COVID-19 disrupted the transplant community and has left many searching for answers among the deluge of new information. One topic that remains significant is COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Plenary presenter Olivia Kates, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, will address current controversies with co-presenter Dorry Segev, M.D., Ph.D., through a series of case-based discussions at the 2022 Transplant Management Forum.
Tell us about your background.
I am a transplant infectious disease doctor, and I’m an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University. I just joined the faculty here about six months ago, after completing my infectious disease training at the University of Washington in Seattle. During that time, I also earned a master’s degree in bioethics, where I wrote a thesis about vaccine mandates in transplantation.
What will you be presenting about at TMF?
I’ll be presenting, along with Dr. Dorry Segev, on the issue of vaccine mandates and transplantation. We’re going to look at a couple of different case-based examples of how vaccine mandates may or may not be working in practice, and then talk about the ethical justification for those mandates. We will also examine strategies to either use mandates or other policies to enhance vaccination in the transplant population.
What are you hoping TMF attendees will learn if they attend your session?
I’m hoping that attendees will come away with a better understanding of the ethical nuances in vaccine mandates. My goal is to really separate out issues of factual correctness, like data and evidence about vaccines, from ethical appropriateness. I want to provide a foundation so that attendees can reason through situations with patients who are hesitant to accept vaccines and figure out how to best approach center-wide policies.
Is there anything else you want to share about your presentation?
I want to share that our presentation is probably going to be really fun! Dr. Segev and I are close colleagues and good friends, but we don’t necessarily come to the same conclusions about every topic of debate. So I know that there’s going to be a lot of exciting material to talk about, and I know there’s going to be some very energetic conversation.
Learn more at TMF 2022
Learn more about the nuances of COVID-19 vaccine mandates at the 2022 Transplant Management Forum in Phoenix, Arizona. Registration now open.
