Newsletter 2014 Volume 11 - Issue 3

President’s Message

Philip J. O’Connell

Recently I attended two meetings that highlighted both the challenges and the opportunities that we face currently. The first meeting was the Middle Eastern Society of Organ Transplantation that was held in Istanbul. This was the 14th meeting of MESOT and I would say it was a resounding success.

Everyone knows that the Middle East is suffering politically and regional co-operation is difficult. Yet I was struck by the determination of those at this meeting to offer high quality care to their patients, to work co-operatively for the good of humanity and to look optimistically to the future.

A COMMON SENSE OF PURPOSE THAT LIFTED ONES SPIRITS AND MADE ME PROUD TO BE A MEMBER OF SUCH A COMMUNITY OF PROFESSIONALS

There was much discussion about how to develop well regulated and ethical deceased donor programs and an eagerness to look at this from a regional perspective. Also there was a great sense of camaraderie and co-operation and although there were people from over 50 nationalities with nations as diverse as Israel and Iran, there was a common sense of purpose that lifted ones spirits and made me proud to be a member of such a community of professionals.

The second meeting I attended was a meeting in Geneva to develop overarching ethical principles regarding the treatment of donors of Medical Products of Human Origin (MPHO). This was hosted by the WHO and included representatives from several organizations that deal with human organs, tissues and cells. Apart from TTS, the International Society of Blood Transfusion, Worldwide Network for Blood and Marrow Transplantation and the International Council for Commonality in Blood Banking Automation were also represented. This meeting was concerned with the protection of human donors and was in response to the recognition that MPHO are becoming more complex and, as a result, in many instances the demands on donors are greater.

(from left to right) MESOT President, Seyed Ali Malek Hosseini; Congress Chair, Mehmet Haberal; and TTS President, Philip J. O’Connell, open the 14th Congress of MESOT

This has led these four societies to come together to develop an overarching set of principles to safeguard the donor, which is the essential source for many of these therapies. Again I was struck by spirit of co-operation. Also there was a common sense of purpose and all societies share a sense of respect for the donor, and an understanding that donors of MPHO do so for the benefit of others. Also there was a consensus that donation should be free of inducement and the principle of non-commercialization of MPHO arises from the respect for fundamental human dignity. In the coming months it is anticipated that the four societies will endorse a common document that will outline the ethical principles for the treatment of individuals who are donors of MPHO. TTS is deeply involved in the development of this document and I will keep you updated of developments.

I THINK THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE AS WE TRY TO TACKLE THOSE PROBLEMS THAT ARE COMMON TO ALL REGIONS AND ARE HOLDING BACK THE TRUE POTENTIAL OF ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION.

Although these two meetings were quite diverse in nature there was a common thread running through both of them and that was the realization that difficult issues can only be overcome by co-operation. What we can do together far outweighs the collective efforts we make when acting alone. I think this is an important message as we try to tackle those problems that are common to all regions and are holding back the true potential of organ transplantation. These issues include ways to improve organ donation by removing disincentives, improving long term graft survival, reinvigorating R & D in transplant immunosuppression and developing new trial designs that will bring to transplantation the incredible potential of individualized medicine. Success in these areas will only be achieved through co-operation, not only between centres but between regions and internationally. TTS hopes to be at the forefront of these initiatives and we look forward to working together to solve these challenging problems.

Recently on the TTS website, you would have seen that four TTS members, representing the Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group, had an opportunity to meet with His Holiness Pope Francis to discuss our common concerns about organ trafficking and commercialization. It was pleasing to see that this important international and moral issue could be brought to the attention of a person of such influence. TTS wishes to acknowledge the outstanding work of Francis Delmonico and Ignazio Marino (Mayor of Rome) in organizing this meeting and bringing to the forefront this important issue. Hopefully this will bring further pressure to curb this world-wide problem and be a stimulus to a co-ordinated effort to prevent its further dissemination.

The final and perhaps most important matter I wish to discuss is the recent passing of Ray Owen at the age of 98. Professor Owen made one of the seminal observations in immunology when he described for the first time immunological tolerance in dizygotic twins that shared to same placenta. His seminal paper in Science in 1947 was publically acknowledged by Macfarlane Burnett and Medawar as the foundation for their work that led to them being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1960.

Professor Owen was widely respected as a modest but highly accomplished scientist and mentor of many who went on to make their mark in transplantation. His discovery led to a revolution in immunology and was the impetus to the rapid development of clinical transplantation. A tribute is being written for Transplantation by Leslie Brent, a past president of the Society. I urge you all to read it as well as Professor Owen’s brief but eloquent paper in Science. A truly remarkable man who will be long remembered by all of us who are involved in transplantation science and medicine.

I wish you all well and look forward to meeting many of you soon.  

Current Events: Peter Medawar Honoured by English Heritage

Kathryn J. Wood

Sir Peter Medawar, Past President of The Transplantation Society (1966-67) was honoured with one of English Heritage’s iconic blue plaques at his home in Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London, where he lived from the mid 1970s until his death in 1987.

The ceremony brought together all four of Peter Medawar’s children and grandchildren, as well as Past Presidents of TTS – Professors Leslie Brent, Sir Peter Morris, Sir Roy Calne and Kathryn Wood. Before unveiling the plaque itself, Peter Medawar’s eldest son Charles and Leslie Brent gave vivid portraits of Sir Peter’s commanding personality and presence and his many scientific achievements.

Sir Peter was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology in recognition of his breakthrough discovery of how the human body can function using foreign tissue in 1960.

www.english-heritage.org.uk

 

Charles Medawar (left) and Professor Leslie Brent


Sir Peter Morris

Current Events: June 2014 • Moscow • Meeting with Russian Ministry of Health

Serguei Gautier
Chairman, Russian Transplant Society

At the invitation of Russian colleagues, professor of surgery Francis L. Delmonico, then President of The Transplantation Society (TTS), visited the Moscow Institute of Transplantation in June 2014. The invitation was made to consult and exchange experience in the organization of the national system of organ donation and transplantation.

At the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Prof. Delmonico was received by the Minister of Health, Veronika Skvortsova. Also present at the meeting was Deputy Minister, Tatyana Yakovleva and Deputy Minister, Dmitry Kostennikov. Minister Skvortsova expressed gratitude to TTS and personally to Prof. Delmonico for fruitful cooperation and the promotion of organ donation and transplantation in Russia. Prof. Delmonico then participated in a business meeting with the developers of the new law on donation of human organs and transplantation. During the discussion, the participants reaffirmed the commonality of views on the goals and objectives of the national legislation, which is to promote organ donation and transplantation in the country in accordance with the needs of the population in organ transplantation and donor resources.

Immediate Past President Francis Delmonico and Russian Minister of Health, Veronica Skvortsova

The next day, Prof. Delmonico visited academician V.I. Shumakov Federal Research Center of Transplantology and Artificial Organs. Prof. Sergey Gautier, Chairman of the Russian Transplant Society, and member of the Declaration of Istanbul Group, heads the Center. The Center is the leading medical and scientific organization in Russia in the field of transplantation and biomedical technologies. More than 300 organ transplantations are performed annually at the Center; in 2013, 101 heart transplants, 90 liver transplants and 112 kidney transplants were carried out there. The Center also prepares medical and scientific personnel to work in the field of transplantation for the whole country.

(from left to right) Olga Prokofieva, Head of Division of Health Care; Serguei Gautier, Director of the National Research Institute of Transplantology; Francis Delmonico; Veronica Skvortsova; Tatiana Yakovleva, Deputy Minister of Health; Dmitriy Kostennikov, Deputy Minister of Health; and Lyalya Gabbasova, Assistant Minister of Health

Following the visit, Prof. Delmonico personally thanked Prof. Gautier and his colleagues for the warm welcome, and wished them much success; furthermore, on behalf of The Transplantation Society Prof. Delmonico expressed interest in continued future cooperation.

Current Events: September 2014 • Istanbul • 14th Congress of MESOT

The Transplantation Society recently exhibited at the 14th Congress of the Middle Eastern Society of Transplantation. The program featured many TTS members and was a great success. Below are some photos from the event.

