September - University of Nebraska

TO: The Board of Regents Addendum IX-A-1
Academic Affairs
MEETING DATE: September 5, 2008
SUBJECT: Establishment of the Center for Transplantation Medicine
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Approval is requested to establish the Center for Transplantation
Medicine
PREVIOUS ACTION: None
EXPLANTATION: The University of Nebraska Medical Center has established itself as
one of the leading academic transplant centers within the United
States. The transplant program has also allowed us to broaden our
care of patients with organ failure to incorporate not only organ
replacement but also a variety of non-transplant medical and surgical
therapies. The transplant physicians involved come from many
departments within the medical school. The complexity of operating
multiple transplant programs with more personnel, performing more
transplants in an era of increased competition and scarce resources,
requires a new structure for transplantation on this campus.
PROJECT COST: $25,000 per year
SOURCE OF FUNDS: Internal reallocation
Hand-in-hand with the growth of the clinical enterprise has been the
development of both the educational and scientific arms. In terms of
education, there are now three dedicated transplant fellowship training
programs that involve surgery, hepatology and infectious diseases. In
research, the transplant programs were initially primarily focused on
patient outcomes. We have been successful in recruiting physician
scientists and this has resulted in a strong basic science effort funded
by NIH grants.
It is the vision of a Transplant Center that would create an academic
vessel that would facilitate our educational, scientific and clinical
missions. Specifically our goals would include:
• Education and training
• Support and development of transplant-related research
• Develop, support and promote clinical enterprise
There are other important benefits including:
Facilitate community outreach and service
Recruitment and retention of faculty members
Administrative structure focused on transplantation
Ability to pursue a capital campaign for this specific area
The Center for Transplantation Medicine has received the unanimous
approval of the Council of Academic Officers.