Dear IPTA Members,

We're pleased to share that the SMARTER Initiative has curated a series of enriching programs for this month's focus on pediatric pancreatic transplantation:

1. Virtual Pediatric Solid Organ Transplant Initiative Seminar on "Total Pancreatectomy with Islet Autotransplantation" by Srinath Chinnakotla, MD, MBA
2. SMARTER Initiative Podcast on Pediatric Pancreatic Transplantation
3. Pancreatic Transplantation Multiple Choice Question Bank

Visit the SMARTER Initiative Page

Visit the Question bank page

We encourage active participation in these educational activities led by experts in the field. Thank you for your commitment to ongoing learning.

The Outreach Committee has had a productive 2023, and plans several exciting initiatives this year!

Outreach Program:
Two Outreach Program transplant centre partnership awards were announced in 2023 after scoring many excellent applications. In addition to the funds granted, the Outreach Committee and IPTA/ DICG facilitated the signing of the Declaration of Istanbul, by the emerging centre teams, for the first time in their respective countries.

Visit the Outreach Program Page

Outreach Fellowship:
We have begun the new year by announcing the opening of applications for the 2024 Fellowship awards, a financial grant (up to $5000 USD) for 2 physicians, surgeons, nurses or allied health professionals from low or low middle income countries to spend 3 months with a mentor learning a new clinical or research skill. The application process is simple with an online form to be filled by the fellowship applicant and the mentor. The deadline for submitting applications is May 1st 2024. Outreach Committee members are happy to guide applicants through the process.

Click here to apply

Outreach Mentors needed:
Interest in our Outreach Program partnerships and Outreach Fellowship awards has grown significantly! Last year, we received multiple applications from emerging transplant centres asking to be paired with mentors. Although we managed to successfully pair each applicant, we have realized the need to build a list of mentors willing to volunteer their expertise to support the global growth of pediatric transplant. For the first time mentors can apply through an online form and state if they would like to be considered as supporting centres for the Outreach Program partnerships or as hosts for Outreach fellows. We would like to get the word out to all transplant experts!

click here to apply

Promoting ‘Global Forum’ article publications:
The global forum article type was created by the editors of Pediatric Transplantation to showcase global perspectives from emerging transplant centres. The Outreach Committee would like to promote Global Forum article submissions as an excellent opportunity for transplant centres from low resource settings to publish important country specific data, outcomes and unique challenges. Our committee will solicit articles personally, and will encourage outreach program pairs and outreach fellows to write Global Forum papers. Prospective authors of Global Forum articles should be assured that their submission will go through a proper peer review process.

Collaborations:
We currently collaborate with the Publications Committee and the Ethics Committee to contribute in ways, big or small, to achieve IPTA’s goals for promoting pediatric transplantation around the world. We are also involved in Advocacy efforts from within IPTA’s strategic planning group.

As the new year has arrived, the ID CARE Committee would like to share some of the accomplishments we have had in 2023, along with on-going initiatives to look forward to as the year progresses.

Since our last newsletter, our members presented a poster at the 2023 American Transplant Congress on preventive strategies for Toxoplasma gondii after transplantation. While trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole is the most common drug employed for prevention, perhaps not too surprising, the dosing used, and duration of prophylaxis were highly variable among different centers and organ types. Dr. Ben Hanish, a former member of the ID CARE Committee and part of the IPTA ID Community, led the initiative and is finishing a manuscript that is currently in draft form. So be on the lookout for it in coming months!

Several former and current members of the ID CARE group are analyzing data from an IPTA survey on prophylaxis strategies used after pediatric liver transplantation. This was put into abstract form by Dr. Lara Danziger-Isakov and submitted to ATC 2024. We are optimistic that it will be accepted so please support your colleagues. If you attend the ATC, be on the lookout for that poster and stop by to enjoy it and share your thoughts.

Collaboration is a vital aspect of IPTA, and the ID CARE group has always valued the strategic importance of collaboration. Towards this end one of our first official collaborations with the broader ID community of experts is to formulate case based practical guidelines on dealing with tuberculosis before and after transplantation under the leadership of Dr. Upton Allen.

We are delighted that our member Jessica Brennan is leading a collaboration with the Allied Professional committee to develop safe living strategies for adolescents and teens after transplantation. The teenage years are often filled with angst and a of feeling of invincibility which is counter to good decision-making, particularly after transplantation. For this reason, we think having some practical guidance to help during this period will be valuable.

A request came from outside the ID CARE Committee to help with pointers dealing with our patients who have anatomic or functional asplenia. This is particularly timely as new vaccines are available in some countries against pneumococcus and meningococcus. With this in mind, our ID CARE Committee Fellow member, Dr. Gabriela Espinoza-Candelaria, is taking the lead on this project and is a reminder to all trainees that you too can be active in IPTA.

Other infectious disease topics being tackled by the group include cholangitis guidelines and review of increased numbers of pneumocystis cases in our patients.

Finally, it seems that the ID members were so busy caring for children with respiratory viruses this year that we were too late to put out guidance. But fear not - in the Spring we will start to have our group review updates on prevention and the immunology of severe infection.

So, stay tuned, and remember - wash your hands, promote vaccination for prevention of infection, and stay healthy!

Active members of the IPTA are integral in continuing to further our mission of advancing the science and practice of pediatric transplantation worldwide in order to improve the health of all children who require such treatment. Our committees are responsible for setting and working towards yearly goals and objectives that will positively contribute to knowledge sharing amongst our peers practicing in the field of pediatric transplantation.

Committee members are appointed by the IPTA Council and are invited to serve 2-year terms effective May 2024.

All expressions of interest will be reviewed and decisions will be made with consideration to gender, geographic region, specialty, organ, stage of career, and skill sets in the expressions of interest. We appreciate all expressions of interest, but we may not be able to accept all interested parties to their committee(s) of choice.

Please click the link below for more information on joining an IPTA Committee.

The deadline to apply to an IPTA Committee is April 1st 2024.

Click here to apply