Daniel C. Brennan and Stanley C. Jordan
Moderated by Medhat Askar

Donor Cell Free DNA Testing
Wednesday, February 12, 2020 - 1:00 PM EST (Montreal time)

Objectives:

1. Explain how donor cell free DNA testing is done and the different methods.
2. Examine how it is different in different organs and in plasma vs. urine.

Daniel C. Brennan's Biography:

Daniel C. Brennan, MD, FACP, was the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professor of Renal Diseases and the Director of Transplant Nephrology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri until July 2017 when he was recruited to be the inaugural Medical Director and Co-Director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Brennan received his BA from Cornell College in Iowa with Distinction in Chemistry and his MD from the University of Iowa College of Medicine. He completed his medical internship and residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He continued his training with clinical and research fellowships at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Brennan’s research interests are viral infections, induction immunosuppression therapy, pharmacoeconomic and outcome research in transplantation and islet transplantation. He has written more than 200 original publications and has contributed to several textbooks in these areas. He has been on the Editorial Board of Transplantation since 1998, and a Deputy Editor of Transplantation since 2014, an Associate Editor for the American Journal of Transplantation from 2007-2014, the Editor of the Transplant Section of UpToDate since 1999, and Editor in Chief of Nephrology for UpToDate since 2006. He has served on the editorial board of the American Journal of Kidney Disease, Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, and Kidney International. He has been a frequent reviewer for many journals including the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA. He has served on numerous study sections for the NIDDK and the FDA.

He is the recipient of many awards, including the AHA Established Investigator Award 1998; AST Young Investigator Clinical Science Award, 1999; the AST Clinical Science Award, 2003; and the National Kidney Foundation Award of Excellence, 2003 and 2017. He was inducted into the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), in 2004. He received the Renal Fellows Teaching Award in 2004, 2005, 2009 and 20010. He received the Cornell College Distinguished Alumni Leadership and Service Award in 2011 and the Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University School of Medicine Neville Grant Award for Clinical Excellence in 2011. He received the Friend of Pharmacy award from Barnes-Jewish Hospital in 2012. He received the AST Senior Clinical Transplantation Award in 2016.

Stanley C. Jordan's Biography:

After receiving his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Dr. Jordan completed a pediatric internship and residency at the University of California, Los Angeles. He completed three fellowships: one in pediatric nephrology at UCLA, one in experimental pathology in the Department of Immunology at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, and the third in dialysis and transplantation at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. He is board certified in pediatrics, pediatric nephrology and diagnostic laboratory immunology.

For more than three decades, Dr. Jordan has focused his research on the immunology of antibody rejection and development of novel immune modulatory therapies to combat this condition. His work is funded by the NIH and grants from biotechnology firms aimed at developing novel therapies in transplant medicine. He has published more than 360 peer reviewed manuscripts and has 10 patent applications pending.

Dr. Jordan has extensive experience with desensitization for incompatible kidney transplantation and currently has 14 investigator-initiated clinical trials examining novel therapies for desensitization and treatment of antibody-mediated rejection. He has also published novel clinical trials using complement inhibitors to prevent delayed graft function in renal allografts. Dr. Jordan and his work have been recognized by his peers and include his being the recipient of the National Kidney Foundation “Gift of Life Award” and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Recently, he was honored with the inaugural Cedars-Sinai Prize for Research in Scientific Medicine (PRISM), conceived to recognize outstanding scientific and medical breakthroughs, the Pioneer in Medicine Award (also from Cedars-Sinai), the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Transplantation (Clinical ) from the Transplantation Society, the Jean Hamburger Award for outstanding research in nephrology from the International Society of Nephrology and the Senior Achievement Award in Clinical Transplantation from the American Society of Transplantation.

Medhat Askar's Biography:

Medhat Askar, MD, PhD, MSHPE, FRCPath, D(ABHI), D(ABMLI), HCLD(ABB) is a Clinical Professor (Affiliated) in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (affiliated) at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and the director of the Transplant Immunology and facility director of the Cell Processing Laboratories at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, TX, USA. He is the President of The American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI), the Immediate Past President of The American Board of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ABHI). Dr. Askar is a Councilor (North America) and Co-Chair of the TTS Education Committee of The Transplantation Society (TTS). He is also a Member of Board of Directors of United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and a Member of The Joint Commission Pathology Technical Advisory Panel (JC-TAP).

Medhat Askar
Moderated by Katherine Twombley

Epitope Matching
Friday, November 22, 2019 - 1:00 PM EST (Montreal time)

Objectives:

There are many new advances in the HLA world, and these technologies are developing at a rate faster than we know how to use them clinically. This session will examine the current evidence for and against epitope matching as well as review what is needed for future studies.

Katherine Twombley's Biography:

Katherine Twombley, MD, FAST, FAAP is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics as well as the College of Graduate of Studies at the Medial University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC where she is also the Chief of Pediatric Nephrology and Medical Director of the Pediatric Kidney Transplant Program. She is on the Council for the International Pediatric Transplant Association (IPTA) and is Chair of the Education committee for IPTA. She is also the Co-Chair of the Executive Committee for the American Society of Transplantation’s Pediatric Community of Practice.

Medhat Askar's Biography:

Medhat Askar, MD, PhD, MSHPE, FRCPath, D(ABHI), D(ABMLI), HCLD(ABB) is a Clinical Professor (Affiliated) in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (affiliated) at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and the director of the Transplant Immunology and facility director of the Cell Processing Laboratories at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, TX, USA. He is the President of The American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI), the Immediate Past President of The American Board of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ABHI). Dr. Askar is a Councilor (North America) and Co-Chair of the TTS Education Committee of The Transplantation Society (TTS). He is also a Member of Board of Directors of United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and a Member of The Joint Commission Pathology Technical Advisory Panel (JC-TAP).