Insights from kidney recipients, living donors and transplant professionals
Written by: Souha Farhat, MD Meet Dr. Stephanie Yi Dr. Stephanie Yi is a kidney and pancreas transplant surgeon and an Associate Professor of Surgery at Houston Methodist Hospital. With a deep commitment to improving transplant outcomes, Dr. Yi balances her clinical practice with research to address disparities in transplantation and enhance patient care. A Natural Fit with the PE Lab Dr. Yi became involved with the Patient Engagement, Diversity, and Education Research Laboratory (PE …
Written by Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger When I donated a kidney to a woman I read about in the newspaper in 2018, the idea that xenotransplantation might someday make human organ donations obsolete was a far-fetched fantasy. Today, just seven years later, that fantasy is much closer to reality. The first successful animal-to-human kidney transplant took place one year ago at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, when surgeons transplanted a kidney from a genetically-modified …
Written by: Souha Farhat, MD Dr. Jonathan Daw is an Associate Professor of Sociology & Demography at the Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses on health disparities in organ transplantation, and he has made significant contributions to the field through his work on living donor kidney transplantation. A Fortuitous Meeting with the PE Lab Dr. Daw’s journey with the PE Lab began when he reached out to the National Kidney Registry with a data-related inquiry. …
Written by Solaf Al Awadhi, MBBS, MSc., Scientific Writer I am a fourth-year doctoral student in the Health Psychology PhD program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). My time is split between research and teaching as I work to better understand how patients navigate complex medical decisions. Whether it’s about participating in clinical trials or accessing supportive care, my focus has always been on empowering patients to make informed choices about their health. …
Written by Solaf Al Awadhi, MBBS, MSc., Scientific Writer As we close out 2024, the Patient Engagement Research Lab (PE Lab) celebrates a year marked by cutting-edge research, transformative partnerships, and impactful community engagement. It has been a year of global difference-making and transformative collaborations, driven by our mission to conduct patient- and community-engaged research that transforms healthcare, reduces disparities, and improves patient-reported and health outcomes—always honoring patients and what matters most to them. It …
Written by: Souha Farhat, MD I am thrilled to join the Patient Engagement, Diversity, and Education Research Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. It’s an exciting new chapter where I bring my background as a Lebanese/Arab medical doctor and my passion for diversity and inclusion to a team that’s already making significant strides in transforming healthcare. My Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion In my career, I have always focused on elevating diversity, equity, and inclusion …
Written by: Victor Uteshev The Patient Engagement Research Lab is honored to partner with Dr. Emma Tumilty, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioethics and Health Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) on a newly funded ethics research supplement funded by the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Dr. Tumilty’s career requires her to wear many hats – weekly, she spends time conducting her own research on issues of …
By Amy Waterman, PhD, Director, Patient Engagement Research Lab I have worked as a Health Psychologist and leader in Patient Engagement in transplantation for over 20 years. When I was asked to present a talk outlining the state of living organ donation at an international health summit titled, “Towards Global Convergence in Transplantation: Sufficiency, Transparency, and Oversight,” I felt confident that I knew the challenges and opportunities for improvement. I was wrong. By preparing for …
By Victor Uteshev, PhD Drs. Amy Waterman, Director of the Patient Engagement Research Lab in Surgery at Houston Methodist, and Dr. Paula Shireman, Professor in the Departments of Medical Physiology, Primary Care, and Rural Medicine at the College of Medicine at Texas A&M University, first crossed paths because of their separate, but overlapping interests in surgery, artificial intelligence (AI) and reducing disparities. Both had begun to study the transformative role of AI-based data analytics …
Written by: Laxmi Keerthi Ravula, BHMS, MPH I have been working in the Houston Methodist Research Institute’s Patient Engagement Lab for almost two years as a Clinical Research Coordinator. I joined this lab to improve health and prevent disease through applying patient-engaged techniques and access to education to address health disparities. I strongly believe in applying the power of effective communication and research methods to benefit patients and the public. I think we can all …
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) issued a call to action in February 2022, urging a comprehensive overhaul of the national organ donation program within five years. Recognizing the critical need for reform, LifeGift in collaboration with Houston Methodist, is coordinating efforts to improve our system with the creation of the Deceased Organ Donation Performance Improvement Collaborative. This initiative, which is generously sponsored by Sanofi, includes representation from all transplant centers in …
Author: Dr. Amy Waterman, PhD FAST Progress in Transplantation. 2024;34(1-2):6-6. doi:10.1177/15269248241241164 Our community of transplant patients and living donors continually teach me important lessons, both personally and professionally. The most important lesson I learned was to remember that I have never lived life as a person in need of transplant, a transplanted patient, or a living donor. Because of this, I cannot intimately know the fears and challenges of transplant, nor always how best to …
Written by Solaf Al Awadhi, MBBS, MSc., Scientific Writer Dr. Andrea Meinders, currently a general surgery resident at Houston Methodist Hospital, embarked on a two-year research fellowship in June 2022. This fellowship, funded by the Burroughs-Wellcome Fund through the Texas A&M Academy of Physician Scientists, was carried out at the Patient Engagement Research Laboratory. With an undergraduate degree in Psychology and a passion for surgery, Dr. Meinders quickly became an integral part of the research …
Written by Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger No one has ever accused me of being a drug addict. In fact, no one has ever even suggested I drank too much or was impaired in any way due to substance use. I am a pretty reliable, law-abiding, sober person. But in 2017 when I started the process to donate my kidney to a woman I read about in the newspaper, the suspicion of drug abuse almost derailed …
Written by Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger When I reached out to the Mayo Clinic in 2017 to see if I could be a living donor for a kidney patient I had read about in the newspaper, I had no idea if I would qualify. First, of course, I didn’t know if I would be a blood and HLA tissue type match. I also wondered if I was too old (I had just turned 60) or …
Written by Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger When I told people I was planning to donate a kidney to a woman I read about in the newspaper many asked “But what if one of your children (or your husband) needs a kidney someday? You won’t be able to save their life.” The answer for me was easy. I was already 61. The odds that one of my two adult children or my husband, none of whom …
Written by Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger Donating a kidney can be expensive. While the recipient’s insurance – whether through a private company or Medicare – fully covers the donor’s medical, surgical, and hospital expenses, it does not cover out-of-pocket costs. This means many who donate some distance from their home town are left to cover their own expenses for transportation, meals, and lodging. Insurance also fails to compensate donors for the time required for evaluation, …
Written by Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger Laurie Lee is an altruistic kidney donor and facilitator of the Kidney Champion Program at Northwestern Medicine, a program that teaches kidney patients strategies to help find a living donor. She is also the host of Donor Diaries, a podcast about the beauty and messiness of living organ donation. For the past three years she has been working as a producer and content consultant on Abundant, a documentary featuring first-person stories from …
Written by Dr. Solaf Al Awadhi, Scientific Writer We can’t believe we have only been in Houston, Texas together for 2 years. This year has been a year of expansion of staff, partnerships, and national policy leadership for the Patient Engagement Research Lab. This year Dr. Waterman welcomed seven wonderful new members to the lab, to expand her core amazing team of faculty, staff, and interns. She acknowledges the team by saying, ‘You are a critical …
By Martha Gershun, Guest Blogger Early last month, I sat on a sunny patio at one of my favorite restaurants in Kansas City enjoying brunch with two of my favorite people – Deb Porter Gill and her boyfriend George, who was in town from Florida visiting family. No one watching us – talking animatedly about friends, family, politics, religion, movies, books, vacations – would have guessed at the permanent bond we share. Almost exactly five …