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), …
Celebrating partnership and Donate Life month
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 …
How to support someone who’s had a kidney transplant
Caregivers of patients play critically important roles in ensuring the success and celebrating a functioning kidney transplant. Dr. Waterman was cited in this article about the many ways that caregivers help, including celebrating that “life after a kidney transplant is full of possibility.” Read the article
Giving patients a voice
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 …
Attending the National Kidney Patient Consumer Roundtable
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 …
Will UNOS break their promise?
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 …
27 years later: Sheila’s living donation story
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 …
2022: A year of transition
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 …
How old is too old: an interview with Frank Dewhurst, an 84 year old living donor
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
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?
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
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
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
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
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
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
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!
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 …
Kidney to share
Introducing Martha Gershun, New Living Donation Guest Blogger In 2018 I donated a kidney at the Mayo Clinic to a woman I read about in the newspaper (1). Deb Porter Gil was in her mid-50s; the mother of two young adult daughters; a retired attorney, raised in Kansas City, where I lived; who had recently moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Decades before, while still in law school in Kansas City, Deb had been diagnosed with …
New opportunities await!
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 …