falls Church, Va., Assistant Clinical
Professor of Psychiatry, Georgetown University.
·
Roger
W. Evans, Ph.D., noted international authority with 25 years
experience on health issues pertaining to organ and tissue
transplantation, Associate Editor, Journal of Heart and Lung
Transplantation, and Associate Editor of Graft, Rochester,
Minn.
·
Susan
Gunderson, R.N., CEO of LifeSource OPO in St. Paul, Minn.,
immediate past president of the Association of Organ Procurement
Organizations, and current member of the OPTN/UNOS Board of
Directors She
established and directs this OPO, which serves three states.
·
Larry
Hagman, a liver transplant recipient, television actor, actively
involved in numerous civic and philanthropic activities, including
spokesperson for the National Kidney Foundation’s U.S. Transplant
Games since 1996, Ojai, Calif.
·
Robert
D. Higgins, M.D., Chairman of the Division of Cardiothoracic
Surgery at the Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, Va.,
currently a member of the OPTN/UNOS Board of Directors.
·
Son-Ja
Robet Jones, a double organ, kidney-pancreas transplant recipient
from Rochester Hills, Mich., national advocate to bring wide
attention to health awareness regarding organ, tissue and
marrow donation.
·
Barry
D. Kahan, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Director of the Division
of Immunology and Organ Transplantation at the Department
of Surgery of the University of Texas Medical School, Surgeon-Director
of the Multi-Organ Transplant Center at Hermann Hospital,
Houston, Texas.
·
Arlene
J. Locicero, retired teacher, Hawthorne, N.J., is a donor
mother, with regard to her daughter Amy, who died in the Long
Island Railroad Massacre, Dec. 7, 1993.
Her daughter’s heart and kidneys were donated.
·
Diana
Lugo, R.N., Vice President of Specialty Services at St. Vincent’s
Medical Center, Los Angeles, Calif., previously she served
as Administrative Director for Transplant and Cardiovascular
Services at St. Vincent’s.
·
Amadeo
Marcos, M.D., Associate Professor of Surgery and Director
of the Solid Organ Transplant Program, University of Rochester,
N.Y., serves on the Editorial Board of Liver Transplantation.
·
James
D. Perkins, M.D., Professor and Director of the Division of
Transplantation, Department of Surgery, University of Washington
School of Medicine, founding member of the LifeCenter Northwest
OPO.
·
Deborah
M. Rodriguez, two-time recipient of a living kidney transplant,
Public Education Coordinator, LifeQuest Organ Recovery Services
OPO, Jacksonville, Fla.
·
Michael
S. Seely, Executive Director, Pacific Northwest Transplant
Bank, Portland, Ore., current member of the OPTN/UNOS Board
of Directors, LifeCenter NW OPO in Seattle, Wash.
·
James
Shanteau, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Kansas State University,
Manhattan, Kan., director the Organ Donation Research Laboratory
at KSU, holds visiting appointments at the universities of
Michigan, Oregon, Colorado and Cornell and the National Science
Foundation.
·
Hans
W. Sollinger, M.D., Ph.D., Folkert O. Belzer Professor of
Surgery and Chairman of the Division of Organ Transplantation
at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, Madison,
Wis., and Director of the Tissue Typing Laboratory.
·
Deborah
C. Surlas, R.N., kidney-pancreas recipient, President/Owner
of MBA Associates, Inc., Aurora, Ill., where she acts as a
Medical-Legal Nurse Consultant and Clinical Audit Review Specialist,
specializing in health insurance issues involving transplants
and donor cases.
·
Katherine
L. Turrisi, R.N., Transplant Program Administrator at the
Medical University of South Carolina Transplant Center, Charleston,
S.C.
·
Michael
A. Williams, M.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology
and Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,
Baltimore, Md.
·
Carlton
J. Young, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University
of Alabama at Birmingham, serves on the OPTN/UNOS Histocompatibility
Committee and Assistant Director of Organ Recovery for the
Alabama Organ Center.
###
|