LaShara Davis

Mentoring program to promote inclusivity in biomedical research

Karen Handelman Transplant News

The Patient Engagement Research Lab is pleased to announce that LaShara Davis has been awarded a grant through the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) through her involvement in the Obesity Health Disparities program (OHD) which focuses on obesity prevention, treatment and community-based interventions. “I am excited to have the opportunity to expand my research to include obesity, which is the single-most intervenable factor leading to chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and ultimately …

A living donor’s thoughts on a new calculator for hypertension risk

Karen Handelman Transplant News

Written by Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger Of all the potential risks facing living kidney donors, three inter-related conditions are typically top of mind – diabetes, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease. Transplant centers attempt to screen for all three risk factors, typically using pre-determined numerical cut-offs to decide who will be accepted and who will be rejected as a donor. Donor candidates are given some information and some say in how these numbers determine their status, …

Living Donor Protection Act graphic with image of capitol building

A good first step…let’s do more!

Karen Handelman Transplant News

Written by Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger A bipartisan Congressional leadership team from both houses introduced new federal legislation on April 27 designed to protect living organ donors and promote organ donation. The Living Donor Protection Act (H.R. 2923) was introduced by Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Congressman Troy Balderson (R-OH), Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA), Congressman John Curtis (R-UT), Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO), Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Congressman Gregory F. Murphy, M.D. (R-NC), …

Living Donation Storytelling Project home page showing video and 4 buttons

Celebrating partnership and Donate Life month

Karen Handelman Transplant News

As Donate Life Month continues, we celebrate the partnership that the Patient Engagement Research Lab and Sanofi have with the Living Donation Storytelling Project. Our very own Dr. Amy Waterman was interviewed for a story on the Sanofi website. “I hope people will see themselves in the living donors and patients who are featured on the website because those touched by kidney disease are truly diverse. I hope that the shared peer-to-peer stories will impart …

Giving patients a voice

Karen Handelman Transplant News

Houston Methodist spotlighted the work of Dr. Waterman and the Patient Engagement Research Lab in an article on their website. We love this quote they included… “What I find exciting about our work in the Patient Engagement Research Lab is that we don’t assume we fully know our patients from the get-go. Our research uses established methodologies that really get into the world of a patient and hear what they want and need as opposed …

Living Donor Protection Act

Attending the National Kidney Patient Consumer Roundtable

Mayra Almendarez Transplant News

A living donor’s perspective Written by Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger In early March I joined the virtual National Kidney Patient Consumer Roundtable, organized by the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), the oldest and largest independent kidney patient organization in the country, to present information to its members on “Timely Issues Impacting Kidney Transplant Patients, Drug Innovation, and Living Organ Donors.” As a living kidney donor and advocate, I was primarily interested in the last …

icon showing fingers crossed

Will UNOS break their promise?

Karen Handelman Transplant News

Written by Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger The day before I was scheduled for surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN to donate my left kidney to a woman I had learned about through the newspaper, I signed paperwork that would go to UNOS, the United Network for Organ Sharing, to ensure that I would receive priority if I ever needed a kidney transplant myself. I was scared about the upcoming procedure, but that promise …

Leander family after transplant, circa 2000

27 years later: Sheila’s living donation story

Karen Handelman Donation Stories, Transplant News

It’s a golden anniversary for me! On December 27th, it will be 27 years since I donated a kidney to my husband. Yes, a living kidney donor for 27 years. in photo: (l to r) Sheila Adams-Leander (donor), Eric Leander (son), and Brian Leander (recipient). Eric was 11 years old at the time of our donation/transplant. When we came home from a June family vacation, my husband felt like he had a cold. When he …

Patient Engagement & Research Lab team at Houston Methodist

2022: A year of transition

Karen Handelman From the Founder, Staff Updates, Transplant News

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 …

Frank Dewhurst, an 84 year old living donor with Paulette, the recipient

How old is too old: an interview with Frank Dewhurst, an 84 year old living donor

Karen Handelman Donation Stories, Transplant News

Written by Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger How old is too old to donate a kidney? Well, Frank Dewhurst of Austin, TX was 84 years old when he successfully donated a kidney in 2019 at Houston Methodist Hospital, making him the oldest person in the United States to become a living kidney donor. Frank graciously consented to a virtual interview with me, a living donor myself, to share more about his journey to becoming a living …

