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OU MEDICINE CREATES THE OKLAHOMA TRANSPLANT CENTER-BRINGS COMPREHENSIVE ABDOMINAL TRANSPLANTATION TO THE STATE'S MOST RENOWNED
ACADEMIC MEDICAL CENTER

OKLAHOMA CITY - OU Medicine announced today the creation of the Oklahoma Transplant Center at OU Medical Center.  The region's newest comprehensive abdominal transplant program will combine the existing adult Kidney transplant service and the state's only pediatric Kidney transplant program with Liver and Pancreas transplantation.

"With the Oklahoma Transplant Center, we have built a facility that is truly focused on the patient.  However, what we have created is far more than just bricks and mortar," said Anthony Sebastian, M.D., Director and Chief of the Oklahoma Transplant Center.  "It is the team of physicians and providers that collectively have over a century of experience in transplantation that will provide the most cutting-edge, innovative, and highest quality of care for patients requiring transplants in Oklahoma City, the state, and throughout the region."

Sebastian, who is also a transplant surgeon, will lead a team of transplant physicians that include, Harlan Wright, MD, Hepatologist and Medical Director of Liver Transplantation, Rajesh Kanagala, MD, Hepatologist, Puneet Sindhwani, MD, Urologist and Surgical Director of Kidney Transplantation, Shi-Feng Li, MD, Procurement Surgeon, Ben Cowley, MD, Nephrologist and Medical Director of Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation, and Martin Turman, MD, Pediatric Nephrologist and Medical Director of Pediatric Kidney Transplantation.

The team of physicians has been recognized as having the second best Liver transplant outcomes in the nation.  The Oklahoma Transplant Center, in collaboration with the Harold Hamm Oklahoma Diabetes Institute, the OU Cancer Institute, the state's only full-service Children's Hospital and access to the latest research from the College of Medicine, will continue to ensure a new approach and new advances in transplantation.

"OU Medical Center, in combination with Children's Hospital, offers our patients access to medical care that is not available anywhere else in the state," said Sebastian.  "With the latest medical equipment, a hospital dedicated to only treating children, access to the renowned specialists in OU Physicians and OU Children's Physicians, cutting-edge medical research and medical collaboration, this was the right decision for the transplant community."

As part of the commitment to the creation of the Oklahoma Transplant Center, OU Medical Center is investing $7 million for capital equipment and facilities dedicated to transplantation.  The Oklahoma Transplant Center will initially focus on liver, kidney, and pancreas transplantation, but plans on eventually expanding the program to include other solid organs for both pediatric and adult patients. 

http://www.oumedicine.com/body.cfm?ID=5275

Bangalore: St John's Research Institute (SJRI) in Bangalore has collaborated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to provide expertise and enable research on nutrition and lifestyle-related diseases in the Asian region.

IAEA's collaborating centre was inaugurated at SJRI on Thursday. “This is our first collaborating centre in nutrition in the world. We have chosen SJRI because of it is a centre where stable isotope technique is being used for nutrition-related research in a developing country,” said Lena Davidsson, Head of IAEA's Nutrition Section in the Division of Human Health.

Addressing presspersons after the inauguration of the centre, Ms Davidsson said the IAEA had taken on public health under its “Atoms for Peace” programme through the use of stable isotopes to research into public health and to monitor programmes.

“The IAEA has introduced the concept of collaborating centres to assist in implementing specific areas of its programme of research, development and training in nuclear technologies. We have formalised our relationship with SJRI today for better expertise and research,” she explained.

                                    Dr Lena Davidsson of IAEA presenting the plaque to Director Father Lawrence

“The research will enable expansion of the use of stable isotope techniques and evolution of these techniques to develop effective strategies to combat malnutrition in vulnerable population groups such as women and children,” she added.

Head of Biomedical Group in BARC K.B. Sainis said that this recognition was an excellent development for the country and fitting recognition for St John's.

SJRI Dean Anura V. Kurpad said that St John's has already been doing a great deal of research in nutrition with relation to chronic diseases and malnutrition. “We have trained several students from all around the world in the use of stable isotopic techniques and provided lecturers and experts for IAEA programs in Africa and Asia,” he said.

“The recognition is timely and has great expectations for St John's to be a nodal centre in developing and building capacity in this region. But this recognition also means a lot of responsibility,” he said.

Vice-Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) S. Ramananda Shetty, Associate Director of Biomedical Group in BARC, S.F. D'Souza, BARC's RCA Liaison Officer P.R. Unni, representative of WHO India office Nidhi Chaudhuri and staff of SJRI were present.

http://www.thehindu.com/2010/05/28/stories/2010052855990400.htm