First living kidney donor, non-clinician to become president
Richmond, Va. — Members of the national organ donation and transplantation community have elected 17 members to the OPTN/UNOS board of directors, including a new president, vice-president/president-elect and treasurer. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS serves as the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) under federal contract.
All board members are uncompensated volunteers and serve terms ranging from one to three years, depending on the office to which they are elected. Their terms of service begin on July 1, 2015.
Betsy J. Walsh, J.D., M.P.H., currently the Vice President/President-Elect, will assume the presidency. She will be the first president in the organization’s history who is neither a transplant physician or surgeon nor an executive of an organ procurement organization. She is vice president and deputy general counsel for Novant Health, Inc., in Charlotte, N.C. She became a living kidney donor in 1995.
Stuart C. Sweet, M.D., Ph.D., will become the organization’s Vice President/President-Elect. He is medical director of the pediatric lung transplant program at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and the W. McKim Marriott professor of pediatrics at Washington University in St. Louis.
Richard E. Pietroski, M.S., CPTC, will become the organization’s Treasurer. He is chief executive officer of Gift of Life Michigan.
Other newly elected members are as follows:
Immediate Past President – Carl L. Berg, M.D., Duke University Hospital
Region 2 Councillor – David J. Reich, M.D., Hahnemann University Hospital
Region 8 Councillor – Christie P. Thomas, M.B., FRCP, FASN, FAHA, University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics
Region 10 Councillor – Tim E. Taber, M.D., Indiana University Health
Region 11 Councillor – Robert J. Stratta, M.D., Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
Minority Transplant Professional Representative – Cass Franklin, M.D., Mercy Medical Center
At Large Physician/Surgeon Representative – Sharon M. Bartosh, M.D., University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics
Histocompatibility Representative – Anat R. Tambur, D.M.D., Ph.D, Northwestern Memorial Hospital
OPO Representative – John (Jay) D. Campbell, PA, J.D., Wisconsin Donor Network
Transplant Coordinator Representative – Walt Nickels, R.N., B.S.N., CCRN, CPTC, Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency
Patient and Donor Affairs and Voluntary Health Organization Representatives:
- Mindy M. Burchfield, RN, B.S.N.
- James M. Gleason, B.S., M.A.
- Kim B. Harbur, B.S.
- Deanna L. Santana, B.S.
United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) serves as the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) by contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Division of Transplantation. The OPTN brings together medical professionals, transplant recipients and donor families to develop national organ transplantation policy.
