Children’s Mercy Re-Aligns Transplant Units

Children’s Mercy announced this morning that it had established a new organization for its transplant patients, the Brendan Tripp Elam Transplant Center.

The hospital issued a statement saying that the new structure would bring together “the collective strengths, knowledge and experience of their liver, kidney and heart transplant teams” to improve the overall level of care. Funding to make the center possible came from the family of Brendan Tripp Elam, received a liver transplant at Children’s Mercy in 2012, when he was 10 years old.

Charles Roberts, the hospital’s executive medical director, noted that Children’s Mercy had consistently ranked nationally by U.S. News & World Report as among the best pediatric transplant programs.  “Now is the time to combine all of these individual efforts into a single organized program,” Roberts said.

The center, officials said, will allow Children’s Mercy to sharpen its focus on transplantation research, educate the next generation of transplant physicians and surgeons, provide long-term patient support, and aid in recruiting transplant experts who can further the hospital’s efforts for development of novel therapies and approaches.

Elizabeth Reed, who has been director of pediatric hematology and oncology at Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Ky., was introduced as the center’s new administrative director.