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UPMC Faculty to Present Extensive Research and Thought Leadership at the 2025 World Transplant Congress

July 23, 2025

The 2025 World Transplant Congress (WTC), taking place Aug. 2 to 7 in San Francisco, is an international meeting that brings together transplant professionals to present and discuss the latest research and breakthroughs in organ transplantation science, clinical practice, and policy.

UPMC’s multidisciplinary transplant faculty will be prominently represented at this year’s WTC, with more than two dozen accepted presentations, talks, and abstracts across UPMC’s organ donation and transplantation programs as well as our research disciplines.

This robust participation highlights UPMC's sustained investment in transplant research and its ongoing commitment to sharing its knowledge and new discoveries with the global clinical and scientific community. The scope of participation, ranging from pediatric liver outcomes to predictive analytics in kidney rejection, reflects the breadth and depth of UPMC’s programs and emphasizes its role in shaping the future of transplantation through education, collaboration, and clinical innovation.

Summary of Institutional Engagement

  • Multiple invited panels, oral presentations, and expert forums highlight UPMC’s leadership in living donor and pediatric multiorgan transplant.
  • Cross disciplinary collaborations and multi-center partnerships reinforce UPMC’s commitment to sharing evidence-based practices globally.
  • Select presentation topics include living donor and pediatric transplantation, machine learning in rejection prediction, genomic risk stratification, health equity, clinical outcomes, immunosuppression management, and transplant policy.

Below is a categorized list of presentations involving UPMC faculty.

  • The Landscape of Medical Leadership in Living Donor Programs
    AST Medical Directors Forum – invited speaker from UPMC
    Swaytha Ganesh, MD, UPMC Montefiore, PA, USA
  • Recruitment of Directed and Altruistic Donors
    Invited speaker from UPMC
    Swaytha Ganesh, MD, UPMC Montefiore, PA, USA

RF11 – Liver Allocation and Recipient Selection

  • RF11.1 | MELD 3.0 – Impact on Sex Disparity One Year After Implementation
    C. Nguyen¹, W. Kim¹, A. Mannalithara², A. Kwong², S. Asrani³, S. Biggins⁴, B. Aqel¹, C. Taner⁵, J. Heimbach6 
    1CPORT Mayo AZ; 2Stanford CA; 3Baylor TX; 4UPMC; 5CPORT Mayo FL; 6CPORT Mayo MN

PL02 – Plenary Abstracts 2

  • PL02.3 | Exosome Mediated Allorecognition is Complement Dependent
    S. Alibrandi1, A. Clemens1, W. Shufesky2, N. Ammerman3, A. Vo3, E. Huang3, S. Jordan3, P. Heeger3, A. Morelli2, N. Chun1, 1Translational Transplant Research Center, ISMMS, New York, NY, 2University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, PA, 3Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA

P1.13 – Psychosocial & Ethics

  • P1.13.23 | Models to Predict Immunosuppression Non Adherence in Kidney Transplant Recipients
    H. Morford, E. V. Thomas, C. Puttarajappa, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA

P2.08 – Liver (August 4th)

