Drs. Jameson, Kaufman, and Abecassis with Mr. Harrison | Through a framework of functional cores, the Northwestern University Comprehensive Transplant Center will allow investigators and clinicians from a number of disciplines and scientific backgrounds to...
...pioneer research with high impact;
...educate surgeons, physicians, and scientists; and
...ultimately advance best clinical practices and inform public health policy on an array of transplant-related issues. | |
A Testament to Bold Leadership Launching the Northwestern University Comprehensive Transplant Center A new center that paves the way for innovation in organ transplantation and regeneration for patients today and in the future. A unifying concept that taps into the strong assets available at Northwestern. A mission to reach the pinnacle of academic excellence. A new collaborative and multidisciplinary approach, possible because of strong leadership. A bold step, taken in the right place, at the right time.
At the official launch of the new Northwestern University Comprehensive Transplant Center (CTC), Feinberg School of Medicine faculty members and expert guests lauded the CTC with all of the above statements. The CTC is an umbrella for, and catalyst to, a wide range of collaborative and multidisciplinary activities at Northwestern University and Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Its formation is the latest example of a strategic investment that builds on Northwestern’s strengths and collaborative culture to drive the transformation of an important area of patient care and public health. With an audience of approximately 240 physicians, faculty and staff members, patients, and friends, the CTC celebrated its official launch on October 28. The day’s first seminar, presented by David Cella, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Medical Social Sciences, offered a deeper understanding of “all of the issues and outcomes surrounding transplant surgeries.” Dr. Cella detailed some of the many partnerships that comprise the CTC, in particular, the Northwestern University Transplant Outcomes Research Collaborative (NUTORC), which helps lead research and quality of life care after transplant. Following a warm welcome from a Northwestern friend and patient, James Tyree, chairman and CEO of Mesirow Financial, Dixon Kaufman, MD, PhD, led the second seminar on replacement, regeneration, and bioartificial options for patients suffering from organ and tissue failure. Dr. Kaufman, Fowler McCormick Professor, vice chair of research in the Department of Surgery, and director of Pancreas and Islet Transplantation at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, is also deputy director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center. Emphasizing the importance of finding new options for the one million Americans with insulin dependent diabetes, he described how transformations in beta cell replacement therapies are revolutionizing care. Following the afternoon seminars, J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, vice president for medical affairs and Lewis Landsberg Dean of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, began the official program and welcomed the two expert guest speakers: Gary Levy, MD, FRCP(C), and Nancy Bridges, MD. In his remarks, Dr. Jameson described the evolution of the CTC—from the vision of Michael Abecassis, MD, MBA, to the instrumental partnership of Dean Harrison, President and CEO of Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, in fortifying this clinical, academic, and research center. Dr. Levy, director of the Multi Organ Transplant Program, University Health Network and director of the University of Toronto Transplantation Institute, then took the stage to share lessons from his own successes, and congratulate his close friend and former mentee Dr. Abecassis on his new role as founding director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center. Dr. Levy also elaborated on his own Institute’s philanthropic success, sharing that “members of the public want to contribute to well organized, collaborative organizations.”He then turned the stage over to Dr. Bridges, chief of the Transplantation Immunobiology Branch, Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As a representative of the largest funder of biomedical research in the world, Dr. Bridges shared her own perspective and the outlook of the NIH to always gain new knowledge from transplant research. She congratulated the center for embodying this stance, saying, “This is the right way to approach transplant research.” To close the evening, Dr. Michael Abecassis, J. Roscoe Miller Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Surgery and Microbiology/Immunology, dean of Clinical Affairs, and chief of the Division of Transplantation at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, addressed the audience. As director of the CTC, Dr. Abecassis thanked a number of people—the speakers, guests, patients, colleagues, and institutional leadership—for their role in creating the center and their confidence in the transplant team. In particular, Dr. Abecassis recognized all those who had personally played a role in his career, including his mentors at Northwestern, Drs. Frank Stuart, Al Baker, and the recently deceased Andres Blei. He shared his vision for the center, and made clear that its success would only further accelerate Northwestern’s recognition as a great academic medical center. With 104,000 people currently awaiting lifesaving organ transplantation in the United States, Dr. Abecassis and members of the CTC will work to bring hope to this ever-growing population by way of groundbreaking research that will ultimately lead to innovative therapies, speedier recoveries, and longer lifetimes.
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