Our first Transplant Games: what we learned from attending the 2022 Transplant Games of America

Former Staff Transplant News

Written by Alexis Bobu, Scientific Writer, Houston Methodist Hospital Department of Surgery and J.C. Walter, Jr. Transplant Center    “Meeting transplant patients and families for the first time was meaningful and fulfilling, adding depth to the work that we do.”   The city of San Diego hosted the 2022 Transplant Games of America on July 29 – August 3, 2022 bringing back the world’s largest celebration of life to the transplant community after being canceled in 2020 …

Does age matter?

Former Staff Transplant News

Written by Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger   “I’m probably too old to be a kidney donor,” is a very common concern for those considering living donation.  I know age was very much on my mind when, at age 60, I volunteered to donate to a 56-year-old woman I read about in our local newspaper.  I had recently received a letter from Be The Match®, the national bone marrow donor registry informing me that I would “age …

Prioritizing patient priorities nationally: Key takeaways from the People Driven Transplant Metrics Consensus Conference

Former Staff Transplant News

Written by Alexis Bobu, Scientific Writer, Houston Methodist Hospital Department of Surgery and J.C. Walter, Jr. Transplant Center   The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) hosted the People Driven Transplant Metrics Consensus Conference in Bloomington, Minnesota on July 18 – 20th, 2022 to develop priorities to expand transplant metrics to better include what is important to transplant patients, donors, and those that love them. For two days at the Mall of America, patients, living donors, …

Let’s give living donors a checklist

Former Staff Transplant News

Written by Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger    When I first called the transplant center to offer to donate one of my kidneys to a woman I read about in the newspaper, I didn’t know anything about the process.  There were a few paragraphs on the center’s website on a page labeled “Living-donor transplantation.” That was it.  When I called the phone number in the newspaper, I assumed I would learn more. But the person who answered …

Meet our undergraduate research intern: Alexa Sokhon

Former Staff Transplant News

Hello everyone! My name is Alexa Sokhon and I am from Lebanon. I am an upcoming senior at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, majoring in Cell and Molecular Biology with a minor in Medical Humanities. This summer, I had the prestigious opportunity to be a research intern with the Department of Surgery and J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center at the Houston Methodist Hospital. I worked alongside Dr. LaShara Davis and Dr. Amy Waterman, who leads …

Telling your story: the power of online storytelling for living kidney donors

Former Staff Transplant News

By Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger  Sharing stories helps people connect and learn from each other in powerful and unique ways. It also allows the storyteller to process their own experiences as they structure and organize their personal narrative to offer to others. The Living Digital Storytelling Project is a compelling, user-friendly platform for real-life living donation stories that provides first-person information about the challenges and benefits of living kidney donation in order to help others …

Mentoring program to promote inclusivity in biomedical research

Former Staff Transplant News

Written by Vandana Suresh, PhD, Communication & External Relations, Houston Methodist Academic Institute    Houston Methodist’s Amy Waterman and LaShara Davis are participating in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Programs to Increase Diversity Among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research.  Even before his official foray into politics, former President Barack Obama looked up to South African leader-humanitarian-activist Nelson Mandela for inspiration — Mandela’s release from prison gave Obama “a sense of what human beings can …

A belated explanation and an interconnected possibility by Amy Waterman, PhD

Former Staff Transplant News

At the end of June, I will have worked at Houston Methodist Hospital and J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center for nine months as Director of Patient Engagement, Diversity, and Education. A common question that I continue to hear is, “Why did you move from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Terasaki institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) to Houston, Texas?” Here is my belated explanation. It is true that my professional experience working at …

American Transplant Congress (ATC) conference reflection: jumping back into in-person science meetings!

Former Staff Our Lab in the News

We were jumping for joy to finally be able to attend the annual American Transplant Congress (ATC) conference in person in Boston from June 3-7, 2022 to network and learn from other experts in the field of organ and tissue transplantation.  The new Patient Engagement Research Lab in the Department of Surgery at Houston Methodist Hospital celebrated the many accomplishments of all the researchers and clinicians from J.C. Walter Transplant Center representing so many facets …