 

Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group: Private Audience with Pope Francis

Hosted by the Mayor of Rome, Ignazio Marino (center-left), DICG members, Mirela Bušic, Mehmet Haberal, Beatriz Domínguez-Gil and Francis Delmonico meet with Pope Francis in Vatican City.

On September 19th, 2014, Mirela Bušic, Beatriz Domínguez-Gil, Mehmet Haberal and Francis Delmonico representing the Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group (DICG) met with Pope Francis in Vatican City to ask of his endorsement of the principles of the Declaration of Istanbul in its fight against organ trafficking.

“ORGAN TRAFFICKING AND COMMERCIALIZATION ARE IMMORAL... DICG IS AT LIBERTY TO CONVEY THIS MESSAGE ON MY BEHALF” - POPE FRANCIS

The private audience was hosted by Ignazio Marino, Mayor of Rome.

The DICG delegation constituted was to ensure international representation, and from countries with outstanding deceased donation rates (Croatia and Spain). Professor Haberal was to be acknowledged as a benefactor of DICG.

Background information submitted to Pope Francis included data that only 10% (100,000) of the needed 1 million transplants are performed each year. Poor people are selling their organs throughout the world, with brokers exploiting their destitution. Organ trafficking violates the principles of justice, equity and respect for human dignity. Six years ago (2008), professionals from all over the world came to Istanbul to write the Declaration of Istanbul, to combat organ trafficking and transplant tourism and commercialism. DICG’s mission is to curtail these practices and promote ethical donation and transplantation throughout the world.

Organ trafficking is continuing in at least China, South East Asia, Egypt, Pakistan, India, with recipients coming from Canada and US, Western European countries, Australia, and the Gulf countries. Organ trafficking has now made its way to Latin America. In the US, there is a movement to enable cash payments/benefits/college tuitions/tax credits/retirement benefits as a way of enticing the young to be compensated for their organs. DICG has opposed that direction and needed support of Pope Francis to ensure that the US Congress will not amend the law prohibiting organ commercialization. Financial incentives are to be distinguished from removing financial disincentives and rendering the donor at a monetary loss. Nevertheless, curtailing organ trafficking requires increasing organ availability and understanding donation as a gesture of social responsibility.

A seminal legal tool has just been adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe – a Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs. Wide support to this Convention will help national legislations to be aligned for prosecuting these illegal practices. Donation has been successfully developed in Croatia and Spain, based on a principle of community. DICG is now promoting the model of Croatia throughout South Eastern Europe.

Pope Francis concluded: “Organ trafficking and commercialization are immoral, ... and DICG is at liberty to convey this message on my behalf”

As a result of the private DICG audience the following recommendations were proposed: to retain the prohibition against financial gain for organ donation, including in the United States, since amending NOTA would not only be consequential to the US, but to the rest of the world; to support the recently adopted Council of Europe Convention against organ trafficking and to call for deceased organ donation by all cultures throughout the world. DICG has been invited to submit a background/reference document that Pope Francis will use in a pronouncement to be widely reported in 2015.

TTS 2016 Congress: Why Hong Kong?

Philip J. O’Connell
2016 TTS Congress Chair

THE 26TH ANNUAL CONGRESS – SHOWCASING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SOCIETY AND THE POTENTIAL OF TRANSPLANTATION IN ASIA

Even though we are still basking in the glow of the recently held and highly successful World Transplant Congress, plans are well underway for our Society’ next congress, which will be held in August 2016 in Hong Kong. The 26th Congress will mark our 50th Anniversary and the TTS Council is planning several events to celebrate this milestone. We are excited that this meeting will be held in Asia, as this is a region with great potential and rapid development.

Hong Kong has long been seen as a major gateway for Asian business. This is also true for medicine. Hong Kong has benefited from well-established Western style universities; the University of Hong Kong has been involved in medical education for more than 100 years and SunYat-Sen was its first medical graduate! The first renal transplant was performed in 1969 and Hong Kong has a locally controlled and ethical deceased donor program with its emphasis on “voluntarism consistent with respecting individual autonomy and dignity after death”. This strong tradition in Medicine and Transplantation make it an ideal location in Asia for this meeting.

However, to ensure that this is a truly regional meeting the Thai Transplantation Society has come together with the Hong Kong Society of Transplantation, and The Transplantation Society, to organize this milestone meeting. Thailand is one of the real success stories of Asian transplantation. Since the passing of brain death legislation in 1989, there have been more than 4000 renal transplants performed in Thailand and 55% of these were from deceased donors. Both the Hong Kong Society of Transplantation and the Thai Transplantation Society have endorsed the Declaration of Istanbul.

TTS has put together an outstanding and highly respected Program Committee to develop the Scientific Program. The committee is chaired by Jeremy Chapman and consists of Nancy Asher, Stefan Tullius, Megan Sykes, Shiro Takahara, Yingyos Avihingsanon, Wai Leung Chak and Josep Grinyo. This group has a great breadth of experience and an enviable reputation for delivering high quality meetings. They are well underway in selecting the sub-committees to develop themes for the meeting. I urge you all to visit the meeting website www.tts2016.org to keep up with the latest developments. Also if you have themes or topics that you feel need to be covered at this meeting, I urge you to submit your suggestions to meetings@tts.org. The relevant sub-committee will consider your suggestions seriously.

 

WTC 2014 Review

(excerpt from the September press release)

2014 WORLD TRANSPLANT CONGRESS HIGHLIGHTS

The 2014 World Transplant Congress (WTC) was the must-attend event for professionals involved in solid organ and tissue transplantation, held July 26-31 at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco, CA.

As the second joint meeting of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS), The Transplantation Society (TTS), and the American Society of Transplantation (AST), the event brought together more than 6,000 experts in the field as a way to encourage collaboration, discover and exchange new scientific and clinical information, and identify future opportunities in transplantation.

The 2014 WTC meeting featured specific tracks designed to cater to professionals focused on:

  • • Allied Health
  • • Basic Science
  • • Heart Transplantation
  • • Immunology
  • • Immunosuppression
  • • Infectious Disease
  • • Liver Transplantation
  • • Nephrology
  • • Organ Donation
  • • Pathology
  • • Pediatric Transplantation
  • • Tissue Injury/Prevention
  • • Xenotransplantation

Throughout the six-day event, scientific material was presented through plenary sessions, concurrent workshops, peer-reviewed oral and poster presentations, state-of-the-art symposia sessions and small parallel workshops designed for in-depth exploration of both clinical and basic science topics. In total, there were nearly 3,500 abstracts, 100 concurrent oral sessions, and 2,000 posters were presented.

NEARLY 3,500 ABSTRACTS, 100 CONCURRENT ORAL SESSIONS AND 2,000 POSTERS WERE PRESENTED

Eric Schadt, PhD, the Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor of Genomics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Director of the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology, delivered his State-of-the-Art address on Monday, July 28, giving attendees insight into his novel approach for studying complex human diseases. Dr. Schadt discussed his method for generating and integrating very large-scale genomic variation, molecular profiling, and clinical data to construct biological network models that define disease states and link molecular biology to physiology—which as a result, offers new insights into the complex mechanisms of diseases, such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s, and helps identify potential therapeutic targets.

On Tuesday, July 29, Nobel Laureate, Dr. Alvin E. Roth, delivered his state-of-the-art lecture, providing an economist’s perspective to kidney exchange. Dr. Roth described how changes in the way transplants are organized has increased access to transplantation, and how further changes may yield further improvements.

Roth was awarded the 2012 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, jointly with Lloyd Shapley, for his work on the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design. One of the marketplaces he has helped design is the National Resident Matching Program, in addition to helping in the organization of kidney exchange. He is currently the McCaw Professor of Economics at Stanford University and the Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration Emeritus at Harvard University.

On day five of the 2014 Congress, Professor Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University in Japan, was the state-of-the-art featured speaker. Yamanaka, also a Nobel Laureate, was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of reprogramming and converting mature, specialized cells into pluripotent cells, capable of developing into all tissues of the body.

During his State-of-the-Art address, Dr. Yamanaka discussed technologies related to iPSC generation, in addition to improvements achieved in iPSC production in terms of both safety and efficiency.

