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HHS Appoints Transplantation Advisory Committee Members

WASHINGTON, D.C. · January 15, 2001· by TNN Medical Reporter Virginia Baskerville

Twenty members have been named to the Department of Health and Human Services' new Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation.

The committee, which plans to meet three times a year, is expected to provide independent advice to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on all aspects of organ procurement, allocation, and transplantation, including independent review and advice on organ allocation policies developed by the nation's Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN).

"The committee will provide for expert input from those most closely involved in the transplant sector, including transplant surgeons and physicians, representatives of donors and recipients, and others," said HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala in a statement. The committee was created by the OPTN final rule of 1999 and recommended by an Institute of Medicine Report to Congress in 1998.

Under regulations that took effect March 16, 2000, transplantation policies will be developed by the OPTN but will be subject to approval by HHS. Last year, the OPTN developed proposals to better characterize the medical condition of patients waiting for a liver transplant; the new advisory committee is expected to review these proposals.

The committee will be chaired by Nancy L. Ascher, MD, PhD, liver transplant surgeon and professor at the Department of Surgery, University of California at San Francisco. Ten of the 20 committee members are transplant surgeons and physicians. Other members include experts in the fields of biostatistics, bioethics, and law and representatives of organ donors and recipients.

In addition to Dr. Ascher, members include:

• Gail Agrawal, JD, MPH, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, Chapel Hill
• Denise Y. Alveranga, MD, Lifelink Transplant Institute, Tampa, Fla.
• Dan W. Brock, PhD, Brown University, Providence, R.I.
• Margaret B. Coolican, MS, RN, NorthEast Organ Procurement Organization, Hartford, Conn.
• Paige Cottigham-Streater, JD, Mansfield Center for Pacific Affairs, Washington, D.C.
• Francis L. Delmonico, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
• Robert D. Gibbons, PhD, Center for Health Statistics and University of Illinois at Chicago
• Bartley P. Griffith, MD, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh
• William Harmon, MD, Children's Hospital, Boston
• J. Harold Helderman, MD, Vanderbilt Transplant Center and Vanderbilt University Medical School, Nashville
• Lawrence G. Hunsicker, MD, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City
• Roger R. Luna, Jr., McAllen Medical Center, McAllen, Texas
• Edgar Milford, MD, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston
• Howard Nathan, MPH, Gift of Life Donor Program, Philadelphia
• Mary Ann Palumbi, RN, Allegheny General Hospital Transplantation Services, Pittsburgh
• J. Thomas Rosenthal, MD, University of Los Angeles Medical Group and UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles
• Flora Solarz, MPS, New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, New York
• Donald M. Stablein, PhD, EMMES Corporation, Potomac, Md.
• James B. Young, MD, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio

For Your Information:

• A press release is posted at www.hhs.gov/news/press/2001pres/20010112a.html.

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