SPLIT’s mission is to improve outcomes in children receiving liver transplantation through research, improving care, training and mentoring, and supporting children and families.

We do this by:

1. Gaining new knowledge through observational and translational research, and clinical trials
2. Leveraging the collective data from the SPLIT registry
3. Improving care delivery by application of new knowledge and reducing variation in care
4. Training and mentoring junior physicians, surgeons, multi-disciplinary professionals, and clinical/research coordinators
5. Advocating for children who require or have received a liver transplant.

The almost 30-year history of the organization started as a Pediatric Liver Transplant Database Advisory Board Meeting in 1995 in Marina Del Rey, California. A dozen leaders in the field of pediatric liver transplantation, led by Co-Chairs Dr. Sue McDiarmid and Dr. Samuel So, created a voluntary and cooperative research registry network of pediatric liver transplant centers. Data from this registry was used to develop the Pediatric End-Stage Liver Disease (PELD) Score. The first patient was enrolled in the SPLIT registry in December 1995. Support in the initial data collection was obtained by partners in the industry invested in the health and well-being of children with end-stage liver disease.

In 2004, Studies of Pediatric Liver Transplantation received National Institutes of Health (NIH)/ National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) funding that brought in more than 40 sites and the Emmes Corporation.

In the short span of 5 years, SPLIT was able to answer specific scientific questions with a focus on patient and graft survival, graft function, immunosuppressive therapy trends, long-term outcomes and health-related quality of life.

In its third decade, under the leadership of John Bucuvalas and John Magee SPLIT made multiple changes to be well-positioned for growth in the future. The Registry became center-funded, allowing more centers to join and benchmark their own quality metrics against other centers.

In 2018 with the efforts of Vicky Ng, George Mazariegos and Simon Horslen SPLIT moved from a REGISTRY to an International SOCIETY. SPLIT now became a membership-driven organization in partnership with The Transplantation Society, and a formal name revision to The Society of Pediatric Liver Transplantation. This allowed the society to be a legal self-governing organization with administrative and infrastructural support from The Transplantation Society.

Through our Spring Annual Meeting and engaged committee work, SPLIT creates community, mentorship, support for research and scholarship, education, advocacy and engagement of patients, families, and engaged partners. Our goal is to be the international voice of expertise and advocacy for pediatric liver transplantation.

As of mid-October 2024, SPLIT has 457 members, from 33 countries -- triple since we joined TTS in 2019 -- and 45 SPLIT Centers.

PFEP has focused on:

• Advocacy
• Monthly conference calls
• Closed Social Media group – active discussion throughout the month
• Surveys
• SPLIT annual conference for PFEP
• Email alerts of upcoming meetings, surveys, administration activities
• New projects under the guidance of SPLIT Committee (ie PFEP Guidebook)