Biography:

Dr. Jowsey-Gregoire has provided care for transplant patients at the Mayo Clinic since 1992 and is the Director of Transplant Psychiatry.  She was an organizer for the Chauvet Workgroup that convened in Paris in Mar. 2014 to discuss the psychosocial evaluation and management of hand transplant patients.

Overview:

Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation offers life enhancing benefits to individuals suffering from limb loss and facial disfigurement.  How best to assess the psychological well-being of these patients who will manage lifelong complex medical regimens with the risks involved with those regimens is still not determined.  Graft loss has occurred in the setting of noncompliance and suboptimal functional outcomes have resulted from noncompliance with medication and physical rehabilitation. Earlier this year, Dr. Jowsey-Gregoire helped organized the Chauvet Workgroup, a group which included psychiatrists, psychologists, medical and surgical directors, physiatrists , ethicists, socials workers and others  who  met in Paris to  review a broad range of topics related to the psychosocial assessment and outcomes in hand transplant patients.   In this webinar, assessment of transplant candidates, domains of evaluation and possible strategies to improve post-transplant outcomes will be discussed.