Tell us about your background.
While my journey in this field began in 1993 as an organ procurement coordinator, I’ve spent most of the last three decades in transplantation. Thanks to a visionary mentor who saw my leadership potential, my early career was highlighted by taking on diverse roles throughout our center. Thanks to her vision, I had hands-on experience in pediatrics, inpatient, live donor, waitlist management, abdominal, thoracic, outreach, financials, contracting and beyond. She ensured I attended the Transplant Management Forum, took on national volunteer opportunities, and that I was growing my skills by submitting abstracts and giving presentations. A wonderful by-product of this was the colleagues I grew to know long ago at TMF and through volunteering, who to this day remain my most trusted transplant and donation “inner circle”—always ready with advice, support, and creative ideas. They are also dear friends and serve to remind me over and over how lucky I am to work in this field.
This is my advice for developing leaders: cross-train your management team. Have an active internal succession plan. Grow your own leaders. Give them opportunities to participate in TMF and to volunteer nationally. And the advice I give to emerging stars in our field is to diversify your experience. Advocate to help with/take on new departments. Grow your speaking and presentation skills. Give back to our community! And find and develop your own national “inner circle” while at TMF!
My other advice? Remember to find and celebrate the joy in your work—celebrate the amazing miracle your team creates for others! And if you ever feel you are missing out on these things, no worries—start the next day at work because the opportunity and the miracles are always there.
What will you be presenting about at TMF?
I am so excited to help kick off TMF on day one, sharing the Call(s) to Action of the Expeditious Task Force.
When anyone looks at the history of transplantation, it is so evident that along our journey, key inflections (a new medication, discovery, regulation, innovation, or a shift in patient needs) were those pivot points that transformed our field. While for the last 13 years our community has broken records in the volume of transplants and the number of donors, we are witnessing numerous historical inflection points occurring at once: modernization of the OPTN, DCD donors now represent 36% of our total deceased donor supply, 62% of organ donors were registered/first-person authorization, regulatory requirements are in place and driving broader sharing, greater referrals, and standards of performance are intensifying.
I hope attendees walk away from our talk reminded that at every inflection point in our history, thought leaders from within our community pivoted, built consensus and served as “north stars,” developing and driving evolutions in systems, technologies and care that not only responded to historical inflections but leveraged them and increased donation, utilization and efficiency.
What are you hoping that attendees of TMF will learn after they attend your session?
The Expeditious Task Force is a gathering of our nation’s donation and transplantation thought leaders. Given the changes and regulatory pressures underway, I am grateful for each member’s willingness to serve our community in this way, and I hope attendees will be, too. I also hope attendees will help these “north stars” and find ways to contribute and support the work of the Expeditious Task Force, so that, once again, our community pivots and drives even greater success through different approaches, infrastructure and innovations.
Learn more from Milton at 2024 Transplant Management Forum in Louisville, Kentucky. Registration is now open.
