July, 2018
J. Wesley Alexander, MD, ScD, internationally renowned pioneer in transplantation, died Saturday, July 7. He was 84 years old.
Dr. Alexander was named the first director of the Division of Transplantation at the University of Cincinnati (UC) in 1967, a position he held until 1999. On Dec. 11, 1967, he performed UC’s first organ transplant, a kidney transplant. He subsequently performed the first combined kidney-pancreas transplant in 1970 and first liver transplant in 1986. Additionally, Alexander played key roles in the development of UC's burn and surgical infectious disease programs. Dr...
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June, 2018
The American Society of Transplantation (AST) announced the recipients of its 2018 Achievement Awards at the recent American Transplant Congress (ATC) meeting in Seattle, WA. The recipients were awarded for their achievements and contributions to the AST and the field of transplantation.
Lifetime Achievement Award – Robert Gaston, MD
The 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to Robert Gaston, MD. It was presented in memory of Dr. Terry Strom.
Dr. Gaston has provided life-saving transplants for thousands of patients and has helped over 100 Fellows become established investigators. He...
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The American Society of Transplantation (AST) announced its recently elected 2018-2019 board members, including its new president, president-elect, and treasurer, at the American Transplant Congress (ATC) in Seattle, WA. The AST inducted its new president, Dianne McKay, MD during its annual meeting on June 4, 2018.
Dr. McKay is the medical director of the kidney transplant program at UC San Diego Health. Her expertise includes pre and post kidney transplant care, pregnancy in transplant recipients, and the care of young adults who are transitioning from pediatric to adult transplant programs...
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May, 2018
MINNEAPOLIS ― May 14, 2018 ― In December 2016, SRTR launched a new website that displayed a new 5-tier outcome assessment for all transplant programs in the United States. This new system, which replaced a 3-tier system, was developed over a period of 5 years and approved by SRTR’s Visiting Committee (SVC). In response to community feedback, the 5-tier system was moved to a
Beta... Read More...
April, 2018
The 2018 board elections are now open through June 4, 2018, at 5 pm PST. Winners of the election will be announced at the AST Town Hall in Seattle, WA.
To view the candidates, please view the
2018 board elections page.
To vote in this election, please follow the instructions in the ballot email. If you have not received an email with voting instructions, please add
elections@vote-now.com to your accepted senders list.
The American Society of Transplantation (AST) announced that is has earned the 2018 Platinum GuideStar Nonprofit Profile Seal of Transparency, the highest level of recognition offered by GuideStar, the world’s largest source of nonprofit information. GuideStar's Platinum Seal of Transparency recognizes AST’s sharing of detailed quantitative measures of progress and transparency. Less than 5,000 of organizations on GuideStar have received the platinum seal. To view the AST’s updated profile, please visit the
GuideStar website.
In...
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April is National Donate Life Month. This month-long celebration was created by Donate Life America in 2003 and aims to promote organ, eye, and tissue donation.
This year’s artwork was inspired by the image of a rainbow and Maya Angelou’s quote, “Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.”
Lapel Pins – Survey for Transplant Professionals
To show their connection to transplantation, thousands of people wear lapel pins. Donate Life America is in the process of creating additional pin styles for transplant professionals. Take their
survey by...
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March, 2018
The AST was mentioned on the Senate floor this week in regards to the Society's support of the Veterans Increased Choice for Transplanted Organs and Recovery (VICTOR) Act. AST President, Ron Gill, was also mentioned in the following press release about the legislation.
Cassidy Seeks to Secure Veteran Access to Life-Saving Transplant Care
WASHINGTON— WASHINGTON— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, today introduced the Veterans Increased Choice for Transplanted Organs and Recovery (VICTOR) Act, legislation to expand veterans’ access...
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February, 2018
On February 9, 2018, the American Society of Transplantation proudly presented the AST Innovation Award to the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto for their work in Ex Vivo Organ Perfusion. Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, Director of the Toronto Lung Transplant Program, Surgeon in Chief, and Professor for the Division of Thoracic Surgery, accepted the award during the AST Cutting Edge of Transplantation (CEoT) meeting in Phoenix, Arizona.
The Multi-Organ Transplant team at UHN has led significant innovation in ex vivo organ perfusion in lung, liver, and kidney. From the first successful ex vivo...
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MINNEAPOLIS ― February 6, 2018 ― The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) began publicly reporting new offer acceptance metrics for heart, kidney, liver, and lung programs in 2017. These metrics are designed to provide programs with data about their acceptance patterns within various subgroups of offers, and allows programs to benchmark against other programs nationally. In addition, SRTR began providing CUSUM charts for offer acceptance on SRTR's secure website. The goal of this webinar is to describe the new metrics, the methodologies used to derive the metrics, and to...
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