San Antonio, TX (June 19,2012)…Matthias Kapturczak, M.D., Ph.D., medical director of the Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Programs at the Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital, a campus of Methodist Hospital, has been selected to serve on the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) Living Donor Committee.
UNOS is the private, non-profit organization that manages the nation’s organ transplant system under contract with the federal government. The Living Donor Committee develops policy and guidance related to the donation and transplantation of organs from living donors to recipients. The goal of the committee is to continue to improve the informed choice of prospective living donors, and the safety, protection and follow-up of all living donors.
“As a member of the UNOS Living Donor Committee, Dr. Kapturczak will play an important role in the success and efficiency of the U.S. organ transplantation system,” said Jaime Wesolowski, president and CEO of Methodist Healthcare. “It is a tremendous honor and reflects his work and personal commitment to organ transplantation.”
Dr. Kapturczak will represent Region 4, which includes Texas and Oklahoma, for a two-year term. Region 4 is one of 11 U.S. regions.
“In serving on the Living Donor Committee, I honor our patients who so unselfishly risk their lives to make life better for others,” said Dr. Kapturczak. “It’s a tremendously humbling experience.”
“With our region’s high Hispanic population, diabetes and obesity are significant transplantation issues,” he continued. “As a committee member, I will be able to share our concerns and experience with others.”
Dr. Kapturczak explained that he will work closely to monitor the safety issues of living donors and the long-term consequences of organ donation.
A member of the Texas Transplant Institute’s kidney transplant team at Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital (MSTH) since 2007, he also is an independent practitioner with the San Antonio Kidney Disease Center Physician Group in San Antonio.
Dr. Kapturczak served as an assistant professor of medicine and surgery and a transplant nephrologist in the Division of Nephrology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. During his academic career he published multiple manuscripts in the field of immunology of transplant rejection and autoimmunity. Dr. Kapturczak is board certified in internal medicine and nephrology. He is a member of the American Society of Transplantation, the American Society of Nephrology and other major professional organizations.
Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital has earned international acclaim for its outstanding kidney, liver and pancreas transplant programs, setting record numbers for volume and outcomes. In 2009 and 2010, MSTH performed the most living donor kidney transplants in the nation. MSTH has developed new opportunities for kidney patients who previously had to wait a long time and had little hope of receiving a kidney transplant. For more information on this outstanding program, visit www.TexasTransplant.org.