The meeting wrapped up with a closing session that offered attendees an overview of the full event and highlights of research presented throughout the meeting.

All presentations from WTC 2014 are searchable via multiple parameters and available free for our members in the online
EDUCATIONAL LIBRARY

WTC 2014 • Medawar Prize Winner: David H. Sachs

The Transplantation Society has awarded the Medawar Prize at each of its biennial Congresses since 1990. Designed to honor Sir Peter Medawar, the first President of our Society, for his seminal contributions to transplantation, it is considered to be among the outstanding world honors for scientific achievement. The prize recognizes individuals who have made a significant scientific discovery or contribution to our field, or who have a lifetime body of work in immunobiology, experimental and/or clinical transplantation.

Dr. Sachs graduated summa cum laude in chemistry from Harvard College in 1963, following which he studied organic chemistry as a Fulbright Fellow in Paris, receiving a D.E.S. from the University of Paris in 1964. He then returned to Boston to enter Harvard Medical School, where he earned his M.D., magna cum laude, in 1968. During medical school, he became fascinated with the newly developing field of transplantation, particularly with the concept of transplantation tolerance, shown a decade earlier by Sir Peter Medawar and colleagues, to be inducible in mice by exposure to foreign cells very early in life. If similar tolerance could be induced in adults, patients might eventually be able to accept transplanted organs without long-term immunosuppression. In hopes of studying this problem further, he approached Dr. Paul S. Russell at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) to request a position in his laboratory as a student research assistant. This was the beginning of a long career in the field of transplantation tolerance – and also of his long and continuing association with Dr. Russell, and with the MGH.

(from left to right) Philip J. O’Connell, Megan Sykes, David H. Sachs. Gerhard Opelz, Francis L. Delmonico

With the intent of becoming a transplant surgeon, as well as continuing his research career in this field, Dr. Sachs entered the surgical residency at MGH in 1968. He took a two-year leave of absence from that residency in 1970 to join the Public Health Service as a clinical research fellow at the NIH. A series of discoveries and promotions led to prolongation of that leave of absence for 21 years, during which time he became Chief of the Immunology Branch and developed a major program in transplantation research. In 1991, he returned to Boston as the Paul S. Russell Professor of Surgery and Immunology at Harvard Medical School and as the first Director of the Transplantation Biology Research Center at MGH, where he has continued to work until the present.

Russell-Winn Laboratory 1968

During his career, Dr. Sachs has trained more than 80 pre-doctoral and postdoctoral fellows, many of whom have gone on to outstanding careers as transplantation physicians and scientists. He has published over 700 scientific articles. He has served The Transplantation Society in the office of Vice President and as a Councilor for a total of 16 years during his career, and is a member of numerous other societies, including, the AST, the ASTS and the IXA. He was the Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of Xenotransplantation from 1994 to 1997 and has been one of the three North American Editors of Transplantation since 1997. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1996 and has received numerous other honors and awards, including the 2012 Starzl Prize, which he shared with his close colleague and friend, Dr. Ben Cosimi.

with Ben Cosimi and Tom Starzl at Starzl Prize award ceremony (2012)

PRINCIPAL SCIENTIFIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Induction of transplantation tolerance through mixed chimerism:
Dr. Sachs and his colleagues demonstrated in the late 1980's, that the survival of a small percentage of MHC-mismatched donor cells following bone marrow transplantation was sufficient to induce tolerance without the complications associated with complete marrow replacement. Since the original description of this phenomenon, called "mixed chimerism", in mice, pioneering studies have extended this work to large animals and most recently to clinical applications, including the first successful clinical protocol for the induction of transplantation tolerance across HLA barriers in patients receiving renal transplants.

Discovery of class II antigens:
In 1973, Dr. Sachs was the first to report the serologic detection of cell surface antigens determined by genes in the mouse MHC that were expressed predominantly on B cells and which subsequently became known as class II antigens.

Development of miniature swine as a large animal transplantation model:
More than 40 years ago, Dr. Sachs recognized the need for a large animal model for studies of transplantation and chose miniature swine because of their appropriate size (comparable to humans), physiologic and immunologic similarity to humans, and their breeding characteristics. The latter have made possible the establishment of MHC-homozygous and recombinant lines, making miniature swine the only large animal model in which one can reproducibly study the effects of selective genetic differences within the MHC. In their role as a preclinical animal model, these animals have provided numerous insights for understanding tolerance and histocompatibility.

Xenotransplantation:
Dr. Sachs and his colleagues have utilized modern genetic engineering techniques to develop one inbred subline of miniature swine as an exceptionally appropriate donor for organ xenografts to primates. In addition, they are at the forefront of extending transplantation tolerance induction to this field.

with genetically engineered pigs at breeding facility

At 2012 celebration of 10th anniversary of the first successful tolerance transplant procedure, with several tolerant renal transplant patients
and members of the transplant team.

SUMMARY

In a career now spanning more than four decades, Dr. Sachs has worked consistently at the interface between basic science and clinical applications in the field of transplantation. His accomplishments can be measured not only in terms of basic science and clinical achievements, but also in terms of scores of scientists and clinicians who have been inspired by his enthusiasm and devotion.

with wife, Kristina, at Rome Congress (2000)

WTC 2014 • TTS Recognition Awards Winners

Richard Allen is currently the Professor of Transplantation Surgery at University of Sydney and surgical director of a multi-organ transplant program. He champions the broader role of transplant surgeons, whilst at the same time challenging trainees and colleagues alike to match and complement the skills of others. To this end, he has been instrumental in Australia in establishing training programs and credentialing guidelines for surgeons.

As a TTS councillor, he became more aware of the needs of transplantation in developing countries, particularly Asia with its great potential for deceased donation. He laments their dependence on living donation that can take advantage of others and obviate the need for deceased donor programs. By understanding the complex mix of local customs and competing priorities, and by providing training opportunities for a wide spectrum transplant professionals, he is demonstrating that it is possible to adapt proven donation strategies to meet the needs of resource-poor countries.

Dr Bušic is working in the Ministry of Health, managing the Institute for Transplantation and Biomedicine, i.e. Competent Authority for Organ, Tissues and Cells.

She was appointed as the National Transplant Coordinator in 2002 to provide senior leadership and coordinated national efforts in development of self-sufficient organ donation and transplantation system in Croatia. Croatia is now one of the world leading countries in deceased organ donation and transplantation per million population.

In 2011 Dr. Bušic was appointed as Director of the Regional Health Development Center on Organ Donation and Transplant Medicine (RHDC Croatia) designated to promote and assist development of deceased organ donation and transplant medicine in the nine South-east European countries. In partnership with international organisations, (TTS, WHO, CoE, ESOT/EDTCO, EC) RHDC Croatia has provided a sustained leadership in implementing concerted actions aimed at the development of successful and self-sufficient organ donation and transplantation programmes in these countries. As a result, significant progress has been achieved in Montenegro (transplant and deceased donor program have been launched), Romania (donor rate doubled), Macedonia (living kidney transplant rate increased) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (establishment of Competent Authority). Efforts are underway in Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania Moldova and Israel (recently joined).

Dr. Medina Pestana is professor of nephrology and the head of the kidney and pancreas transplant program at the Hospital do Rim in São Paulo, where he developed a unique large scale transplant center, performing over 10,000 kidney transplants in the last 15 years.

His transplant activity began 1983, when he organized the renal transplant program initially limited to a once a week procedure, mostly living donors. Although he is a nephrologist, he learned kidney harvesting at the Moffitt Hospital at UCSF, in 1985, under Oscar Salvatierra’s supervision, which enabled him to actively participate in organ recovery surgeries and stimulate the growing of this program in a National system. In 1987 after finishing his PhD he did a clinical fellow training at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, followed by one year experimental organ transplant training in the Oxford University, under Prof. Peter Morris’ supervision.

In 1990 he started to increase the renal transplant program at the Hospital do Rim that gradually reached over 800 transplants per year, becoming a major center for training new professionals and for research. Currently 75% of the transplants are done with deceased donor and he has personal restrictions for living unrelated kidney transplants and exchange transplant chains.