  • P2.08.55 | Does Duct to Duct Anastomosis Using an Eversion Technique Reduce Biliary Complications in Living Donor Liver Transplantation: A Prospective Analysis
    S. Subedi1, G. Packiaraj2, V. Gunabushanam3, C. Hughes4, A. Humar5, 1Abdominal Transplant Surgery, Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, 2Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, UPMC, PA, 3Abdominal Transplant Surgery, Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, UPMC, Pittsburgh PA, PA, 4Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, 5Abdominal Transplant Surgery, Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, UPMC, PA
  • P2.08.90 | Outcomes in LDLT Donors and Recipients with Heterozygous α-1 Antitrypsin Mutant Donors
    S. Shukla1, S. Ganesh2, C. Hughes3, V. Gunabushanam1, A. Humar4, 1Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, 2UPMC Thomas E Starzl Transplant Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, 3Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Presbyterian Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA, 4Surgery, Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA
  • P2.08.93 | Long-Term Patient Survival After Liver Transplantation by Donor Type
    F. Al Ammary1, A. Humar2, A. Liapakis3, J. Roberts4, K. A. Kirby1, S. Adeyemo5, S. Saab6, S. Alqahtani7, B. Saberi8, E. Aby9, T. Bittermann10, A. Duarte-Rojo11, A. Gurakar7, 1University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, 2UPMC, PA, 3New York University, NY, 4University of California San Francisco, CA, 5University of California Irvine, CA, 6UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 7Johns Hopkins University, MD, 8Harvard University, MA, 9University of Minnesota, MN, 10University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 11Northwestern University, IL
  • P2.08.98 | Kaposi Sarcoma Herpesvirus Risk and Disease in Donors and Liver Transplant Recipients with HIV
    M. Rodrigues1, T. Liang1, S. Florman2, M. Rana3, J. Price4, D. Wojciechowski5, S. Aslam4, V. Stosor6, N. Elias7, S. Mehta8, J. Hand9, M. Malinis10, T. Pruett11, J. Simkins12, W. Kitchens13, M. Spaggiari14, M. Pereira15, C. Small16, G. Haidar17, C. Wolfe18, M. Morsheimer19, D. Segev20, A. Massie21, W. Miley19, N. Labo22, D. Whitby19, A. Tobian23, C. Durand1, 1JHU, MD, 2Mt Sinai, NJ, 3Mt Sinai, NY, 4UCSD, CA, 5UTSW, TX, 6NW Univ, IL, 7MGH, MA, 8UABMC, AL, 9Ochsner, LA, LA, 10YSM, CT, 11UMN, MN, 12UM, FL, 13Emory, GA, 14Rush, IL, 15Columbia, NY, 16Cornell, NY, 17UPMC, PA, 18Duke, NC, 19NIH, MD, 20NYU, NY, 21NYU, New York, NY, 22NHI, MD, 23JHU, Baltimore, MD
  • P2.08.145 | Post-Donation Outcomes for Sequential Liver and Kidney Donors versus Single Donor Matched Controls
    J. L. Steel1, T. L. Trakumas1, A. L. Tevar2, M. L. Huerer1, S. Ganesh1, E. Tillman1, S. Meketa1, R. Ramanathan1, L. Weslow1, A. Dimartini3, A. Mullen1, S. Mayadam1, C. Kallem1, A. Yandrich1, P. Sood4, A. Mullen1, M. Molineri1, V. Gunabushanam1, A. L. Humar5, 1Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 2University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, 3Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 4University of California San Francisco, CA, 5Surgery, Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA

P3.01 – Administration

  • P3.01.9 | Toward Zero Waitlist Mortality: A Mixed-Methods Review of Loss of Life While Awaiting Pediatric Liver Transplant
    J. E. Gossett1, N. Thompson2, M. Damian3, R. Gonzalez-Peralta4, J. Bucuvalas5, C. Smith6, G. Mazariegos7, 1Transplant, Stanford Children's Health, Palo Alto, CA, 2UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, 3CHOA, GA, 4Advent Health, Orlando, FL, 5Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY, 6Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, 7Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

P3.06 – Intestine

  • P3.06.13 | Outcomes Following Graft Enterectomy After Intestinal and Multivisceral Transplantation: A Multicenter Analysis
    A. Toiv1, H. Justus2, A. Sarowar3, V. Lee4, J. Marquez5, G. Altamura-Murgia6, S. Horslen7, J. Weiner8, T. Schiano6, M. Segovia9, S. Jafri10, 1Internal Medicine, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI, 2Henry Ford Hospital, 3Wayne State Medical School, MI, 4Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, PA, 5Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, NY, 6Mount Sinai Medical Center, NY, 7University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, PA, 8NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, NY, 9Duke University, NC, 10Henry Ford Health System, MI

P3.07 – Kidney

  • P3.07.23 | Kidney Allograft Rejection and Survival in Combined (CLKT) and Sequential Liver Kidney Transplants (SLKT) in Children
    M. N. Keyser, K. Kurzinski, D. Wilkerson, S. Horslen, G. Mazariegos, A. Ganoza, J. Kumar, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

P3.08 – Liver (August 5th)

  • P3.08.36 | Non Immunologic Allograft Injury Predisposes to Acute Cellular Rejection (ACR) in the First Year After Liver Transplantation (LT) in Children
    N. Thompson, C. Gestrich, L. Remaley, T. Martin, M. Paul, J. Martin, D. Wilkerson, J. Squires, S. Horslen, K. Soltys, G. Mazariegos, R. Sindhi, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

