UPMC Physicians and Researchers to Present at American Transplant Congress

UPMC physicians, researchers, and fellows will join colleagues from around the world at the American Transplant Congress (ATC) from June 1-5, in Boston, MA. The annual meeting provides a forum for the exchange of new scientific and clinical information for clinicians and researchers to share in the field of solid organ and tissue transplantation. Below highlights a list of UPMC posters, presentations and award recognition.

Presentations and Posters

Neslihan Celik, MD

Poster Session B: Liver: Living Donors and Partial Grafts
Management of Orphan Ducts After Pediatric Living Donor Liver Transplantation
Publication/Poster #351
June 2
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Helong Dai, MD

Concurrent Session: Antigen Presentation and Allorecognition 
mTORC2 Restricts mTORC1 Metabolic Function in Dendritic Cells to Limit Their Allostimulatory Activity
Publication #247
June 3
2:42 PM

Khodor Abou Daya, MD

Concurrent Session: Antigen Presentation and Allorecognition 
Tertiary Lymphoid Organs in Renal Chronic Allograft Rejection
Publication #251
June 3
3:30 PM

Concurrent Session: Acute Rejection: Basic
Tissue Resident Memory T Cells in Murine Renal Transplantation
Publication #491
June 4
3:18 PM

Mary Amanda Dew, PhD

Concurrent Session: Kidney Psychosocial II: Substances and Access & Barriers
Impact of Race and Substance Use on Listing Decisions for Kidney Transplant
Publication #438
June 4
2:30 PM

Andres Duarte-Rojo, MD

Poster Session A: Liver: Recipient Selection
A Randomized Pilot Trial of Home-Based Physical Activity Plus Dietary Intervention to Improve Physical Function in Patients with Advanced Liver Disease
Publication/Poster #315
June 1
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Swaytha Ganesh, MD

Poster Session B: Liver: Living Donors and Partial Grafts
Donor Exclusions and Shifting Trends in Living Liver Donor Evaluations: A Single Center Experience
Publication/Poster #352
June 2
 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Ghady Haidar, MD

Poster Session D: Non-Organ Specific: Public Policy & Allocation
A Pilot Study of Organ Donor Registration among Persons Living with HIV (PLWH)
Publication/Poster #230
June 4
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Abhinav Humar, MD

Concurrent Session: Liver: Living Donors and Partial Grafts
Adult Living Donor vs. Deceased Donor Liver Transplant (LDLT vs. DDLT) at a Single US Center - Time to Change Our Paradigm for Liver Transplant
Publication #458
June 4
3:42 PM

Kevin Louis, MD

Concurrent Session: Biomarkers, Immune Monitoring and Outcomes I
Circulating T Follicular Helper Proliferation and Memory B Cell Activation Correlate with Donor Specific Allo-antibody Occurrence and Antibody-mediated Rejection after Kidney Transplantation
Publication #56
June 2
2:54 PM

Camila Macedo, MD

Concurrent Session: Biomarkers, Immune Monitoring and Outcomes V
Monitoring Circulating T Follicular Helper Cells Polarization, Activation and Function
Distinguishes Asymptomatic Donor-Specific Anti-HLA Antibody Positive Kidney Transplant Recipients from Those Undergoing Antibody-Mediated Rejection
Publication #580
June 4
4:54 PM

Rajil Mehta,MD, FASN

Poster Session C: Kidney: Acute Cellular Rejection
Outcomes of Phenotypes in Early Subclinical Inflammation (SCI) Determined by Presence of Interstitial Inflammation with or without Concomitant Tubulitis
Publication/Poster #161
June 3
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Concurrent Session: Kidney: Acute Cellular Rejection
Impact of Early Borderline Histological Changes on Subsequent Events in Renal Transplant Recipients
Publication #430
June 4
3:42 PM

Michele Molinari, MD, MSc, FACS

Poster Session A: Kidney Deceased Donor Allocation
The Impact of KDPI on Post Transplant Kidney Function: Intercept versus Slope. A Single Center Study
Publication/Poster #212
June 1
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Poster Session D: Liver: Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Other Malignancies
Policy Changes in Liver Graft Allocation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in the USA: Improved Survival for African American Recipients
Publication/Poster #118
June 4
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Larissa Myaskovsky, PhD

Poster Session C: Kidney Psychosocial
Social Determinants of Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients Evaluated for Kidney Transplant
Publication/Poster #105
June 3
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Jason Ossart, PhD

Concurrent Session: Late Breaking Oral Abstract
Treg Suppressor Function within Allografts is Required for Tolerance
Publication #628
June 4 
4:54 PM

Itunu Owoyemi, MD

Poster Session C: Kidney Acute Cellular Rejection
Impact of T-cell Mediated Allograft Rejection and Antibody Mediated Rejection within the First Year after Kidney Transplantation
Publication/Poster #173
June 3
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Angelica Perez-Gutierrez, MD