Megan Sykes’ research career, during which she has published >400 papers and book chapters, has focused on hematopoietic cell transplantation, organ allograft tolerance induction, xenotransplantation tolerance and Type 1 diabetes. Dr. Sykes has developed novel strategies for achieving graft-versus-tumor effects without graft-versus-host disease following hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). She developed an approach that has been evaluated in clinical trials of non-myeloablative haploidentical HCT whose safety and efficacy allowed trials of HCT for the induction of organ allograft tolerance, allowing intentional achievement of tolerance in humans for the first time. Dr. Sykes has dissected the tolerance mechanisms and pioneered minimal conditioning approaches for using HCT to achieve allograft and xenograft tolerance. Her work on xenogeneic thymic transplantation for tolerance induction has led, for the first time, to long-term kidney xenograft survival in non-human primates. More recently, she has extended the HCT approach to the problem of reversing autoimmunity while replacing destroyed islets of Langerhans in Type 1 diabetes. She has developed novel “humanized mouse” models that allow personalized analysis of human immune disorders and therapies. Dr. Sykes is a Past-President of the International Xenotransplantation Association, served as Vice- President of TTS, has repeatedly served on TTS Council and is a member of the Institute of Medicine.

Kathryn Wood is Professor of Immunology in the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford where she runs the Transplantation Research Immunology Group (TRIG – www.nds.ox.ac.uk/trig). Her research focuses on tolerance induction at the molecular and cellular level, immune regulation and interactions between the immune system and stem cell derived tissues. She is a Fellow of The Academy of Medical Sciences and received a Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award for research excellence. Professor Wood’s research achievements have also been recognised internationally, including receiving a Gold Medal awarded by The Catalan Society of Transplantation (2011), The Rose Payne Award from the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (2011), the Excellence in Transplantation Science Award from The Transplantation Society (2012) and the Maharshi Sushruta Award (2012). Professor Wood's professional activities include a broad array of responsibilities both nationally and internationally. She was President of The Transplantation Society (2004-2006) and subsequently founded the Women in Transplantation initiative (WIT – www.tts.org/women) of which she is currently Co-Chair. Professor Wood was Chair of the WTC (2014) Executive Committee.

Curie Ahn, Korean physician, scientist and educator, trained at Seoul National University Hospital and also trained at Cincinnati Medical Centre. She was the first woman to become medical professor in Seoul National University. In addition to considerable clinical responsibilities she is director of an active research laboratory in xenotransplant immunology and has over 90 research publications. As director of the transplant research centre, she helped with others to set up an efficient organ procurement system and facilitated deceased-donor transplantation in Korean society. She has been an outstanding mentor to all her students. Younger Korean women who have followed in her footsteps in Transplantation have benefited from her support, mentorship and encouragement. As well as her considerable academic achievements she has donated a substantial amount of her time to her community. She helped found the Rafael Centre, which is a Korean charity that has set up volunteer-run health clinics for immigrant workers in Korea. She has expanded the work of this charity to improve the healthcare and medical education in neighbouring developing countries such as Myanmar and Mongolia. She helped establish the first chronic dialysis centres in Mongolia and has been instrumental in developing a training program in Transplantation for Mongolian doctors, including sponsoring them for academic exchange visits to Korea for additional specialist training. This has been expanded into a medical exchange with the aim of improving overall medical training in Mongolia.

Transplantation Journal: Journal to Launch Transplantation Direct

Jeremy R. Chapman
Editor-in-Chief

Edward Geissler, Online Editor

The Transplantation Society and the Editor-in-Chief of Transplantation are very pleased to announce the launch of Transplantation Direct in January 2015 to complement our journal, Transplantation. Transplantation Direct will be an online-only, open access publication and is fully supported by The Transplantation Society and the publisher, Wolters Kluwer Health Medical Research. Transplantation and Transplantation Direct will directly link to each other and function in concert to provide electronic publication of high-quality basic research and clinical studies related to the field of transplantation. Besides welcoming standard, basic and clinical science articles, the new online journal will encourage the publication of preliminary results of high-interest studies, trial protocols, new methodologies, current research stemming from Sections of The Transplantation Society, and wide-ranging possibilities for publishing registry reports.

We wish to take advantage of the inherent flexibility of electronic publishing, for example, through color presentations, web linkages and connection of different data sources to provide for future development of science communication, education and interactive working groups. The online editor, Edward Geissler, will be combining familiar high standards of peer review with a new submission site to allow for an inclusive, comprehensive, and yet a rigorous approach to presenting significant developments in transplantation. The close connection to our sister journal Transplantation empowers Transplantation Direct to set the aim of having the most rapid turnaround time from submission to publication in the field.

The Transplantation Society, Wolters Kluwer Health Medical Research and the Journal editors are very excited about the new possibilities offered by Transplantation Direct. The submission website will be announced on www.tts.org and www.editorialmanager.com/tpa as soon as it is open for your submission in the upcoming months.

Membership • Benefits: Valuable Resources for All Members

An important role within TTS’ International Headquarters is that of Membership Coordinator as that person has the responsibility to ensure members have access to everything they need from their Society. Our newly appointed Membership Coordinator, Amanda Mayer, can help you navigate through our website and databases, and answer your questions to help you get the most of your membership.

TTS has an online community of over 6400 members from 101 different countries around the globe, all sharing one common goal to improve the science of transplantation. Being a TTS member means that you can tap into that community. In fact, our member directory – accessible by any TTS member – allows you to connect to all other members to help build your network.

Another valuable resource only available to members is free online access to the most cited and influential journal in its field around the world, Transplantation. Transplantation is published twice a month with over 25,000 citations a year. For 40 years, it has been considered as a trusted source for extensive coverage on the most important advances in transplantation. Transplantation is also first in its field to offer CME accreditation to its peer reviewers for completed reviews.

TTS Members can also access over 3750 presentations online through our multimedia library that includes webinar series and recordings from past meetings.

Other important benefits of membership include reduced registration fees at our congresses and meetings, and full members have the right to vote for future TTS Officers and Councilors, and influence future Congress locations.

Should you have any question or need guidance in how best to benefit from your membership, please contact Amanda at TTS International Headquarters via email: membership@tts.org or by phone: 1-514-874-1717 ext 215.

OTHER BENEFITS INCLUDE:

Educational materials on the Society’s website

Reduced rate for the hard-copy subscription to Transplantation, the official journal of TTS

Entitlement for Travel grants for Young Investigator Awards

Reduced registration fee at our international congresses

Substantially reduced rates for journal subscriptions

TTS newsletter, Tribune, updating members about TTS activities in the transplant community

Members from emerging economy nations are entitled to a significant rebate on TTS dues which may be combined with the TTS rebate for Section dues

Membership • Multi-Media Library: Interactive Database Library

The TTS Educational Library (www.tts.org/education) is an interactive database with over 3750 videos and over 6000 pages of total content including 350 new presentations from the recent World Transplant Congress held in San Francisco.

This interactive database library allows users to find material by refining search criteria (via presenter, author, title, event, region, etc.). Members are able to create their own custom lists using our new bookmarking or flag functions. The new website’s responsive design allows users to enjoy the same level of experience regardless of device (desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone). In addition, members can download videos for offline viewing and even add them to their iTunes library for offline watching on an iPad or iPhone.

A “download presentations slide sets as PDF” function for WTC 2014 Congress presentations has also recently been added.

You are all invited to watch the four-minute video, which will take you through the various steps and functionality of this invaluable resource.

Please feel free to contact us with any comments or suggestions at technologies@tts.org.

The Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies

 

The Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) is composed of over 900 individual world-wide clinicians and researchers improving human health through immunology by fostering interdisciplinary approaches to both understand and treat immune-based diseases. A FOCIS individual membership allows you access to a number of highly lauded publications like Translational Immunology Update, a bimonthly electronic publication that aggregates the latest article, clinical trials, and original journal articles from leaders in the translational immunology field. Members also receive free online access to Clinical Immunology, the official journal of FOCIS.