P3.14 – Public Policy

  • P3.14.2 | Barriers to Expanding Living Donor Paired Exchange in the United States: A Delphi Survey of Operational, Financial and Ethical Challenges
    K. Lentine1, A. Nishio-Lucar2, A. DeLonais-Parker1, T. Bittermann3, B. Lee4, G. McNatt5, S. Ganesh6, B. Parent7, C. Thiessen8, T. Caza9, W. Jackson10, A. Tietjen11, A. Liapakis7, 1Saint Louis Univ., St. Louis, MO, 2Univ. of Virginia, VA, 3Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 4UT Austin, TX, 5Univ. of Iowa, IA, 6UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, 7NYU Langone, NY, 8Univ. of Wisconsin, WI, 9Arkana Labs, AR, 10Univ. of Colorado, CO, 11Saint Barnabas, NJ

OA08 – Recurrent Disease and Genetics

  • OA08.2 | Impact of APOL1 Risk Alleles on HIV+ to HIV+ Kidney Transplant Outcomes in South Africa and the United States
    M. Rodrigues1, K. Manning2, R. Freercks2, S. Florman3, R. Friedman-Moraco4, P. Stock5, A. Gilbert6, S. Mehta7, V. Stosor8, S. Mehta9, M. Pereira10, C. Small11, M. Morris12, J. Hand13, S. Aslam14, G. Haidar15, M. Malinis16, S. Carlos17, J. Schaenman18, D. Wojciechowski19, E. Blumberg20, N. Elias21, E. Giorgakis22, D. Segev9, J. Odim23, J. Heyman23, A. Tobian24, A. Redd1, E. Muller2, C. Durand1, 1JHU, MD, 2UCT, South Africa, 3Mount Sinai, NY, 4Emory University School of Medicine, GA, 5UCSF, CA, 6MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute, WA, 7UABMC, AL, 8Northwestern University, IL, 9NYU, NY, 10Columbia, NY, 11Cornell Medical Center, NY, 12Univ of Miami, FL, 13Ochsner Medical Center, CA, 14UCSD, CA, 15UPMC, PA, 16SID, CT, 17Rush, IL, 18UCLA, CA, 19UTSW, TX, 20Penn, PA, 21MGH, MA, 22UAMS, AZ, 23NIH, MD, 24JHU, Baltimore, MD

OA09 – Innovation in Pediatric Liver Transplant

  • OA09.6 | Consensus Treatment Plans: A Novel Collaborative Effort to “Right Size” Immunosuppression After Pediatric Liver Transplant
    J. Halma1, S. Antala2, I. Batsis2, S. Maxwell3, J. Bucuvalas2, R. Gonzalez-Peralta4, S. Horslen5, D. H. Leung6, S. Lobritto7, G. Mazariegos8, V. Ng9, V. Raghu5, J. Squires5, E. Perito3, 1Children's Mercy Kansas City, MO, 2Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY, 3University of California, San Francisco, CA, 4Advent Health Transplant Institute, Orlando, FL, 5University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, PA, 6Texas Children's, Houston, TX, 7Columbia University, NY, 8Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, PA, 9Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, ON, Canada

OA10 – Post Liver Transplant Complication

  • OA10.3 | Single Cell and Spatial Genomics Reveal T Cell Priming, Spatially Differentiated Networks and Novel Drug Targets in Early T Cell Mediated Liver Transplant Rejection
    R. Sindhi, M. Ningappa, A. Zeevi, D. Murali, G. Mazariegos, C. Ashokkumar, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, PA

OA16 – Advances in HLA Research

  • OA16.1 | Value of HLA Class II Combined Molecular Mismatch Score for Immune Risk Stratification in Kidney Transplantation
    K. Louis1, M. Ellison2, G. Divard3, Z. Demir4, S. Bandstra5, M. Niemann5, Q. Xu2, A. Loupy3, A. Zeevi2, C. Lefaucheur3, 1Paris Institute for Transplantation and Organ Regeneration (PITOR), Paris, France, 2University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, PA, 3Paris Institute for Transplantation and Organ Regeneration (PITOR), France, 4INSERM, Paris Institute for Transplantation and Organ Regeneration (PITOR), Paris, France, 5PIRCHE AG, Berlin, Germany, Germany

