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James Burdick, MD., keynote |
An old friend of Hopkins transplant patients will be the keynote speaker at the annual patient conference in May. James Burdick, M.D., director of the Division of Transplantation, at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will return to tell attendees about recent changes in transplantation from a national perspective.
Dr. Burdick, formerly a full-time professor of surgery/transplantation at Hopkins, received the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) lifetime achievement award in 2002 and is world-renowned for research in end stage kidney disease.
The conference will offer patients at all stages of the transplant process information, fellowship with other patients, support for the situations patients and families encounter, and the ability to talk directly with a roster of experts from Hopkins and elsewhere.
The program offers a variety of sessions. Transplant insurance experts from the Hopkins Patient Accounting Office will attend to present a session to answer the most common questions families have. Caregivers can attend a lecture on how to manage themselves and help their patient through the process. Nutrition and medication, two topics that are perennial conference favorites, will help families understand how to manage each critical health component. A UNOS representative will discuss the latest policy changes in the allocation of organs and regulations that cover recipient criteria.
Each organ group will be able to hear an update from a Hopkins expert on new developments in their particular area.
Bridges Spring 2004