FOCIS members are eligible to receive CME credits through the FOCISed online courses; an exclusive membership benefit. Members of FOCIS receive free abstract submission, reduced registration rates and are eligible to receive annual meeting travel awards. Members will also receive an exclusive invitation to the FOCIS Member Reception and leader meet and greet at FOCIS 2015, July 24-27, 2015 in San Diego, California.

To learn more about FOCIS and the benefits of a FOCIS individual membership, visit: www.focisnet.org

Education Committee Update: Education and CME

Vivekanand Jha
Co-Chair

Marcelo Cantarovich
Co-Chair and CME Liaison

The reconstituted Education and CME Committee had its first meeting during the WTC at San Francisco and the members appreciated the fantastic progress made by the previous Committees. To build upon these successes, the Committee discussed a series of new tasks and activities. As a follow up, a needs assessment survey has been sent to TTS members. The survey will be very valuable for planning the Committee activities as well as upcoming TTS congresses.

The Committee will be using the TTS web portal as the vehicle for its activities. Below are some of the activities that the education committee will strive to cover leading up to the 2016 Congress. We are excited to have the opportunity to participate in the ongoing TTS educational activities, and look forward to feedback/ suggestions from members and readers of the Tribune.

EDUCATION COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES...

  • Posting of recordings from all the 2015 Section Meetings
  • Regular webinars on critical issues in transplantation possibly supplemented with the following:
    • New webinar series in 2015 on advanced transplantation topics.
    • A webinar/podcast-based collaborative effort with Transplantation to highlight published manuscripts.
    • New series of the TTS Education Academy will include a core curriculum of relevant transplant topics;
    • A webinar/podcast-based series on essential skills for Trainees/Fellows. A few indicative topics include: how to prepare the slides for an impactful oral presentation; how to give an effective oral presentation; how to write a strong manuscript; how to successfully prepare a grant.
    • Themed webinars managed by our sections; ISODP, IHCTAS and IPITA are working on their curriculum for 2015 and we expect other sections to join in.
    • Two of our Affiliated Societies, the Canadian Society of Tranplantation (CST) and the Argentinean Society of Transplantation (SAT), currently run their webinar series through TTS.
  • The Committee is reviewing a proposal to create a virtual Transplant Library. This library would include organ specific and theme specific topics presented at recent TTS congresses. Its access would be facilitated through the TTS web site and other TTS publications. It would also act as a repository of other useful materials: e.g., protocols, periodic summary of recent developments, and commentaries on transplant guidelines.

 

2014–2016 EDUCATION COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Co-Chair:
Vivekanand Jha, India

Co-Chair and CME Liaison:
Marcelo Cantarovich, Canada

  • Medhat Askar, United States
  • Sukru Emre, United States
  • Josette Eris, Australia
  • Rudolf Garcia-Gallont, Guatemala
  • Teun van Gelder, The Netherlands
  • Elmi Muller, South Africa
  • Milagros Samaniego, United States
  • Ifeoma Ulasi, Nigeria
  • Kenji Yuzawa, Japan
Education on Organ Donation and Transplantation for Schools

Felix Cantarovich
Chair

Marcelo Cantarovich
Co-Chair

The EODTS Working Group organized an education forum at the recent WTC in San Francisco.

The Forum included a report of an Education Survey (Marcelo Cantarovich), as well as presentations on Education on Organ Donation for Primary School Children (Marion Siebelink) and School Education: A Major Component of a Culture of Donation (Eduardo Santiago Depin).

WORKING GROUPS FOCUSED ON THE FOLLOWING TOPICS:

  • Development of New Messages (Marcelo Cantarovich)
  • Development of a Curriculum (Clotilde Druck Garcia)
  • Education of Teachers and Participation of Parents (Marion Siebelink)
  • Relationship with NGO: WHO, UNESCO, UN, UNICEF, Religious Authorities (Marti Manyalich)

Future directions of EODTS include the creation of a teaching module for elementary and high schools that will be adapted to different TTS regions.

For more information about the EODTS and its activities, please visit our website at www.eodts.tts.org. We look forward to your collaboration.

 

Ethics Committee Update: Committee Role and Mission

Beatriz Domínguez-Gil
Chair

Dominique Martin
Vice-Chair

The recently appointed Chair of The Transplantation Society Ethics Committee, Dr. Beatriz Domínguez-Gil, and its Co-chair, Dr. Dominique Martin, are pleased to report that information about the new committee members is now available on the TTS website. The new committee includes representation from all TTS regions, with a range of disciplinary expertise and experience, and a shared commitment to ethical practice and policy in transplantation.

During the 2014-2016 term, the Committee will undertake a number of activities aimed at developing a better understanding of — and addressing — the diverse needs of TTS members for education and practical resources in the domain of ethics.

All health professionals working in transplantation may face ethical challenges in their everyday practice, as they deal with scarce therapeutic resources for which supply depends on the personal generosity of loved ones or strangers. The exceptional nature of human organs, cells and tissue for transplantation, like that of other medical products of human origin, entails additional professional responsibilities. Concern for donors, as well as for recipients, makes transplantation a uniquely complex as well as an extraordinarily rewarding field.

There is widespread support for and commitment to international ethical standards such as the WHO Guiding Principles and the Declaration of Istanbul on organ trafficking and transplant tourism by transplant professionals. However, translating such principles into practice can be difficult, particularly in the setting of severe economic and healthcare resource constraints or political instability experienced in some countries and regions. Ethics, just like medicine, requires infrastructure, research, education and training to achieve and maintain best practice.

The new Ethics Committee looks forward to assisting the TTS mission by providing guidance, education and leadership in the ethics of transplantation.

 

2014–2016 ETHICS COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Chair:
Beatriz Domínguez-Gil, Spain

Vice-Chair:
Dominique Martin, Australia

  • Asia
    Vasant Sumethkul, Thailand
    Anantharaman Vathsala, Singapore
  • Europe
    Jacob Lavee, Israel
    Kristof Van Assche, Belgium
  • Latin America
    Rudolf Garcia-Gallont, Guatemala
    José Medina Pestana, Brazil
  • Middle East / Africa
    Alain Assounga, South Africa
    Riadh Fadhil, Qatar
  • North America
    Elizabeth A. Pomfret, United States
    Lee Ann Tibbles, Canada
  • Oceania
    Katrina Bramstedt, Australia
    Ian Dittmer, New Zealand
Transplantation Science Committee Update

Anita Chong
Chair

Stefan G. Tullius
Co-Chair

WTC  Mentee/Mentor Awards

The Transplant Science Committee is looking back to an exciting World Transplantation Congress (WTC) in San Francisco this summer. Record numbers of attendees and an outstanding scientific program were the highlights. Transplantation Science presentations by invited speakers and in the concurrent oral and poster sessions were excellent. The 4th round of Mentee/Mentor Awards was celebrated during the Transplantation Science Networking event at the WTC – Congratulations to the 20 mentees and their mentors!

Global Virtual Laboratory for Transplantation

Until now, clinical trials have been based on outcome measures that may not be sufficiently sensitive to facilitate significant progress in adjusting immunosuppression. A TTS-sponsored workshop “The Global Virtual Laboratory (GVL)” organized by the TSC in cooperation with Ed Geissler from the OneStudy was held on July 26, 2014 in San Francisco to initiate steps aimed at making standardized testing methods and expertise more accessible to the global transplant research community conducting clinical trials. The workshop served as an initial discussion on defining the need and structure of the GVL. The GVL promises to enhance the outcomes of transplant patients by focusing on the efficient dissemination of standardized and validated immune monitoring assays. A meeting report of the GVL will be published in the Transplantation Journal and a follow-up meeting is planned for November 2014.

NEW AWARDS

In conjunction with the launch of a new editorial team and changes in the Transplantation Journal in July 1, 2014, the TSC has established the Leslie Brent Basic Science and the Anthony Monaco Translational Science Awards that will be given annually to the most outstanding manuscripts in the Transplantation Journal. These manuscripts will be selected based on original research that is innovative and has a direct impact in the field of transplantation. We are delighted that we are able to name these awards after two pioneers in our field who contributed so much with their vision, innovation and humanistic approach. These very special awards will be presented to the first author(s) and each award will comprise a certificate and a prize of $1000. Call for applications will be publicized in the Transplantation Journal and on the TTS website. Please be on the lookout for forthcoming information.

