Transplant Nurse Manager, Children’s Mercy Hospital
Kansas City, Missouri, USA

Megan Faseler, BSN, RN, CPN, CCTC, is the Transplant Program Nurse Manager, overseeing the Liver, Kidney and Heart Transplant coordinators at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. After earning a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Kansas in 2004, she started her nursing career as a staff nurse on the Liver Transplant floor, where she found her passion for transplantation. She went on to spend 13 years as a Liver Transplant Coordinator prior to her current role working with all solid organ transplant programs at her center. Megan joined the SPLIT community in 2011 as a member and is now active with the SPLIT education committee as well as the Multi- D committee.

Nurse Practitioner, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center
Baltimore, MD, USA

Tina Thomas, CPNP, is a dedicated Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and Post-Liver Transplant Coordinator at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, a role she continues to serve in with dedication for over five years. During this time, she has been actively involved with SPLIT (Studies of Pediatric Liver Transplantation), contributing to the organization’s mission of advancing pediatric liver transplantation care. Tina joined the SPLIT Multi-D Committee and later the Webinar Committee to promote vital discussions on pediatric liver transplantation, focusing on comprehensive care that extends beyond the operating room to encompass the whole patient.

Clinical Pediatric Psychologist – Ochsner Children’s Hospital
New Orleans, LA, USA

Dr. Alexis Liberto practices pediatric psychology at Ochsner Health in New Orleans. She received her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Hawai`i Pacific University and her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Mississippi. She is part of Ochsner's pediatric multi-disciplinary solid organ transplant teams where she helps children and their families adapt and adjust to the changes that occur when diagnosed with a chronic medical condition and/or undergo organ transplantation. As a woman of color, Dr. Liberto is passionate about expanding access and services to underserved communities and helping families feel confident in effectively managing their healthcare.

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Medical Director of Pediatric Liver Transplant
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

Dr. Kathryn Smith is the Medical Director of Pediatric Liver Transplant at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, Maryland. She specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of liver disorders, such as primary sclerosing cholangitis, autoimmune hepatitis, Wilson’s disease, metabolic liver disease, biliary atresia, metabolic associated steatohepatitis, and acute liver failure. Dr. Smith is a trained pediatric transplant hepatologist, with special focus in caring for young liver transplant patients before and after surgery.

Dr. Smith obtained her medical degree at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, GA. She followed that by completing a residency in pediatrics at Jackson Memorial Hospital at the University of Miami. She next completed a fellowship in gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at Rady Children’s Hospital at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Smith completed her advanced fellowship in pediatric transplant hepatology at Benioff Children's Hospital at the University of California, San Francisco.

She is a member of Studies for Pediatric Liver Transplantation (SPLIT), North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition (NASPGHAN), and American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD), and the American Society of Transplantation (AST).

Dr. Smith has been the co-investigator in NIH, FDA, and pharmacy-initiated studies for children with liver disease and post-liver transplant, including Hepatitis C, MASLD, and cholestatic liver disease.

Clinical Professor of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine
Director Adolescent Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Program
Stanford Children’s Health, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
Palo Alto, California, USA

Dr. Janey S.A. Pratt, MD, FACS, FASMBS is a general surgeon who specializes in Robotic Surgery and the treatment of Pediatric Obesity with Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (MBS). She began her career in general surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she was a founding member of the MGH Weight Center. As surgical director she introduced minimally invasive MBS and adolescent MBS to MGH in 2001 and 2007 respectively. In 2011 Dr. Pratt took over as Director at the MGH Weight Center and continued to work on several national committees towards improving access and care of children with severe obesity. In 2016 Dr. Pratt moved to California where she began her work at Stanford University. As a Clinical Professor of Surgery, Dr. Pratt is involved in training Stanford medical students and residents both in the OR, in clinic, in simulation labs and in the classroom. Dr. Pratt is the Director of the Adolescent Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Program at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. This is an MBSAQIP accredited program in a free-standing children's hospital dedicated to the multidisciplinary care of children with obesity. Dr. Pratt has been involved in creating and updated guidelines for Adolescent MBS since 2005. In 2018 she was first author on the ASMBS Pediatric Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Guidelines. Dr. Pratt frequently lectures on Pediatric Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

Pediatric Psychologist, Assistant Professor
Nationwide Children’s Hospital/The Ohio State University
Columbus, OH, USA

Eileen Chaves, PhD, MSc, is a Pediatric Psychologist at Nationwide Children's Hospital in the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition (CHWN) and an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Chaves obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in Counseling Psychology from the University of Denver and a Master of Science in Counseling Studies from the University of Abertay Dundee (UK). Dr. Chaves’ clinical work and research focuses on better understanding how mental health and family dynamics affects the treatment of child and adolescent obesity. She has lectured nationally on the topics of weight bias and stigma and eating disorders/disordered eating in pediatric obesity. She currently serves on multiple national workgroups and committees within the American Psychological Association (APA) and Division 54 Society of Pediatric Psychology (SPP) addressing anti-racism in the community, in clinical work, and in research and was recently appointed to serve on APA’s Committee on Children, Youth, and Families (CYF). Dr. Chaves also serves as the Chair of Division 54's Obesity SIG. In addition, she serves at the Division 54 SPP representative to APA’s Interdivisional Healthcare Committee (IHC). Clinically, she works in the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition treating children and youth with obesity as well as in the multidisciplinary GI MASLD Clinic at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.