Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “From the Founder”
The research team representing the Patient Engagement and Research Lab, now based in Houston, Texas, ends the year very grateful to be together. Thanks to the support and mentorship of Drs. Osama Gaber, Chief of Surgery at Houston Methodist Hospital, and Mark Ghobrial, Medical Director of Transplant Center, Dr. Amy Waterman was recruited to Houston Methodist Hospital and J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center to establish a broader Patient Engagement and Research Lab to advocate for …
I want to thank everyone associated with the Terasaki Institute of Biomedical Innovation for the incredible opportunity to serve as the Deputy Director of Personalized Transplant Education and Communication. The CEO, Dr. Ali Khademhosseini, the President, Mr. Stewart Han, and the Terasaki Family Foundation have fully supported my advocacy work with transplant patients and helped me honor Dr. Paul Terasaki’s legacy. It’s been a productive four years! During this time, my research team published over …
At the Transplant Research and Education Center (TREC), we believe that rapid communication of information about COVID-19 vaccination to transplant patients and ongoing monitoring of patient outcomes are two important ways to keep our patients safe as we move forward into 2021. In the recent weeks, one of the many SARS-COV-2 vaccines being developed in the United States has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use Authorization. This vaccine …
By Erica Ho, Research Associate On Wednesday, August 4, Dr. Amy Waterman was invited to speak at OneLegacy’s monthly Connecting the Dots Virtual Town Hall. OneLegacy is an organization dedicated to helping people navigate organ, eye, and tissue donations by offering coordination and support services. The topic for this discussion, in accordance with National Minority Donor Awareness Month, was improving diversity and inclusion in healthcare to spread awareness about organ donation among minority groups. Dr. …
By Anne Osuji, Research Associate As we enter a new decade, let’s take a moment to reflect on our 2019 year in review. The TREC team had some incredible moments this year, and we are proud to have accomplished so much in 2019! Together with our partners, we launched several new studies, won new grants to further our work, published over a dozen journal articles and abstracts, presented at national conferences including the 2019 American …
Some of our earliest memories are of hearing stories read to us by our parents – fairy tales, fables, adventures, and epic journeys. Storytelling is an innate and universal part of the human experience. Stories help us make sense of our lives, mark important occasions, and share and connect with the people who matter to us. From founding myths like the tale of Romulus and Remus to true accounts of heroism, or even casual stories …
A few days ago, we celebrated a win for everyone affected by kidney disease as one of the uncertainties facing living kidney donors was erased. In response to Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler’s (R-WA) amendment of the Family and Medical Leave Act, the U.S. Labor Department issued a legal opinion stating its agreement that kidney donation qualifies as a “serious health condition.” The August 28 opinion’s introductory words are as follows: “This letter responds to your …
Saint Louis, MO – This month we caught up with Christina Goalby, MSW. Christina is the co-creator of the Explore Transplant Provider Training Programs. She’s responsible for the development of Explore Transplant’s Master Trainers and helps to oversee the quality of ET Trainings. Christina has been a nephrology social worker for more than 20 years. Today she’s a Health Literacy Education Manager at Health Literacy Media, the organization that partners with and administers ET’s programs …
At the TED 2016 Dream Conference, they had two artists stationed outside the Main Stage, sitting at tilted drawing desks, waiting. I didn’t notice them at first. Hundreds of people milled all around them, busy ordering coffee from the barista and checking their messages before the next session. But, I am a fan of artists and I love tilted drawing desks. A nice TED volunteer handed me a pink blanket and a journal and asked …
I have just spent five days at the TED Dream 2016 Conference being moved to tears by the passion and efforts of people who honor the beauty of all humankind and who are fighting, hard, to make the world a better place. I am a UCLA Associate Professor and run the Transplant Research and Education Center to help more people learn about and consider donating kidneys to one another. This is my first big TED …
I am a TED virgin, the definition of a person who has never attended the Big TED conference before. I am also a TED introvert. Dr. Brian Little, a personality psychologist, gave a TED talk Tuesday explaining that introverts step out of their boxes only for important projects. Know what an introvert’s project is and you know their motivation. Having the opportunity for collaborative brainstorming with smart people about the organ donor shortage is definitely …
The TED Dream 2016 conference is not for the faint of heart. I know a lot about my field of kidney transplantation and patient education. Every day in my UCLA research lab, I work with transplant professionals, conduct research, write journal articles, and design and test whether new educational programs work. Before TED started, I flew in early to give a Grand Rounds talk to the entire transplant community in Vancouver. However, I came to …
It’s Valentine’s Day, a day to be grateful for the love in our lives and the impact we all can have on each other. This week, I have the privilege of being at the 2016 TED Dream conference in Vancouver, BC with a lot of other people who, like me, have big dreams. I work at UCLA in kidney transplantation. I am a transplant educator – you can read more at www.exploretransplant.org, and follow me …
Helping solve the kidney shortage was something that, Amy Waterman, Ph.D., an Associate Professor and national transplant educator, dreamed of doing when she was growing up in Knoxville, TN. But to do that, she needed to surround herself from as many smart and diverse people as she could. When she moved to Los Angeles in 2013 to work at UCLA, a friend told her that her favorite week of the year was when she attended …
by Amy Waterman, PhD The first thing I say after I tell people that I work in the field of transplantation is that it is a true honor and a privilege. I feel this in my bones. I feel this so strongly because I get to see the best of humanity and healthcare, every day. I know so many generous donors who offer a part of their body to help someone else. Some of these …