Editorial introductions

Abstract

Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation was launched in 1996. It is part of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The field of organ transplantation is divided into 18 sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. Here we are pleased to introduce the Section Editors for this issue. SECTION EDITORS Ernest van HeurnErnest van HeurnErnest van Heurn is a transplant surgeon and Professor at the Maastricht University Medical Centre in the Netherlands. He qualified as Medical Doctor at Leiden University, the Netherlands, in 1988 and was a fellow at the cardiothoracic transplant department of Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, UK (Sir Terence English) afterwards. He received his formal specialist training in general surgery and later in transplant surgery from Professor Gauke Kootstra at the Maastricht University Medical Centre, where he also obtained his PhD degree in 1997. Dr van Heurn succeeded his former chief as head of the surgical transplantation department and the organ preservation laboratory in 2002. Next to his clinical work as transplant surgeon, he is trainer-surgeon of the national abdominal organ procurement teams and responsible for regional organ donation and procurement in the Maastricht area. His research interests include kidney transplantation from donors after cardiac death, organ preservation and renal ischaemia reperfusion injury. His research group focuses on transplantation of marginal kidneys, particularly of ischaemically damaged kidneys from donors after cardiac death. The emphasis is on kidney preservation techniques, viability testing and strategies to improve kidney function before or immediately after transplantation, which are studied both clinically and in animal models. Ernest van Heurn is member of the Editorial Board of several international journals and is presently one of the chairs of the European expert panel to provide recommendations for transplantation of kidneys from donors after cardiac death. Jeffrey L. PlattJeffrey L. PlattJeffrey L. Platt, M.D. is Professor of Surgery and of Microbiology at the University of Michigan, USA. He co-directs the Transplantation Biology Program. Dr Platt graduated from the University of Southern California School of Medicine, USA and trained in pediatrics (Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, USA) and nephrology (University of Minnesota, USA). Dr Platt's research addresses such questions as how T cells and B cells and their products interact with tissues to cause disease, how these interactions induce protection against further injury (accommodation), how novel technologies can be directed at replacing organ function and restoring immunological fitness and how fusion of one cell with another impacts on genomic integrity and cellular function. Dr Platt has published 550 papers and 4 books. He is a long standing member of the American Society of Nephrology, the American Heart Association, the FASEB (Immunology and Experimental Pathology), the Association of American Physicians and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (USA). Anton I. SkaroAnton I. SkaroAfter completing a multi-organ transplant surgery fellowship at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA, Dr Skaro was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery. He performs adult and pediatric abdominal solid organ transplants at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, USA. Dr Skaro's clinical and academic interests have evolved and are now focused on risk stratification and the econometrics of liver, and kidney transplantation with an emphasis on utilization of organs donated after cardiac death and risk aversion in transplantation. As his interests shifted toward risk stratification in transplantation, he was appointed as the Director of Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement and Associate Director of Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation at the Comprehensive Transplant Center of Northwestern University. The advances in risk assessment particularly relating to donation after cardiac death (DCD) liver transplantation have been recognized nationally. Dr Skaro has been acknowledged as an expert in the field of Donation after Cardiac Death, having been invited to present at the American Transplant Congress, Academic Surgical Congress, and American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Meeting. Furthermore, he has published several reports examining the economic and clinical outcomes of DCD liver transplant which appear in Surgery, Liver Transplantation, Annals of Surgery and the Journal of Hepatology. Dr Skaro has more recently focused on investigating the unintended consequences of regulatory oversight including risk averse transplant center behavior. Dr Skaro is an active member in multiple nationally based committee efforts sanctioned by the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, the United Network for Organ Sharing, and the Health Resources and Services Administration including the Standards Committee, Reimbursement Committee, Operations and Patient Safety Committee, and Donor Management Taskforce.