Transplant's Turrisi appointed to committee
MUSC Transplant Program administrator Kathy Turrisi has been appointed to the federal Health and Human Services (HSS) Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation.
Kathy
Turrisi
She is among 21 new members to the committee announced Aug. 17 by HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. The committee will advise the secretary on all aspects of organ donation, procurement, allocation and transplantation, including a review of organ allocation policies developed by the nation’s transplantation network.
“If it were not for Dr. (Prabhakar K.) Baliga (M.D.) nominating me to represent Region 11 on the UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) Administrators Committee for the last four years and for Dr. (Kenneth D.) Chavin, M.D., Ph.D., and the center's increased emphasis on performing living donor transplants, I would not have been selected,” Turrisi said.
MUSC President Ray Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., called the announcement “a wonderful honor and a great recognition for the Medical University.”
With the announcement, Thompson expanded the committee from 20 to 41 members and amended its charter to expand the scope of its responsibilities to include advising the secretary on ways to increase organ donation nationally.
“The science of organ transplantation has made remarkable advances. What was once rare and experimental is now almost common and routine for some kinds of transplants. However, our efforts to promote donation have not kept pace with the science or the need. We need not only transplant experts but also passionate advocates and new ideas if we’re going to increase organ donation,” Thompson said.
The advisory committee is chaired by Nancy L. Ascher, M.D., Ph.D., liver transplant surgeon and professor and chair at the Department of Surgery, University of California at San Francisco. The initial meeting of the committee is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 3 and 4 in Washington, D.C., and the committee is expected to meet three times a year.
Previously appointed and new members bring a broad array of experience and expertise to the committee including 19 physicians, eight transplant recipients or family members of a recipient, six nurses, and two organ donor mothers, all with critical experience regarding organ transplants.
In April, Secretary Thompson launched a new national initiative to encourage
and enable Americans to “Donate the Gift of Life.” The initial step in
the campaign included the launch of a national “Workplace Partnership for
Life,” in which employers, unions and other employee organizations will
join in a nationwide network to promote donation.