And finally, with the experience of an outstanding meeting in San Francisco behind us, we are looking forward to the 2015 Transplantation Science Symposium (TSS 2015) to be held in Lorne, Australia, a seaside town on the coast near the city of Melbourne. The TSS 2015 will be held in conjunction with the IPITA-CTS-IXA 2015 Joint Congress, providing a great opportunity for extending the visit to Australia and experiencing more great science. Congress co-chairs Shane Grey, and Stephen Alexander, together with the co-chairs of the TSC, Anita S. Chong and Stefan G. Tullius, and the TSS organizing committee are putting together a cutting-edge basic and translational science program, with a stellar lineup of regional and international speakers covering a range of essential topics in B cell biology, tolerance, biomarkers in transplantation and organ/tissue regeneration. This will be a one of a kind meeting with great science in a spectacular setting and with time for networking opportunities.

See you in Lorne!

 

2014 INTERNATIONAL TRANSPLANTATION SCIENCE MENTEE–MENTOR AWARDS

Canadian Society of Transplantation (CST)

  • Mentee: Shanil Keshwani, Canada
    Mentor: Dr. Atul Humar, Canada
  • Mentee: Minh-Tri Nguyen, Canada
    Mentor: Dr. Steven Paraskevas, Canada

German Transplantation Society (DTG)

  • Mentee: Markus Quante, United States
    Mentor: Prof. Stefan Tullius, United States
  • Mentee: Paloma Riquelme, Germany
    Mentor: Dr. James Alexander Hutchinson, Germany

European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT)

  • Mentee: Fadi Issa, United Kingdom
    Mentor: Prof. Kathryn Wood

International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS)

  • Mentee: Sergio Duarte, United States
    Mentor: Prof. Ana J. Coito, United States
  • Mentee: Lung-Yi Lee, United States
    Mentor: Prof. Jon Odorico, United States
  • Mentee: Chang-Xian Li, China
    Mentor: Prof. Nancy Kwan Man, China
  • Mentee: Shinichiro Yokota, United States
    Mentor: Dr. Angus W. Thomson, United States

International Society for Heart & Lung Transplantation (ISHLT)

  • Mentee: Carolina Moore, United States
    Mentor: Dr. Joren Madsen, United States

Japan Society for Transplantation (JST)

  • Mentee: Toshihiro Hirai, Japan
    Mentor: Prof. Kazunari Tanabe, Japan
  • Mentee: Taigo Kato, Japan
    Mentor: Dr. Masayoshi Okumi, Japan

Société Francophone de Transplantation (SFT)

  • Mentee: Sylvain Le Pape, France
    Mentor: Dr. Raphael Thullier, France
  • Mentee: Elodie Picarda, France
    Mentor: Dr. Carole Guilonneau, France

Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ)

  • Mentee: Kylie Alexander, Australia
    Mentor: Dr. Kelli MacDonald, Australia
  • Mentee: Kisha Sivanathan, Australia
    Mentor: Prof. Patrick Coates, Australia

The Transplantation Society (TTS)

  • Mentee: Charles Colin Brinkman, United States
    Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Bromberg, Unites States
  • Mentee: Estafania Nova Lamperti, United Kingdom
    Mentor: Dr. Maria Hernandez-Fuentes, United Kingdom
  • Mentee: Yuk Man (Kevin) Lei, United States
    Mentor: Dr. Maria-Luisa Alegre, Unites States
  • Mentee: Niloufar Safinia, United Kingdom
    Mentor: Prof. Giovanna Lombbardi, United Kingdom




Women in Transplantation Update

The Women in Transplantation initiative of TTS is pleased to report the success of our most recent networking events. The World Transplant Congress networking event, featuring Sommer Gentry, was our largest and most successful event to date, with more than 230 attendees. The session highlighted the need for women to find opportunities for collaborations and partnerships and strategies for overcoming workplace challenges.

A subsequent event was held in September during the International Transplant Nurses Society Symposium in Houston, Texas. The networking cocktail was the first time WIT and ITNS have co-hosted an event. More than one-third of the Symposium’s participants were in attendance to hear from ITNS Board members Renee Bennett and Christiane Kugler reflect on their international experiences as nurses in the field of transplantation.

Our final networking event of 2014 was on October 23rd during the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Conference. WIT and ASHI had held several outstanding networking events in the past and this event added to our already very successful year.

The Steering Committee of WIT would like to encourage WIT and TTS members who were not able to attend the WIT events that took place during to WTC to view the session recordings that are now available through the TTS multimedia library.

Members of the WIT Steering Committee present at WTC San Francisco: (seated) Committee Chair, Nancy L. Ascher (left) and Co-Chair, Kathryn J. Wood; (back row, left to right) A. Vathsala, Lori West, Elaine Reed, Megan Sykes, Curie Ahn, Josette Eris, Josefina Alberu

During WTC the WIT Steering Committee had the opportunity to re-visit its strategic goals and priorities and discuss new opportunities for 2015. The WIT Steering Committee will continue to host networking events and promote mentorship through its mentoring program, but we will be announcing new initiatives in the coming months. Please visit www.tts-wit.org for more information.

Cell Transplant Society Update

The Cell Transplant Society Council has been working towards identifying and drafting long-term goals for the Society of which the overriding goal moving forward will be to maintain CTS as a leader in basic research and clinical translation of cellular transplantation. To refine our goals the Council will meet in November 2014 for a 2-day strategic retreat to discuss the future of the Society and opportunities for growth. Additionally, the CTS will partner with the IXA to co-host the 2017 CTS/IXA Congress. The Call for Hosting document has been sent out to members and the closing date for proposals is November 14th, 2014. We encourage our members to begin to consider putting a proposal together to host the 2017 Congress of the CTS/IXA in your city. For more information, vist our website at www.tts.org/cts.

We are very excited to announce that, under the leadership of Robert Fisher, the CTS will be developing a Young Investigator Committee. The committee will be tasked with developing a session and social event for the upcoming 2015 Joint Meeting, develop criteria for future young investigator awards and to assist in future fund development for the Society.

The CTS would also like to encourage you to find the Cell Transplant Society on both Facebook and LinkedIn. We hope these new platforms will increase interaction among membership and spread knowledge and information about the CTS, its members and express our passion for cellular transplantation. We anticipate this increased visibility will also lead to a further interest in the CTS and translate into more of our peers becoming members. We urge members to write posts that can be published using the CTS social media pages. These posts can be short stories on the type of cells you are working on, programs active in your institute or information about your own research. Please include an image or picture if possible. In order to increase visibility and readership we need to be active in posting and we welcome contributions from all CTS members.

Finally, we encourage our members to start thinking about the opportunity to attend our joint meeting in Melbourne from November 15-19, 2015. The meeting will bring together leaders in the field of cell, islet, pancreas and xenotransplantation for an outstanding scientific program in the beautiful city of Melbourne. The call for abstracts, registration information and information about travel awards for the meeting can be found at www.melbourne2015.org.

 

International Hand and Composite Tissue Allotransplantation Society Update

TThe International Society on Hand and Composite Tissue Allotransplantation would like to invite you to the 12th Congress of IHCTAS, that will be held at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, PA from April 15 to 18, 2015. The meeting will focus on the latest experimental studies and immunosuppressive protocols, as well as the next phases of this new field of transplantation. The aim of all the activities of IHCTAS is to share experiences, patient information through the registry, new diagnostic tools and treatments among the different teams all over the world.

There will be a pre-meeting symposium held at the U Penn Human Tissue Laboratory. This event will allow surgeons to participate in cadaveric surgical rehearsal with an international group of VCA transplant experts. If you are interested in this workshop, sign up early, spots are limited!

Spring-time in Philadelphia is a beautiful time of year and the City of Brotherly Love offers outstanding attractions such as the historic downtown area, Longwood Gardens in nearby Kennett Square, the Philadelphia art museum, and the Auguste Rodin Museum.

Rodin’s sculpture—The Cathedral— is used in the logo of The Transplantation Society and his museum is located on the parkway in Philadelphia.