Poster Session D: Lymphocyte Biology: Signaling, Co-Stimulation, Regulation
Phenotypic and Functional Analysis of Non-Activated and Allo-Activated Eomesodermin+ CD8+ T Cells in Humans and Nonhuman Primates
Publication/Poster #149
June 4
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Parmjeet Randhawa, MD

Poster Session C: Kidney Polyoma
Tandem Mass Tags Based Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Quantitative Proteomic Changes in Renal Allograft Biopsies with Polyomavirus BK Nephropathy
Publication/Poster #255
June 3
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Srijan Tandukar, MD

Poster Session C: Kidney Acute Cellular Rejection
Impact of T‑cell Mediated Allograft Inflammation within First‑Year after
Kidney Transplantation: An Analysis of Paired Biopsies from a Single Center Study
Publication/Poster #168
June 3
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Angus Thomson, PhD

Concurrent Session: Tolerance: Clinical Studies
Preliminary Mechanistic Studies of Regulatory Dendritic Cell (DCreg) Cell Infusion in Living Donor Liver Transplant Recipients
Publication #87
June 2
3:30 PM

Dendritic Cell Intervention
June 4 
11:15 AM - 11:35 AM

David Rothstein, MD

B Cell Biomarkers for Transplantation
June 1
5:00 PM – 5:20 PM

Zhixing Song, MD

Concurrent Session: Tolerance / Immune Deviation
B Cell IL-4 Signaling Induces the IL-10 Secreting TIM-1+ Bregs and Suppresses T Cell Inflammatory Cytokines
Publication #372
June 3
4:30 PM

Kazuki Sasaki, MD

Concurrent Session: Immunosuppression Preclinical Studies
Granulocyte - Colony Stimulating Factor (G-CSF) and Granulocyte – Macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor (GM-CSF) Administration Augments the Incidence of Peripheral Blood Suppressive Regulatory T Cells in Nonhuman Primates
Publication #260
June 3
2:30 PM

Raman Venkataramanan, PhD

Poster Session B: Liver: Living Donors and Partial Grafts
Drug Metabolizing Capacity of the Liver in Liver Donors Recovers Fully
by One Month Post Donation
Publication/Poster #356
June 2
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Zhongqiang Zhang, MD

Local IL-33 Regulates Heart Transplant Infiltrating Myeloid Cells
Metabolism and Differentiation to Protect against Chronic Rejection
Concurrent Session: Innate Immunity; Chemokines, Cytokines, Complement
Publication #483
June 4
3:06 PM

Daqiang Zhao, MD

Session: Plenary Session I
Role of Innate Allorecognition Pathways in Mouse Renal Allograft Rejection
Publication #1
June 2
8:30 AM

Awards

Khodor Abou-Daya
ATC Young Investigator Award 2019

Zhongqiang Zhang, MD

ATC Young Investigator Award 2019

Daqiang Zhao, MD
ATC Young Investigator Award 2019

Invited Presentations

Ghady Haidar, MD
Managing Infections in Transplant Candidates: MDROs- Treatment and Does It Affect Candidacy?
June 1
1:20 PM – 1:40 PM

Abhinav Humar, MD
TID is a Team Sport!: The Cutting Edge Surgeons Perspective of Managing Post-Transplant Infections
June 1
3:45 PM – 4:05 PM

George Mazariegos, MD

Surgical Management - Can I Do Surgery to Prevent Future Transplant?
June 2
7:20 AM – 7:40 AM

Rajil Mehta, mD

Borderline Rejection After Kidney Transplantation – Is it Borderline?
June 2
11:15 AM – 11:35 AM

Diana Metes, mD

Human Circulating T Follicular Helper Cells in Transplantation
June 5
7:00 AM – 8:15 AM

Martin Oberbarnscheidt

Innate Immune System for Clinicians
June 1
4:30 PM – 4:50 PM

David Rothstein, MD

B Cell Biomarkers for Transplantation
June 1
5:00 PM – 5:20 PM

Fernanda Silveira, MD

Cases in Transplant Infections - Stump the Expert
June 1
5:10 PM – 5:15 PM

Does This Patient Need Antifungal Prophylaxis?
June 4
7:45 AM - 8:00 AM

Parmjeet Randhawa, MD

What Do I Do Now: Challenging Cases in Post Renal Transplant
June 4
7:00 AM – 8:15 AM

Session Co-Chairs and Moderators

Mary Amanda Dew, MD
From Policy to Postop: Opioid and Benzodiazepine Use Across the Transplant Process
June 3
11:15 AM - 12:45 PM

Swaytha Ganesh, MD
1000 LDLTS in the US: Pipedream or Near Future
June 3
11:15 AM – 12:45 PM

Parmjeet Randhawa, MD
What Do I Do Now: Challenging Cases in Post Renal Transplant
June 4
7:00 AM – 8:15 AM