A great weekend of celebrating what transplant makes possible and launching the Living Donor Storytelling Project nationally at the 2022 Transplant Games in San Diego – special thanks to our amazing collaborators at Sanofi!
Researchers from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients including Drs. David Axelrod, Amy Waterman, and Krista Lentine. plan how to advance a national Living Donor Collective to track the long-term health outcomes of living donors. Let’s keep living donors safe, always.
Drs. Osama Gaber and Amy Waterman of Houston Methodist Transplant Center and Mr. Kevin Myer, CEO of LifeGift stand together to celebrate how Nora’s Home supports people awaiting transplants.
Ms. Lorrinda Gray-Davis, President of Transplant Recipients’ International Organization (TRIO) and Dr. Amy Waterman (both in the first row), along with other Working Group members, proudly share important metrics prioritized at the People Driven Transplant Metrics Conference hosted by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients in 2022.
Dr. Waterman & Parsa Rajabi, one of the high school scholars interested in becoming a surgeon from the Houston Methodist Rising Stars Summer Enrichment Program.
Drs. Waterman & Davis mentor 10 bright scholars from different high schools across Houston as part of the Department of Surgery’s Rising Stars Summer Enrichment Program.
Dr. Waterman partners with the University of California Irvine Kidney/Pancreas Transplant & Nephrology Team on the Living Donor Storytelling Project in October 2022.
Dr. Waterman was the Keynote Speaker for the University of California Irvine (UCI) School of Medicine 2022 Kidney/Pancreas Transplant & Nephrology Symposium. Dr. Waterman is pictured here with Dr. Uttam Reddy, Medical Director, Division of Transplantation. UCI.
The entire Houston Methodist family, including CEO Mark Boom, at the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) – ATC Meeting 2022.
Dr. Waterman and a favorite mentee, Dr. Macey Levan, who is busy changing the transplant world and NYU Langone Health.
Dr. LaShara Davis presenting her poster at ATC 2022, titled, “Do Videos Work Better Than Digital Ads at Reaching Audiences? Examining Which Message Types Engage and Encourage Further Exploration of Living Donation.
Proud to be sitting by Two Editors in Chief of important Kidney and Transplant Journals, Drs. Linda Ohler and Linda Moore.
National Kidney Registry investigators, Dr. Amy Waterman and Katya Kaplow, meet in person for the first time at the 2022 American Transplant Congress. Our paper about the public’s national attitudes about living donation is being submitted soon!
Dinner with Canadian Transplant Leaders at the 2022 American Transplant Congress Meeting.
The Patient Engagement Research Group and collaborator, Dr. Wendy Balliet, celebrate being back in person at the 2022 American Transplant Congress Meeting!
Dr, Waterman’s first mentor, Dr. Daniel Brennan, Head of Nephrology at Johns Hopkins reunite in person in Boston, MA at the American Transplant Congress 2022.
Dr. LaShara Davis presenting on her abstract at ASN Kidney Week 2022, titled, “Linked by Love: Relatability and cultural appropriateness of an Edutainment series about CKD in an African American family.”
Bethany Cruz presenting her poster at ASN Kidney Week 2022, titled, “Assessing the Value of “A Family Journey” Community Program for Supporting Pursuit of Preemptive Living Kidney Transplantation.”
Dr. Andrea Meinders presenting her poster at ASN Kidney Week 2022, titled, “Increasing Conversion Rates and Reducing Disparities: Determining Modifiable Predictors Associated with Donating a Kidney.”
Grateful for a great team! #gratitudeweek
A team dinner for the Patient Engagement Research Lab to celebrate grants won and research in progress.
We love our Living Donor & Explore Transplant Fellow, Martha Gershun (being hugged by her kidney recipient).
Our team attended the Living Kidney Donor Retreat on Friday, September 9th held by The Houston Methodist J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center to highlight the progress and achievements made by the Living Kidney Donation Program.
Dr. Andrea Meinders discussing intervention strategies at the Living Donor Retreat at Houston Methodist Hospital.
Drs. Gaber and Waterman hear the story of how this transplant recipient returned to health after getting transplanted at Houston Methodist Transplant Center.