Rodin’s “The Cathedral”

More information can be found at www.ihctas2015.org. We hope to see many members of TTS and IHCTAS in Philadelphia!

 

IHCTAS is also pleased to announce its webinar series; the topics covered will provide comprehensive information for people new and familiar with vascularized composite Allotransplantation.

2014–2015 IHCTAS WEBINARS!

November 6, 2014 • 10am EST• Linda Cendales
International Implementation of VCA and Regulatory Oversight

December 4, 2014 • 10am EST • Sheila Jowsey-Gregoire
Psycho-Social Issues Related to VCA

January 21, 2015 • 3pm EST • Katrina Bramstedt
Transplant Ethics

International Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association Update

The IPITA Council is actively working on exciting new initiatives drafted by taskforces that will be of interest to many IPITA members. For example, the taskforce on Advocacy is bringing together an international group of renowned endocrinologists and IPITA Council members with the goal of writing a brief expert opinion report of recommendations for which patients with type 1 diabetes are appropriate candidates for islet and/or pancreas transplants. The Research taskforce is very near completing a summary report of the Key Opinion Leaders Meeting held this past spring in Oxford, England, which will be published in Transplantation. The report will summarize the state of the clinical and basic research fields of islet allotransplantation, pancreas transplantation, islet xenotransplantation, encapsulation, stem cells, regeneration, immune tolerance, and the artificial pancreas. The Outreach and Communications taskforce will be enacting improvements to the website in the near future and will be launching a new webinar series this winter. The Education Taskforce is actively developing a Young Investigator Expert Forum. This web-discussion platform will be designed to facilitate and stimulate the interexchange of know-how between young investigators in the field of pancreas and islet transplantation and associated biological fields including immunology, regulatory issues and new technologies. In addition, the Education committee is forming a Young Investigators Committee in order to stimulate interest in society affairs as well as to reach out to new scientists entering the field. With these numerous new initiatives taking shape, there is much for IPITA members to be excited about.

Applications will be open soon for the Derek Gray Distinguished Traveling Scholarship Award.

This award provides $10,000 to a research or post-doctoral fellow or trainee having a PhD, MD, or MD/PhD degrees who demonstrates scientific merit and future potential for academic research and mentorship of trainees in the fields of islet and/or pancreas transplantation. This award is to support travel to 2-4 institutions across the world in order to broaden the laboratory-based research experience of the scholar during his/her formative research training, and to provide an opportunity to learn from established laboratory investigators in the field(s) of islet and pancreas transplantation biology.

Planning for the IPITA-IXA-CTS Joint Congress is well underway.

The Joint Congress will be held in the charming and gastronomical city of Melbourne, Australia from November 15-19, 2015, under the leadership of Dr. Thomas Kay.

This meeting will be held in tandem with the 14th Transplantation Science Symposium in Lorne, Australia from November 11-13. The organizational structure of the meeting has been set. Preliminary scientific and social programs are being developed and fundraising is underway. Not only are we excited that this “quadruple” Congress will be truly multidisciplinary, we are equally confident that it will carry on the tradition of excellence and innovation that we have enjoyed at prior IPITA Congresses.

The IPITA Council recently sought our member’s opinions on their preferred location for the 16th World Congress of the International Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association in 2017.

The Council received three strong bids from Lyon, France; Manchester, England; and Oxford, England. The final city selection will be determined based on several factors, including most importantly the preference of our members. Thank you for voting and offering your opinion! The Council will review the opinion poll and incorporate this information into a final analysis that will culminate in a final announcement of the host city for the 2017 IPITA Congress.

 

International Society for Organ Donation and Procurement Update

The ISODP is approaching 2015 with a number of new and exciting activities. The last year has been very successful with progress to report in all of the strategic areas of focus including:

1. Improving Professional Practice for Donation

  • The 13th Congress of ISODP is set to take place from October 17-20, 2015 in Seoul, Korea. The scientific program is exceptional with a number of excellent sessions planned is sure to attract the national community. Dr. Jongwon Ha is the congress president and he is encouraging all of you to hold the mark the Congress in your calendars because this is a meeting that will not disappoint.
  • This January is the launch of the inaugural pilot workshop for programs wishing to advance donation practice through focused educational sessions also linked with a year of subsequent mentoring for senior leaders. This is the second phase of the ISODP/TTS Astellas sponsored program to enhance program specific improvements in organ donation. The first workshop will occur in Saudi Arabia. Details regarding future applicants for this workshop will be available on the website this fall.

2. Enabling Information Sharing

  • The ISODP Webinar series has been one of the best attended of all TTS webinars with as many members of the Society attending the sessions as those following up after the events to review the archived talks. If you have missed any, we encourage you to take the time to catch up on the whole 2014 series by visiting TTS’ multimedia library here.
  • The planned 2015 Webinar series is as promising as the last with Dr. Faissal Shaheen set to deliver the first session on January 27th during which he will highlight the challenges and successes Saudi Arabia has experienced as they continue to improve deceased donation.

3. Strengthen International Networking

  • The development of a repository of key national and international donation resources is in development. This year we will launch the advanced website with resources sure to assist programs and individuals enrich knowledge and in turn advance practice. If you want to get engaged please contact Susan Gunderson, sgunderson@life-source.org; she is leading this activity for ISODP.

Our membership is growing and we are one of the largest sections in TTS. A number of enhancements are in development to further interest and attract members worldwide. Watch for new developments this winter that are sure to continue to attract and retain donation and transplantation specialists internationally.

 

International Xenotransplantation Association Update

TThe Council of the International Xenotransplantation Association is pleased to report the recent activities of our Association.

The 2nd International Conference on Clinical Islet Xenotransplantation (ICCIX), a full-day conference organized by the IXA, took place after the WTC meeting on August 1, 2014. The objective of the 2nd ICCIX was to update the “IXA Consensus Statement on Conditions For Undertaking Clinical Trials of Porcine Islet Products in Type 1 Diabetes”, which was published in Xenotransplantation in 2009. The meeting was well attended both onsite and through videoconferencing. This initiative built on scientific progress made in the past five years to elaborate a series of new and revised guidelines for clinical islet xenotransplantation. Information on the program topics can be found on the IXA website www.tts.org/ixa. The IXA Council anticipates publishing updates on each of the topics, as deemed appropriate, as stand-alone articles in an upcoming issue of Xenotransplantation.

The Cell Transplant Society and International Xenotransplantation Association recently announced a Call for Hosting for the 2nd Joint Meeting of the CTS and IXA in 2017. This CTS-IXA meeting will follow the first joint meeting between the two societies held in Miami in 2011, which attracted specialists in cellular and xenotransplantation with great success. Instructions to submit proposals are available on the IXA website (submission deadline: November 14, 2014).

In the meantime, preparations are well under way for the upcoming Joint Meeting of the IPITA-IXA-CTS. The Congress will be held in Melbourne, Australia from November 15 to 19, 2015, for more information, please visit: www.melbourne2015.org.

The Council of IXA would like to invite all IXA members to provide ideas for a new logo for our Association. We have traditionally utilized the lamassu, a mythical Assyrian human-headed chimera, as the logo for the IXA. Following recent discussions that the lamassu may present a confusing image to the general public, the Council would like to reimagine the logo as something more modern and stylized. Suggestions, ideas and images for alternative logos can be submitted via email to sections@tts.org.

