NEW YORK ORGAN DONOR NETWORK AND MOUNT SINAI MEDICAL CENTER'S RECANATI/MILLER TRANSPLANTATION INSTITUTE TO PRESENT “DONATION AND TRANSPLANTATION SYMPOSIUM” ON SEPT. 15

Notable speakers will address current topics relating to organ and tissue donation and transplantation; Continuing educational credits offered to Greater New York metro area physicians and nurses

(New York, NY) June 24, 2005: A groundbreaking symposium about organ and tissue donation and transplantation that offers continuing medical education credits to health care professionals in the Greater New York metropolitan area is slated for Thursday, September 15, 2005 at Mount Sinai Medical Center 's Hatch Auditorium in Manhattan .  The daylong meeting, “Donation and Transplantation Symposium,” is a joint venture presented by the New York Organ Donor Network and Mount Sinai Medical Center 's Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute. 

The “Donation and Transplantation Symposium” is designed to equip physicians and nurses on how to refer potential donors, and then to clinically manage donors for the recovery of organs and tissues for transplantation.  It is specifically designed for critical care health care professionals from institutions throughout the region that include physicians, physician assistants, nurses and nurse practitioners.  Among those who are urged to attend are intensivists, hospitalists, neurologists, gastroenterologists, cardiologists, pulmonologists, orthopedists, and internists.  The seminar will also be of importance to those who specialize in emergency medicine.

The Mount Sinai School of Medicine will designate this educational activity for a maximum of 8.25 Category 1 credits towards the American Medical Association Physician Recognition Award.  Under established guidelines, the New York Organ Donor Network has been accredited by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses for 8.9 contact hours.

Despite the long-term positive outcomes offered by transplantation, the symposium is being presented in the context of the critical shortage of organ and tissue donors in the United States .  According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 88,000 people are waiting for organ transplants.  Of these, 7,000 patients are waiting for organs in the Greater New York metropolitan area.  In addition, thousands of people need life-saving and life-improving tissues.  

The symposium will also take place against the backdrop of heightened partnerships between hospitals and organ procurement organizations nationwide to facilitate organ and tissue donation.  The partnerships were especially inspired by the launch in April 2003 of the Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative, introduced by Tommy Thompson, who was Health and Human Services secretary at the time.  The collaborative seeks to save thousands of lives a year by spreading best known practices to the nation's largest hospitals, and to achieve organ donation rates of 75% or higher in these hospitals.

Elaine Berg , president and CEO of the New York Organ Donor Network, said she welcomed the opportunity to reach out to health care professionals at all hospitals with this important program.  “Professional education is at the core of the New York Organ Donor Network's mission.  It is, therefore, with great excitement that we sponsor this program that has been designed especially for physicians and nurses that offers CME and CEU credits.  The curriculum is designed to assist these professionals in understanding the process for identification and referral of potential donors, as well as to understand indications for transplantation in their patients.”

Jonathan Bromberg, M.D., Ph.D, the chief of kidney and pancreas transplantation surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center 's The Recanati-Miller Transplantation Institute, said: "This program will give many physicians, nurses, and other caregivers and staff the knowledge and tools to identify donors, and effectively and compassionately permit organ donation.  Organ donation saves and enhances the lives of many patients and their families.  We must also remember that this process can also be very positive and healing for the donor family.  We must support the New York Organ Donor Network and all its efforts to enhance, improve, and increase organ donation."

The “Donation and Transplantation Symposium” program will include the following presentations during the morning session: Cardiovascular Allograft in Tissue Transplantation - Yuriy Yushkov , Ph.D, CTBS, manager of tissue recovery at the New York Organ Donor Network; New Sight through Eye Transplantation - Penny Asbell, M.D., professor of ophthalmology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine; New Frontiers in Bone Allografts - presented jointly by the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation and Dempsey Springfield, M.D., professor and chair of orthopaedics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine; Donation After Cardiac Death; It's Not Always Brain Death Anymore – The New York Organ Donor Network's medical director, Aaron Spital, M.D., and director of clinical operations, Rob Kochik ; and case studies from donor families and recipients, moderated by Rosamond Rhodes, Ph.D., director of bioethics education at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

The program for the afternoon session will include: Standardizing Brain Death Determination and Declaration - David Bronster, M.D., the associate clinical professor of neurology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine; The Current Status of Cardiac Transplantation - Farzan Filsoufi, M.D., an assistant professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine; Presentation on the latest advances on kidney transplantation  - Scott Ames, M.D., assistant professor of surgery a the Mount Sinai School of Medicine; Dealing with Infection and Malignancy in the Organ Donor - Shirish S Huprikar, M.D., an infectious disease specialist, and assistant professor of medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine; and Use of Extended Donors – Split Livers and Extended Donors – Sukru Emre, M.D., professor of pediatrics and surgery at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Lynda Carpenter, a New York Organ Donor Network hospital services specialist and one of the main organizers of the symposium, said that when she first approached The Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute about the program, she was delighted to find that they were equally enthusiastic about hosting the event.  “As the design of the program took shape, the Donor Network researched the possibility of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine co-sponsoring the CME program.  When the School of Medicine agreed to co-sponsor the CME portion of the program, we knew that we could move ahead with this important project,” she said.

Ms. Carpenter said that clearly defining the educational objectives was essential in order to garner attendance.  “By attending the symposium, participants will be able to distinguish between an organ donor and a tissue donor.  They will be able to identify a potential donor after cardiac death; describe how brain death is determined and declared; and understand how to maintain the viability of the organs in the potential donor.”

In addition, Ms. Carpenter said, those who attend the symposium will understand how a patient is screened for a heart transplant; comprehend why certain infections and malignancies cannot be known during the donation process, and learn how this is managed in the recipient of the infected organ; and distinguish between the extended criteria and the standard criteria organ donor.

“Participants will walk away with tools that will enhance positive outcomes in their daily activities,” Ms. Carpenter said.

For more information about the symposium, which takes place from 8 a.m to 5:30 p.m., contact Alice Acaba at the New York Organ Donor Network, 646-291-4442.

Media Contact: Martin Woolf at 646-291-4460 or mwoolf@nyodn.org .