September, 2017
On behalf of the AST, I would like to congratulate
Angelica Hale for her success on NBC’s America’s Got Talent. Last night on the show’s finale, Angelica came in second place, but her inspiring transplant story has touched millions.
At the age of 5, Angelica lost kidney function after double pneumonia. To keep her spirits up, her parents enrolled her in singing lessons, which would later lead to her incredible voice and involvement with America’s Got Talent. During this time, her mother, Eva, found out that she was a match to be her daughter’s...
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The AST has opened nominations for the 2018 Board Elections. If you are interested in becoming a board member or know an AST member who meets our criteria, you may
find more information here.
Nominations will close on November 30, 2017.
To identify the organ utilization practices of transplant programs, SRTR is working toward including program-specific offer acceptance practices in the program-specific reports (PSRs). Kidney offer acceptance was integrated into the PSRs in July 2017. Since then, SRTR has developed liver, heart and lung offer acceptance models and plans to integrate offer acceptance reports for these organs into the January 2018 PSRs. The models are being previewed ...
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There's now a new, innovative way to contribute to the AST, and all it takes is your spare change.
Coin Up allows you to donate your spare change directly to the AST, every time you make a purchase with your credit or debit card by virtually rounding up your “spare change” on each transaction. At the end of the month, your spare change is added up to a maximum limit set by you. Now, when you're buying groceries, picking up your dry cleaning, or even filling up your gas tank, you are incrementally donating to the AST without a second thought.
With Coin Up, you will be able to monitor your...
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On September 29, 2017, a transplantation and organ donation focused film entitled "A Question of Faith" will begin playing in theaters.
This film features three families who live in the same community and addresses organ, tissue, & eye donation advocacy. The trailer for this movie can be seen below.
The AST is saddened to hear about the passing of UNOS founder and original executive director, Gene Pierce. He passed away at the age of 87.
Pierce began his transplant career in 1964 as a surgical administrator at the Medical College of Virginia (VCU Health). In 1984, UNOS was founded with Pierce as its executive director.
Pierce retired in 1995. The national network had grown to include 60 organ procurement organizations and more than 220 transplant hospitals, performing more than 19,000 transplants per year.
The tragedy in Texas and Louisiana has impacted thousands of residents and their livelihoods. The AST commends the efforts of those who have provided support during this tragedy and would like to thank any members who have already helped those in need.
Communities have come together in an extraordinary way to help those impacted by this historic storm. Volunteers are working tirelessly to aid those in need of food, shelter, and medical assistance. The AST applauds the efforts of all organizations, volunteers, and supporters for their selfless work to help those impacted by the storm.
Our...
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August, 2017
SRTR has updated the organ procurement organization (OPO) yield models and plans to integrate the models into the January 2018 OPO-specific reports (OSRs). These models are used to derive expected organ yield for deceased donors as reported in the OSRs.
As part of the process for updating the models, SRTR sought feedback on potentially important predictors and interactions among predictors; the responses directly contributed to incorporation of new predictors, for example, warm ischemia time for donation after circulatory death donors and ejection fraction. The models are now estimated with...
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On August 7, 2017, The Mount Sinai Hospital announced that Shirish Huprikar, MD, FIDSA, FAST, has been appointed Chief Medical Officer and Vice President, based on his performance in the interim role since November 2016.
Dr. Huprikar has demonstrated the ability to lead quality efforts throughout the organization and has served as a clinical leader in promoting excellence in patient care. With a vision to align quality efforts and standardize clinical practices across the hospital, he has collaborated with several departments and institutes to facilitate the transformation of their quality...
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The AST recently received a
donation from a young fundraiser who decided to open a lemonade stand for the organization.
Nai Azzi, the daughter of AST member, Jamil Azzi, recently organized a lemonade stand to support the AST. She offered free homemade lemonade and requested donations. Nai raised $130 for the AST.
Well done, Nai!