 

Intestinal Transplant Association Update

Greetings fellow ITA and TTS members! Your Council and committees have remained quite active since the Spring Tribune update. We’ve had face-to-face meetings during the WTC in San Francisco, CA in July 2014 and also during the PIFRS meeting in Atlanta, GA in September 2014. We have several major initiatives/issues that are active before the council:

  1. 14th ISBTS in Argentina taking place June 10-13, 2015. This meeting is progressing well. The scientific content is being finalized and social planning is well underway. Fundraising is currently ahead of schedule. The Council is pleased with the progress made and will continue to support these efforts. Visit www.isbts2015.org for the announcement of the call for abstracts and the opening of registration.
  2. The 15th ISBTS bids were vetted by the ITA Council and a vote was put forth to the ITA membership. The New York City bid put forth jointly by Mount Sinai Medical Center and Columbia University Presbyterian Hospital was the winner. Early planning is already underway for 2017.
  3. The 8th International Pediatric Intestinal Failure and Rehabilitation Symposium (PIFRS) was held in September in Atlanta, GA. This meeting was well attended and presented excellent topics and research. The ITA Council endorsed this meeting and ITA members enjoyed a discounted registration as a result.
  4. The first ITA Newsletter was recently sent to all members to provide a more in-depth update on our Association. The Education and Regulation Committee has worked hard to get this project off the ground and should be congratulated on their efforts.
  5. The Scientific Committee together with the Council and the Intestinal Transplant Registry leadership had the latest ITR Manuscript update accepted for publication in the American Journal of Transplantation.
  6. The ITR is moving! After decades of dedicated service and maintenance of the ITR by David Grant through the University of Toronto, the ITR is officially moving. Dr. Grant has requested that the ITA and the Scientific Committee officially assume full control of this important platform for our transplantation endeavors. We are currently exploring options for housing, maintenance, and cost and the Council should have a proposal in place in the coming weeks.
  7. Our membership remains robust. The Membership Committee has recently undertaken a review of inactive members and has sent an email update on the ITA membership status and benefits.
  8. The Allied Healthcare Committee is currently working on the planning of the Pre-Symposium for the 14th ISBTS. They also have an open call for nominations for the biennial AHP Award. Please visit the website for details and to nominate your outstanding AHP.

Last, as we approach the final quarter of 2014, the Council wishes to thank you all for your dedication and membership to our Association. It is your commitment to our fields of intestinal failure, rehabilitation, and transplantation that keeps our Council actively working for the advancement of our Association.

Transplant Infectious Disease Update

The priority of the current TID Council is to broaden the reach of the Society, increasing the benefits of membership, creating opportunities for those working in the field to further improve their knowledge and assisting them in their day-to-day work. In this direction, every Council member has been allocated different tasks, each with their own goals and initiatives. The tasks include attracting new members, communications and outreach, research and science, trainee and young physician education in the field of ID and TID, advocacy and revenue development.

The Council has developed an email-based Comment Board called TIDChat. After a test period the chat room discussion recently opened to TID and TTS members and their colleagues worldwide to seek help with clinical conundrums, undertake formal and informal surveys, advertise jobs, notify the membership about relevant upcoming conferences, develop working groups and more! TID is also happy to announce the next series of TID webinars, which will cover topics such as: PK/PD of antimicrobial agents and antimicrobial stewardship in transplant patients.

TID played a major role in the pre-Congress Infectious Diseases workshop at the 2014 World Transplant Congress (WTC) in San Francisco, California, USA. The WTC meeting was extremely well attended with over 6,000 attendees. Thank you to those speakers that gave excellent presentations and contributed to making this event an outstanding success.

TID is pleased to announce the 2015 TID Annual Conference will take place in partnership with the Sociedad de Trasplante de America Latina y El Caribe (STALYC). It will be held on October 13, 2015 in Cancun, Mexico prior to the STALYC meeting. The Council of TID and the organizing committee look forward to sharing more information about the meeting in the coming months.

The financial position of TID is sound; for the third consecutive year we have revenue growth from membership dues, journal subscription and annual TID meetings. However we will face a number of financial challenges in the near future and we need to continue to improve our finances, and look for other financial supports to maintain our Society.

Lastly, the TID Council would like to encourage their membership to stay in touch with the Society, and share your feedback, comments and suggestions. We ask that each member encourage any colleague with an interest in transplant infectious diseases to take part in the work of TID, and most importantly become an active participant on TIDChat!

Joint Meeting 2015 • IPITA-IXA-CTS • Melbourne, Australia
Tom Kay
Congress Chair

Melbourne, Downunder (aka Australia) is the host city for the 2015 Joint Congress of IPITA, IXA and CTS. Melbourne has a rich scientific record in immunology, transplantation, and stem cell research – as well as being a great place to visit in springtime. Melbourne is known for its arts and cultural events, its fine cafes and restaurants based on generations of immigration, its famous sporting events and its proximity to great natural beauty. The three Societies are working hard to produce an outstanding program that will be of interest to all from practicing transplant surgeons to basic biologists. There will be shared sessions where the Societies will meet together as well as individual sessions of the different groups. The Congress, which will be held in Melbourne’s new Convention Centre in the Docklands area, will follow on immediately after the Transplantation Sciences Symposium in Lorne, Australia. All of the team now working hard on putting the Congress together looks forward to giving you a warm Aussie welcome in November 2015.

Alternate Year Programme 2015
FOR A LIST OF ALL TRANSPLANTATION MEETINGS PLEASE VISIT WWW.TTS.ORG
Corporate Partners Acknowledgement
TTS GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES THE CORPORATE PARTNERS WHOSE GENEROUS SUPPORT MAKES THE WORK OF THE SOCIETY POSSIBLE:
TTS Officers 2012–2014

To consolidate its position as the leading global organization, the Council has representation from all six regions of the world: North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East/Africa, Oceania, and Asia.

PRESIDENT Philip J. O’Connell
PRESIDENT-ELECT Nancy L. Ascher
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Francis L. Delmonico
VICE-PRESIDENT Marcelo Cantarovich
SECRETARY Gabriel Danovitch
SENIOR TREASURER John J. Fung
TREASURER Elmi Muller
HISTORIAN Randall E. Morris
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jean-Pierre Mongeau (International Headquarters)
COUNCILORS Beatriz Domínguez-Gil (Europe)
Josette Eris (Oceania)
Rudolf Garcia-Gallont (Latin America)
Jongwon Ha (Asia)
Vivekanand Jha (Asia)
Dirk R.J. Kuypers (Europe)
Alejandro Niño Murcia (Latin America)
Minnie Sarwal (North America)
Megan Sykes (North America)
Shiro Takahara (Asia)
Stefan G. Tullius (North America)
Ifeoma Ulasi (Middle East / Africa)
Tribune Credits

Tribune is published three times per year by The Transplantation Society (TTS).

Editor-in-Chief:

Nancy K. Man

Contributors:

Nancy L. Ascher
Agnes Azimzadeth
Marcelo Cantarovich
Jeremy R. Chapman
Anita Chong
Francis L. Delmonico
Beatriz Domínguez-Gil
Serguei Gautier
Douglas Farmer
Vivekanand Jha
Christina Kaufman
Tom Kay
Günter Kirste
Takaaki Kobayashi
Maria Koulmanda
Deborah Marriott
Dominique Martin
George Mazariegos
Philip J. O’Connell
Jon Odorico
Palmina Petruzzo
Stefan G. Tullius
Kathryn J. Wood

International Headquarters

The Transplantation Society
International Headquarters
1255 University Street, Suite 605
Montreal, QC H3B 3V9 CANADA
T. +1.514.874.1717
F. +1.514.874.1716
E. info@tts.org
W. www.tts.org

For assistance, please contact any of our dedicated staff:

Roman Beliaevski
IT/Multimedia
roman.beliaevski@tts.org

Roberto Colarusso
Director of Technologies
robert.colarusso@tts.org

Geneviève Leclerc
Director of Meetings
genevieve.leclerc@tts.org

Frank Lindo Verissimo
Exhibits Coordinator
frank.lindoverissimo@tts.org

Sondra Livingston
Sections Manager
sondra.livingston@tts.org

Amanda Mayer
Membership Services Coordinator
amanda.mayer@tts.org

Jean-Pierre Mongeau
Executive Director
jp.mongeau@tts.org

Catherin Parker
Meetings Manager
catherin.parker@tts.org

Denise Rainville
Controller
denise.rainville@tts.org

Eugenia Siu
Registration & Administration Coordinator
eugenia.siu@tts.org

Darren Woodbury
Graphic Designer
darren.woodbury@tts.org

Chi Hong Yeung
Accounting Clerk
chihong.yeung@tts.org

Social

Contact

Staff Directory
+1-514-874-1717
info@tts.org

Address

The Transplantation Society
International Headquarters
740 Notre-Dame Ouest
Suite 1245
Montréal, QC, H3C 3X6
Canada