Baylor Scott & White Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute was a commanding presence at the American Transplant Congress’ 2021 Virtual Connect conference. Held June 4 through 9, the live broadcast sessions brought together almost 4,000 transplantation professionals from 54 countries.
Transplant surgeons and physicians, as well as other clinicians, from Baylor Scott & White Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute had more than 37 presentations, including 20 to 25 invited or oral presentations. Topics encompassed the institute’s liver, heart, lung, islet cell, uterus and kidney programs, as well as transplant pharmacy and transplant nutrition.
Just a sample of the in-depth presentations were pros and cons of liver transplantation for alcoholic hepatitis, improving cardiac donation, immunosuppression in uterus transplant recipients, 200 total pancreatectomy with islet autotransplantation cases, kidney transplantation alone in patients with compensated cirrhosis, and safety and efficacy of apixaban after lung transplant.
Timothy Gong, MD, FACC, an advanced heart failure specialist and transplant cardiologist on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center, part of Baylor Scott & White Health, was awarded a $100,000 research grant. Two BSWH representatives, Nicole Wilson, transplant clinical pharmacist, and Carly Darden, a student researcher at BSWH with the islet team, received Young Investigator Awards.
“We had a very impressive number and depth of talks at this year’s conference,” says Sumeet Asrani, MD, MSc, a transplant hepatologist on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center, part of Baylor Scott & White Health, who coordinates many of the research studies for the division. “This truly is a testament to the collaborative nature of our program, our keen interest in fostering the next generation of investigators, as well as the role Baylor Scott & White continues to play in transplant-related research at the national level.”
