Support the Transplant Surgery Program in the quest to discover new treatments for diseases of the kidney, liver and pancreas and to improve transplantation outcomes.

Uruguay had tried to go it alone, but high mortality rates shut the program down. A UCSF transplant team, led by anesthesiologist Claus Niemann and transplant surgeons Ryutaro Hirose and Peter Stock travelled there and helped them to modernize their program.
John Roberts, M.D. has been elected vice president/president-elect of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/United Network for Organ Sharing (OPTN/UNOS).
With advances in surgical
technique and improved drugs to prevent infection
and rejection, organ transplantation is
now recognized as the most effective treatment
for many diseases. UCSF is a leader in
both adult and pediatric transplants for liver, kidney,
pancreas and small bowel, attracting patients nationally
and internationally. Children who previously
had little hope of survival in the event of organ
failure, now thrive as healthy adults with
transplanted organs. At UCSF, each tranplant candidate is carefully
evaluated by a multidisciplinary team that includes transplant
surgeons, gastroenterologists, nephrologists,
hepatologists, infectious disease specialists, social
workers and other health professionals. Patients receive
state-of-the-art care for this highly complex procedure
and have intensive long-term followup.
The Division of Transplant Surgery has a thriving research program and offers a broad portfolio
of clinical
trials led by Principal Investigators and supported
by a dedicated staff of trial coordinators and clinical
research nurses. The Abdominal Transplant
Fellowship Program offers a rich educational experience
for the aspiring transplant surgeon, many of whom chose to to continue their
careers at UCSF and became leaders in the
field.

Alison Wesley received her diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes when she was just 11 years old, after she developed the classic symptoms of the disease - severe weight loss, excessive thirst, sugar cravings, frequent urination, and feeling lethargic. To treat the diabetes, doctors put her on the first generation of insulin pumps. She continued to use the pumps off and on until she was in her early 30s. But eventually, even the pumps could no longer help her control her glucose. Wesley, now 39 and a PR manager at Intel in Santa Clara, read about a clinical trial in islet transplantation being held at UCSF's Islet and Cellular Transplantation Facility and received successive islet cell transplants performed by transplant surgeon Andrew M. Posselt, M.D., Ph.D. She now now describes her glucose control as "amazing".