Organ transplant program honored, Davis, California

November 22, 2010. Tags: Awards & honors, Transplants

UC Davis Health System is recognized for its organ donation and transplant outcomes.

UC Davis Health System’s commitment to organ donation and transplant outcomes has been recognized with a 2010 silver Medal of Honor and a bronze Transplant Program Award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Service Administration.

The Medal of Honor went to UC Davis Medical Center for achieving and sustaining national goals for donation, including a donation rate of 75 percent or more of eligible donors. This is the fourth consecutive year that UC Davis has achieved this recognition.

The bronze award — given to the UC Davis Transplant Program — recognizes a combination of factors, including post-transplant survival rates, deceased donor transplant rates and waitlist mortality rates.

The medals were presented Nov. 3 at the Sixth National Learning Congress for the Donation and Transplantation Community of Practice held in Grapevine, Texas. UC Davis Medical Center was one of 307 hospitals nationwide to receive the organ-donation recognition. The transplant program was one of 157 in the nation recognized, and it was the only University of California program to receive an individual program award for kidney transplantation.

“We are honored to recognize these public-health stewards who offer such profound service to society,” said Howard K. Koh, Health and Human Services’ assistant secretary for health. “The awardees have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to quality and leadership that leaves a special legacy.”

On hand from UC Davis to receive the medals were Melvin Whitlock, donation coordinator; Barbara Prewitt, clinical nurse; Susan Edwards, clinical nurse; Virginia Jannicelli, donation coordinator; and Richard Perez, professor of surgery.

UC Davis’ success in organ donation and transplant outcomes can be attributed to a commitment to patient care at many levels within the medical center, including intensive care units, operating rooms and the transplant center, according to Allan D. Siefkin, chief medical officer for UC Davis Health System.