Dr. Alonso comes with Dr. Whitington to Children's from the University of Chicago Hospitals. Dr. Superina comes from the University of Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. We are also very fortunate to have Dr. Alonso join the team. By adding his talents to those we already have on the current transplantation teams, Children's is assured of becoming an international referral center for pediatric transplantation within a very short time. The new liver transplantation team will join Children's nationally recognized programs in stem cell transplantation, kidney and heart transplantation, led by nationally known experts in those areas.
Plans are underway to begin doing intestinal and lung transplants within the next year.
With the combined strength of these programs, Children's is on its way to international prominence as a center for pediatric transplantation. The significance of having many pediatric transplantation programs in one place is that it allows the transplant teams to learn from each other and share information to improve patient care management, research and education. As soon as the transplantation center is fully operative, Children's will be one of just a few pediatric hospitals in the U.S. that can provide the full array of transplant and support services designed for young patients and their families. Superina, Alonso and Whitington also plan to develop a national referral center for hepatobiliary surgery within the next two years. The new program at Children's joins the outstanding program serving adults at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, directed by Michael Abecassis, MD, to create a Northwestern University Medical School program that can provide outstanding care for all patients needing liver transplants, regardless of age.