LaShara Davis, PhD and Amy Waterman, PhD, participated in at The Future of Transplant Conference: Increasing Awareness in Diversity at Houston Methodist Hospital. Dr. Waterman Moderated the first session on Transplantation and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Houston Methodist Hospital. Dr. Davis introduced Ms. Ashlyn Holmes, a living donor kidney transplant recipient, and her family as part of the second plenary focused on Diversity in Transplantation Population, Health Care and Religion. At the conference, we were able to showcase the stories of Ms. Holmes, her mother, and her grandmother as they recalled her transplant journey. Ms. Holmes and her family shared their experiences as part of The Living Donation Storytelling Project, our growing digital library of stories about living donation.
Amy Waterman, PhD, Bethany Cruz, and Andrea Meinders, MD, at The Future of Transplant Conference: Increasing Awareness in Diversity at Houston Methodist Hospital.
Celebrating Dr. Andrea Meinders’s first national oral presentation “Are More Knowledgeable Living Donors More Likely to Donate Kidneys?” at the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) Winter Symposium 2023 with Drs. Waterman and Gaber. Congratulations!
Getting to stand near a legend, Dr. Suki, after speaking about our patient engagement research in transplant at the Symposium bearing his name, the Wadi N. Suki Symposium: New Horizons in Kidney Disease, Dialysis and Transplantation.
Dr. Waterman’s Centennial Endowed Chair for Clinical Research in Transplantation bears the name of this lovely and charitable woman, Deborah C. Phillips, on the right. We care deeply about patients always having the best experiences possible. It is an honor to work at Houston Methodist Hospital, because we know all of us share that same commitment. We look forward to expanding the research and educational activities that we do as a result of her generous gift.
Investigators with expertise in machine learning (Dr. Ioannis Kakadiaris), transplant informatics, (Dr. David Axelrod), and EPIC data science, (David Hsu), meet in person for the first time with Dr. Waterman to celebrate our progress building a Kidney Transplant Data Registry for advanced kidney disease patients together.
Our work in Community Engagement to improve the health of all Houstonians begins with leaders from University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston, Houston Methodist Hospital, University of Houston Clear-Lake, and Texas Southern University – all members of the Greater Gulf Coast Translational Science Alliance.
Over the years, the teams of Health Literacy Media and the Patient Engagement Research Lab have been awarded many Certificates of Excellence for health literate animations, online educational portals, and print campaigns that they have designed for transplant patients. We couldn’t have done it without each other. To learn more about Health Literacy Media, visit their website: https://www.healthliteracy.media/
Women leaders in transplantation meet to share best practices at the American Society of Transplant Surgeons Meeting in 2023. So proud to know and work with Drs. Krista Lentine and Christina Klein, two nephrologists who ensure that excellent kidney and transplant care is being provided at two of the 250 transplant centers in the country.
Drs. Gaber, Waterman and Davis, in collaboration with the Mendez National Institute of Transplantation Foundation, share their perspectives on health disparities in kidney transplantation and how novel educational techniques, such as the Linked by Love edutainment series, can help educate patients about kidney disease prevention and raise awareness for living donation!
Dr. Dorry Segev revisits Houston Methodist Transplant Center to discuss innovations in living donor care with the living donor leaders here. Grateful to have him!
The Patient Engagement Lab celebrates their partnership with the Mendez National Institute of Transplantation Foundation and the national launch of the Linked by Love edutainment video series at the Director’s Guild in Los Angeles. We are so proud to be supporting the vision of Nicole Mendez, the Executive Director, who is a leader in the use of edutainment to inspire diverse communities to learn more about transplantation.
Collaborating as a diverse faculty and staff, Health Literacy Media and the Houston Methodist Hospital Patient Engagement Research Lab ensures that more patients learn about the option of transplant and receive access to innovative, health literate educational resources. And, we have a lot of fun!
Tiffany Hopson, MA, presenting our award-winning poster, “Houston Methodist Hospital’s Rising Stars Summer Enrichment Program: Inspiring the Next Generation of Diverse Healthcare Professionals”, at the Global Health Summit celebrating the success of our Rising Stars program. The purpose of this research project was to develop and evaluate the value of a Rising Stars Summer Enrichment program on increasing the confidence of high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue careers in medicine and to build a pipeline to support these individuals.
