President-Elect

• Jonathan Hind - Unopposed
  Dr. Jonathan Hind is a paediatric Hepatologist at King’s College Hospital in London. He developed and leads the intestinal rehabilitation and transplant service there, having gained experience in Birmingham and Pittsburgh; and linking with Great Ormond Street Hospital. As deputy clinical director and governance lead at King’s he has gained leadership and management skills. He has served the IRTA as Councilor and Secretary-Treasurer, working on the society’s mission and values, transplant and IF registries, and successful CIRTA meetings. He is committed to the development of the society, encompassing members in all disciplines throughout the world and promoting high-quality care for patients.

Secretary-Treasurer

• Yaron Avitzur
  Dr. Avitzur is a Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto, and the Medical director of the joint program in Intestine Transplantation (adults and children) and of Intestine Rehabilitation and Transplantation at SickKids hospital. He’s an active member and leads national and international groups involved in policy and guideline development in intestine rehabilitation and transplantation. He serves as a councilor and a committee member in the IRTA and recently established and leads the IRTA Intestinal Failure Registry. He has published more than 120 peer reviewed papers and book chapters focusing on intestinal failure and liver and intestine transplantation.

• Tomaoki Kato
  Formerly the director of the pediatric liver and GI transplant at the University of Miami, Dr. Tomoaki Kato, Professor of Surgery (with tenure) is the Division Chief of Abdominal Organ Transplant at Columbia University. He has been one of the world leaders of intestinal rehabilitation and transplantation with a large clinical experience and more than 100 peer-reviewed journal publications in the field of intestinal transplantation. He has had significant contributions to the outcomes research and translational research of the field. He has served as a councilor for the IRTA (formerly ITA) for 4 years.

• Mihai Oltean
  Dr. Mihai Oltean is Associate Professor of Surgery at University of Gothenburg (Sweden). His research interests focus on experimental and clinical ischemia-reperfusion injury (kidney, liver, intestine), rejection monitoring after clinical intestinal transplantation and donor-related issues in transplantation. He obtained a doctorate in medicine (PhD) with a thesis on intestinal transplantation. He is a founding member of Intestinal Transplant Association (September 2003) and served in the IRTA Scientific Council (2014-2018) and the IRTA Council (2017-2021). He currently works at the Transplant Institute of the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg. Dr. Oltean held the position of Secretary General of the International Society for Experimental Microsurgery (2016-2018) and is its current President.

Councilor

• Ane Miren Andreas
  Dr. Ane Andres has been a pediatric transplant surgeon in Hospital La Paz (Madrid, Spain) since 2007, and is part of the team of one of the most active Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant centers in Europe. She is also part of the Pediatric Liver Transplant Unit and is also Associate Professor of Anatomy at University Autonoma of Madrid since 2010. Her research interests focus on cell therapy and intestinal transplantation in the search for operational tolerance and recently on developing a pediatric program with death-cardiac donors for intestinal transplantation at Hospital La Paz Institute for Health Research (IdiPAZ). She has obtained a doctorate in medicine (PhD) with a thesis on intestinal transplantation and rejection (2017). She is member of the Intestinal Transplant Association (IRTA) and has participated in all IRTA congresses since 2007, and contributed to the field with multiple publications.

• Carmen Capito
  Carmen Capito is a pediatric surgeon dedicated to liver and intestine transplantation at Necker Enfants Malades Hospital, Paris, France. After a fellowship at Necker, she has been appointed as consultant in hepatobiliary and digestive surgery since January 2015. As a trainee, she did a PhD on human pancreatic development and developed a model of pancreatic grafting in the SCID mouse.

• Rodrigo Sanchez Claria
  Dr. Rodrigo Sanchez Claria is the head surgeon of intestinal transplant and rehabilitation in Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Argentina He graduated medical school at the University El Salvador in Buenos Aires and performed his surgical residency at the Hospital Italiano in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He completed a clinical transplant fellowship at Hospital Italiano and went on to Omaha, Nebraska for 6 months as a visitor observer in intestinal transplant and rehabilitation and returned to his home country to develop the field. In the past few years, he has been very actively involved in local and regional transplant societies. He participated on the board of directors for 4 years at the Sociedad Argentina de Trasplantes (SAT), and currently participates on the board of intestinal transplant of the INCUCAI (Argentinian organization for procurement and transplant)

• Helen Evans
  Helen is a Paediatric Gastroenterologist/Hepatologist in Auckland, New Zealand. She is also Clinical Director of Medical Specialities. She has experience of intestinal transplant from several years training at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. In 2015 she was instrumental in establishing the New Zealand National Intestinal Failure Service. She is co-convenor for CIRTA 2021. Helen's main interests are in intestinal rehabilitation and quality improvement especially in cost containment of medical care in small economies. She has extensive committee experience and her membership on IRTA Council will be valuable in increasing visibility and representation of the Association in the Asia-Pacific region.

• Francisca Joly
  Dr. Francisca Joly is Professor in Nutrition at University of Paris VII and Head of the Gastroentérology Department at Hôpital Beaujon. Dr. Joly has a long-lasting interest in intestinal failure and transplantation and is medical coordinator of the Intestinal Transplantation Center for Adults in Paris. She also coordinates Home Parenteral Nutrition and the Reference centre for rare disease for adult patients in the Paris region. Dr. Joly is member of the Home Artificial Nutrition-Chronic Intestinal Failure Group of ESPEN and member of the Scientific committee of United European Gastroenterology (UEG) since 2018.

• Bev Kosmach-Park
  Beverly is the Clinical Nurse Specialist for liver and intestine transplantation at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. She has been actively involved in IRTA since the beginning of the association and most recently the AHP Ad Hoc representative 2017-21. Beverly’s leadership experience includes the Board of Directors of the International Transplant Nurses Society for 9 years, serving as President and Education Director, chair/co-chair of committees within the American Society of Transplantation (Allied Health, Pediatric CoP, Membership, ATC Planning Committee) and co-chair of the AHP committee of IPTA. She has over 25 years’ experience working with patients and families throughout the intestine transplant process and has been inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN).

• Lisa Sharkey
  Dr. Lisa Sharkey has been involved in the care of intestinal failure and transplant patients since 2013 and has been the lead physician of the Cambridge Intestinal Transplant programme for the past 3 years. She has published widely on the subject and given a number of national and international talks on intestinal transplant. She has also regularly contributed to the ITR and CIRTA congresses. She is a representative on the UK NHS advisory group and chairs the national listing meeting (NASIT). Her research interests include Intestinal Failure Associated Liver Disease and biomarkers for graft rejection.

• Mercedes Martinez
  Dr. Martinez obtained her medical degree in Cuba in 1997. After moving to the United States, she completed a Pediatric Residency and a Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition fellowship at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital. She is currently an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Columbia University and the Medical Director of the Intestinal Transplant Program at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York. Dr. Martinez is committed to improving the outcomes of intestinal transplant recipients through research and clinical innovation. She has served and led several national committees focusing on the research and care of transplant recipients for AASLD and is currently the Chair of the Hepatology committee for the North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition.

Ad Hoc AHP

• Christina Belza
  Christina has been a nurse practitioner for the past 12 years for the pediatric intestinal failure program at the Hospital for Sick Children. She manages patients on long-term parenteral nutrition and those with intestinal failure. She has been an active member of the IRTA Allied Health Committee and participates/attends CIRTA biannually. Christina is currently pursuing her PhD in clinical epidemiology with a focus on evaluating burden of care for caregivers of children with intestinal failure. Her research interests focus on evaluating long-term outcomes for children with intestinal failure and implementation of novel therapies to improve long-term morbidity and mortality.