SPLIT Committees

Advocacy Committee Chair

Amber Hildreth, MD

Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego, United States

Committee Update
The SPLIT Advocacy Committee is collecting feedback and generating consensus opinions on UNOS proposals currently open for Public Comment – including on the first update of the PELD score in 20 years and some important changes to Status 1A and 1B criteria (all of which we are supporting). Click here to learn more, and submit your own comments!

We are also encouraging all members of the pediatric transplant community to weigh in on how children should be prioritized in UNOS’ upcoming shift to a Continuous Distribution system. Click here to share your voice, and participate in an important prioritization exercise about kidney and pancreas:


ABOUT THE COMMITTEE

The mission of SPLIT’s Advocacy Committee is to advocate on behalf of all children awaiting liver transplantation or after liver transplant. Our objectives are to (1) eliminate preventable waitlist morbidity and mortality through a data-driven approach and (2) collaboratively address actionable patient issues surrounding equitable transplant care access, evaluation, pre- and post-transplant management, and organ allocation policy. Our recent activities include: developing SPLIT responses to UNOS Public Comment proposals on allocation changes that impact children, collaborating with the SPLIT Patient and Family Voice group on social media campaigns to raise awareness and support for issues that affect children with liver transplants, and organizing an upcoming training webinar on addressing racial bias in healthcare. Please come work with us--bring your ideas and your advocate voices!


Education Committee Co-Chairs

Jody Weckwerth PA-C, RD

Mayo Clinic, United States


Alisha Mavis, MD

Duke University, United States

Committee Update
The Education Committee is currently planning the upcoming 2023 Meeting in Montreal, Canada, in October 2023.

ABOUT THE COMMITTEE

The Education committee has been a fun and productive group due to the dynamic and high-energy nature of the diverse committee members. We know that the SPLIT community cares deeply for the children and families that we serve, and so we humbly request that you help advance the clinical care mission by joining the Education Committee.

Get involved! Share your ideas, collaborative spirit, and passionate energy. For a mere 40-hour commitment per year, you’ll enjoy the SPLIT committee adventure.


Multi-Disciplinary RDS Committee Chair

Jessica Hollenbeck, RN

University of Michigan, United States
Multi-Disciplinary Committee Co-Chairs

Mary Riordan, RN

Lurie Childrens Hospital, United States


Dana Mannino, RN

A.I DuPont Hospital, United States

Committee Update
The Multi-Disciplinary Committee (formerly the Coordinators Committee and Allied Health Professionals Committee) continues to improve the overall timely entry of quality data into the SPLIT Registry, and promote coordinator and other (nonphysician) AHP engagement within SPLIT.

ABOUT THE COMMITTEE

The mission of the Multi-Disciplinary Committee (formerly the Coordinators Committee and Allied Health Professionals Committee (AHP)) is to improve the overall timely entry of quality data into the SPLIT Registry, and promote coordinator and other (nonphysician) AHP engagement within SPLIT. This mission is accomplished by identifying and overseeing educational opportunities, project study implementation, data collection, quality initiatives, and research opportunities. Over the next few years, it is our hope that we can partner with one another to help strengthen this group and the data we collect. This committee is important to get involved in because we are the backbone of the data. We all can learn from one another and continue to make the Multi-Disciplinary Committee successful for years to come.



Registry Committee Co-Chairs

James Squires, MD

Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh, United States


Susan Feist, RN, BSN, CCRC

Mattel Children's Hospital, UCLA, United States


Julie Economides, RN

Texas Children’s Hospital United States

ABOUT THE COMMITTEE

The SPLIT Registry Operations Committee (ROC) manages the SPLIT registry data which is the backbone for research and quality improvement efforts, including the SPLIT benchmarking tool. Our main aims are to maintain high-quality data to support SPLIT efforts and to provide support to SPLIT sites. We are working on optimizing the access to SPLIT data as well as efforts to merge SPLIT data with other databases.


Patient, Family and Engaged Partners Committee Chair

Brittany Munn

New York, United States


Quality Improvement and Clinical Care Committee Chair

Bernadette Vitola, MD

Medstar, United States

ABOUT THE COMMITTEE

SPLIT is a central driving force for understanding the standards of present practice and setting the framework for collaborative, and innovative progress in improving the quality and quantity of life for pediatric liver recipients. We have passionate experts from the pediatric liver transplant community who are dedicated to “moving the needle” in quality patient care. This objective is strategically accomplished by targeting challenging areas of liver transplantation that most impact outcomes such as life-threatening complications, benchmarking best practices, implementing the latest healthcare technologies, and facilitating a platform for quality improvement clinical projects that will provide substantive value to the SPLIT centers and the patients/families they serve. Past collaborative projects have disseminated high-performer practices in minimizing major surgical complications, shortening hospital length of stay, and standardizing quality program practices.


Research Committee Chair

Pamela Valentino, MD

Seattle Children's Hospital, United States

ABOUT THE COMMITTEE

The SPLIT Research Committee is driven by its vision to significantly impact the lives and care of children with liver transplant by innovative research. The Research Committee identifies, solicits, designs, and reviews research opportunities that leverage the SPLIT Registry and the collaborative SPLIT membership spirit to better the lives of children with liver transplant. The Research Committee is a productive group due to the dynamic and high-energy nature of the diverse committee members. Committee members are experienced Pediatric Hepatologists and Pediatric Liver Surgeons and experts from related domains (i.e Infectious Diseases)


Social

Contact

Staff Directory
+1-514-874-1717 x210
katie.tait@tts.org

Address

Society of Pediatric Liver Transplantation
c/o The Transplantation Society
740 Notre-Dame Ouest
Suite 1245
Montréal, QC, H3C 3X6
Canada