Transplantation 

The Transplantation Signature Program, led by Ronald Ferguson, MD, PhD, coordinates the clinical care of patients needing kidney, liver, pancreas, heart or lung transplants. This program also interfaces with the Medical Center’s Cancer Signature Program (blood and marrow transplantation) and the Cornea Transplant Program.

Transplantation expertise at the Medical Center is consolidated in Ohio State’s Comprehensive Transplant Center (CTC), which was established in 2005 as the only comprehensive adult transplant program in central Ohio. The CTC combines the Medical Center’s more than 35 years of experience in solid organ transplantation with research advances that translate to innovative patient care. By creating a forum for collaboration among experts from multiple transplantation disciplines, the CTC team is able to transfer best clinical practices and research expertise across specialties to enhance - and ultimately advance - patient care.

Transplantation Signature Program highlights of 2006:

• 346 patients received solid organ transplants at Ohio State’s Medical Center. Based on volume, the Medical Center’s kidney transplant program is one of the top 10 in the nation, and its kidney-pancreas transplant program ranks among the top four.
• The CTC established a medical council to oversee patient treatment strategies.
• The CTC developed multidisciplinary organ-specific patient care teams for sophisticated pre- and post-transplant clinical management.
• The CTC recruited five new faculty members, including Gregg Hadley, PhD, as deputy director of research. Hadley is a professor of Surgery whose research program is focused on defining immunologic mechanisms underlying: 1) rejection of transplanted tissue and organs; and 2) graft-versushost disease elicited following bone marrow transplantation.
• In collaboration with other disciplines, the CTC increased National Institutes of Health research funding to more than $500,000 in total direct costs.
• The CTC hosted Ohio State’s first National Symposium on Transplant Critical Care.
• CTC investigators initiated or maintained 16 separate clinical trials of innovative immunosuppressive strategies in organ transplant recipients.