OA24 – Advances in Pediatric Kidney Transplant

  • OA24.2 | Large Scale Urinary Metabolomic Screening in the Prospective Multicenter VIRTUUS Children’s Study
    Q. Guo, C. Wang, A. Chung, B. Maden, E. Stimson, J. Motter, A. Moudgil, E. Ingulli, P. Grimm, P.S. Verghese, D.K. Hooper, J. Smith, D. Matossian, S. Kizilbash, R.M. Lestz, P.L. Weng, T. Blydt Hansen, M.P. Snyder, J. Kumar, S. Amaral, B. Keating

OA27 – Living Donor Kidney Public Awareness and Access

  • OA27.4 | Impact of a Living Donor Coach on Living Donor Engagement and Racial Disparities in Kidney Transplantation
    B. McKaig1, S. X. Liu1, E. V. Thomas2, H. Wiberg3, M. Molinari4, A. Ganoza4, A. Cherukuri4, C. Puttarajappa4, A. Tevar4, 1University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, 2University of Pittsburgh, School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA, 3Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 4University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, PA

OA28 – Reduced Sized Grafts, Living and Deceased Livers

  • OA28.2 | Over One Thousand Consecutive Living Donor Hepatectomies over 24 Years at a Single Institution- The Impact of ERAS Protocols on Donor Recovery
    V. Gunabushanam1, S. Ganesh2, M. Molinari1, R. Cruz Jr1, A. Tevar1, V. Sethi1, A. Ganoza1, C. Hughes1, A. Humar1, 1Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, 2Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA

OA33 – Kidney Biomarkers, Imaging, and Engineering

  • OA33.5 | A Multiclass Machine Learning Model with Allospecific B-Cells and T-Cells Predicts Antibody- and T-Cell-Mediated Rejection (ABMR, TCMR) After Kidney Transplantation (KT)
    B. Nibhanupudy1, G. Gupta2, B. W. Higgs3, B. Spishock3, C. Ashokkumar4, R. Sindhi5, A. Zeevi6, V. Rohan7, 1AdventHealth Transplant Institute, FL, 2Virginia Commonwealth University, VA, 3Plexision, PA, 4Plexision, Pittsburgh, PA, 5Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, PA, 6University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, PA, 7Northwestern Memorial Hospital, IL

OA44 – Liver Malignancies

  • OA44.7| Enhancing National Liver Review Board (NLRB) Efficiency by Assessing Not Auto Approved Hepatocellular Carcinoma Medical Urgency Exceptions
    B. Schumacher1, E. Schnellinger1, K. Gauntt2, S. Shah3, J. Pomposelli4, S. Biggins5, 1United Network for Organ Sharing, Richmond, VA, 2Donor Network of Arizona, Phoenix, AZ, 3Massachusetts General Hospital, MA, 4University of Colorado Denver, CO, 5University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA
  • OA44.8 | Tumor Biology-Driven Recipient Selection Determines Outcomes in Liver Transplantation for Colorectal Liver Metastases
    M. M. Byrne, C. Jimenez-Soto, M. Chávez-Villa, M. Dokus, J. Martens, C. J. Wehrle, C. G. Pratt, A. Kassam, W. Archie, F. Aucejo, J. Jones, K. P. Croome, Z. C. Dietch, D. Borja-Cacho, A. Pillai, R. N. Wesson, M. E. Facciuto, S. S. Florman, R. C. Quillin III, L. Machado, T. Uemura, D. Al-Adra, D. Vrochides, J. P. Rocca, B. Samstein, R. N. Barth, C. B. Hughes, A. Humar, B. A. Belt, K. Tomiyama, T. B. Baker, L. I. Ruffolo, R. Hernandez-Alejandro, American Registry for Transplant Oncology (ARTx-Onc)

IVS014 – Multiorgan Transplantation in Pediatrics

  • IVS014.1 | Indications/Outcomes/Future Directions of Pediatric Multiorgan Transplant
    Armando Ganoza, MD, UPMC - Montefiore, PA, USA

IVS065 – State-of-the-Art Consensus Update

  • IVS065.1 IPTA Consensus Update
    Michael Green, MD, MPH, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, US

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