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Four Organizations Form Collaborative Solid Organ Transplant Program
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Froedtert Hospital, the Medical College of Wisconsin and the BloodCenter of Wisconsin have formed a joint solid organ transplant program to care for pediatric and adult patients in need of a solid organ transplant.
Johnny C. Hong, MD, FACS, has been recruited from the Ronald Reagan University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) to head the collaborative program. Dr. Hong will serve as director of solid organ transplant at Froedtert Hospital and Children’s Hospital, and has also been named to the advisory board of the Wisconsin Donor Network at the BloodCenter of Wisconsin. He also has been named the first Mark B. Adams Professor of Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Dr. Hong comes to the Medical College, Froedtert and Children’s Hospital from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he served as director of the liver transplantation service and the living donor liver transplant program. He was also an associate professor in the Department of Surgery at UCLA (division of liver and pancreas transplantation).
Dr. Hong is a highly accomplished and innovative clinician and researcher, specializing in the area of liver transplantation. He was awarded a career development award from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases for his work in the study of hepatic reperfusion injury, which can be a fatal event when blood supply is restored to a transplanted liver during the transplantation procedure. Dr. Hong is internationally known for his expertise in all aspects of abdominal transplantations and is widely published in his field.
“Dr. Hong has devoted his career to advancing the care of patients with liver disease through innovations in transplantation, and we are pleased to add his expertise and passion for patient care to our superb multidisciplinary liver program,” said Douglas B. Evans, MD, the Donald C. Ausman Family Foundation Professor and Chair in Surgery at the Medical College.
Joseph E. Kerschner, MD, Medical College of Wisconsin Dean of the Medical School and Executive Vice President, added, “A spirit of collaboration between the Medical College and our clinical partners at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and Froedtert Hospital made this unique recruitment possible. The newly established joint solid organ transplant program at both Froedtert and Children’s is expected to help improve care for our pediatric and adult patients in need of a solid organ transplant.”
Dr. Hong received his medical degree from University of the East-Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center in the Philippines in 1991. He completed a residency in surgery at the National Kidney & Transplant Institute in Quezon City, Philippines, in 1994, and went on to complete a research fellowship in transplant surgery at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston in 2000. Dr. Hong then did a secondary residency in surgery at University of Texas Medical School at Houston, and completed a fellowship in transplantation/hepatobiliary surgery at the UCLA School of Medicine in 2007.
“Dr. Hong’s appointment will allow for an even greater level of program collaboration with our partners on the medical campus,” said, Keith T. Oldham, MD, surgeon-in-chief and medical director of surgery at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, professor and chief of pediatric surgery and vice chairman of surgery at the Medical College. “With his years of surgical experience and tremendous expertise in abdominal transplantation in adults and children, this is a winning partnership for patients and families.”
Cathy Buck, Froedtert Hospital president, said, “Dr. Hong comes to our campus from one of the nation’s leading transplant programs. His expertise and leadership will be instrumental as we coordinate efforts with our partners at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Children’s Hospital to offer patients the highest quality care and the newest innovations in solid organ transplantation.”
“BloodCenter of Wisconsin is excited to have someone of Dr. Hong’s caliber join the medical community,” said Gilbert C. White, executive vice president, BloodCenter of Wisconsin and director of Blood Research Institute. “BloodCenter is an active participant and partner with the Medical College and Froedtert and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in their transplantation program by providing HLA testing for the program and serving as the organ procurement organization for the transplant programs in southeastern Wisconsin. We are eager to support Dr. Hong as he works to develop the transplant program for the patients in our region and the state.”
Dr. Hong comes to Milwaukee as the inaugural holder of the Mark B. Adams Chair in Surgery. Dr. Adams led the division of transplant surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin for 17 years and was appointed chairman of surgery in 2003. In 2001, he was honored with a Distinguished Service Award, the Medical College's highest honor, for his outstanding contributions to transplant surgery and national leadership status as a highly regarded medical educator and researcher. Dr. Adams died in 2007.
Dr. Hong’s appointment is effective Oct. 1, 2012.
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