Dr. LaShara Davis, an independent Scientist with the Patient Engagement & Research Lab at Houston Methodist Hospital gives Grand Rounds to discuss, “Applying Best Practices in Health Communication to Engage Patient & Improve Care.”
An evening “Under the Stars” as we celebrated the Gift of Life and Nora’s Home Gala at the beautiful McGovern Centennial Gardens! All evening proceeds went to support Nora’s Home Adopt-A-Family program, to ensure no guest is turned away due to the inability to pay. It was a night to remember as the Patient Engagement Research Lab of Houston Methodist Transplant Center, Department of Surgery and Sanofi came together to bring hope and celebrate a place that many on their transplant journey call home!
The Houston Methodist Patient Engagement Research Lab attends the Greater Gulf Coast Translational Science Alliance (CTSA) Retreat with great collaborators such as TSU, UTMB, and the University of Houston – Clearlake to develop, demonstrate, and disseminate scientific operational innovations that improve the efficiency/effectiveness of clinical translation. Such a fantastic way to collaborate to build what the community engagement partnership is all about!
Dr. LaShara Davis and her cohort of mentees in the Obesity Health Disparities PRIDE Program celebrate presenting their obesity-related research funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in Washington, DC.
Amy Waterman and Shefali Patel, collaborators on an AIM-AHEAD Pilot Project at Houston Methodist Hospital, present their preliminary results at the South Central Hub 2nd Annual Conference.
The Patient Engagement Research Lab & Nicole Mendez at the Houston Methodist premiere of Linked by Love, a 6-episode “edutainment” series created by the Mendez National Institute of Transplantation Foundation to provide vital information about kidney disease, prevention of kidney disease, kidney failure, transplantation and living donation.
Dr. Amy Waterman, Dr. LaShara Davis, and Nicole Mendez (Mendez National Institute of Transplantation Foundation) at the premier of Linked by Love at Houston Methodist Hospital.
The Patient Engagement Research Lab and Nicole Mendez (Mendez National Institute of Transplantation Foundation) at the Houston Health Museum premier of Linked by Love.
Dr. Jonathan Daw, an Associate Professor of Sociology and Demography from Pennsylvania State University to give Grand Rounds at Houston Methodist Transplant Center. Dr. Daw presented “The Ties that Transplant”. He enlightened us with living kidney donor relationship distribution – trend rate and potential living donor outcomes. We’re excited to get to work with him on future projects!
Presenting our first collaboration at the American Transplant Congress in San Diego with Kevin Myer and the LifeGift OPO – “Does Post-procurement Allocation of Donation After Circulatory Death Kidneys Affect Kidney Use Rate?”.
Katya Kaplow, Dr. Amy Waterman and the NKR team present at the American Transplant Congress San Diego – “National Attitudes Towards Living Kidney Donation in the United States: Results of a Public Opinion Survey”.
Dr. LaShara Davis talks at the American Transplant Congress San Diego about how to connect with Reddit users curious about living donation – “Assessing Public Dialogue About Living Donation From Anonymous Reddit Users: Who’s in the Room and What do they Share.”
National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Leaders and Dr. Amy Waterman at the American Transplant Congress, San Diego.
Dr. LaShara Davis & Dr. Andrea Meinders at the American Transplant Congress, San Diego.
Christina Goalby, Amy Waterman, and LaShara Davis reunite at ATC San Diego, and celebrate over 10 years of working together through Explore Transplant and at multiple transplant centers.
Drs. Amy Waterman and LaShara Davis, of Houston Methodist Hospital, stand with Lorrinda Davis, President of TRIO, in honoring patient priorities for their care.
Dr. Amy Waterman and her Canadian friends and collaborators at ATC San Diego, who improve eplet matching, pediatric transplant care, and patient engagement activities across Canada. Oleg Boldireff continues to be the ultimate connector of leaders.
Everyone at ATC wants to turn the impossible into possible for transplant patients. Drs. Amy Waterman and LaShara Davis with our Sanofi partners.
The NKR Committee leaders share a coffee together in New York at the National Kidney Registry (NKR) Annual Meeting.