A Strong Backbone for a New Program Institutional Capabilities of New York Presbyterian Hospital New York Presbyterian Hospital, created in January 1998, unites the clinical and research expertise of two world-renowned teaching medical institutions–New York-Cornell and Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Centers. Their combined strength in transplantation is unsurpassed, with established and successful programs for heart, heart-lung, kidney, lung, and pancreas transplantation. Clinical and support staffs at both campuses offer expertise in all aspects of solid organ transplant, including diagnostic assessment, surgery, immunosuppression and organ procurement. New York Presbyterian Hospital’s CLDT is an active participant in the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and the New York Center for Liver Transplantation (the Consortium). Dr. Jean C. Emond plays an active role in the Consortium and is currently chairing the Regional Liver Transplant Review Board, which reviews listings for liver transplantation to ensure compliance with UNOS policies. The Hospital’s organ donor procurement program is directed by William Stubenbord, M.D. Babies & Children’s Hospital offers all pediatric specialty services, including medicine, surgery, intensive care, trauma, anesthesia, cardiology and cardiac surgery, and is among the most active hepatobiliary services in the United States. In the coming year, the facilities at B&CH will undergo a multi-million dollar renovation to ensure clinical leadership into the new century. Operating suites in the Milstein Hospital Building and Babies & Children’s Hospital have been designated and staffed for liver transplant procedures in adults and children. Both Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Weill Medical College of Cornell University are leaders in the science of immuno-suppression and its clinical application for heart, renal and, most recently, pancreatic transplantation. Milan Kinkhabwala, M.D., spearheads this applied research. The Columbia-Presbyterian Immunogenetics Laboratory, directed by Nicole Suciu-Foca, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology, and a comparable facility at New York-Cornell headed by Mannikkam Suthanthiran, M.D., will support immunologic assessments of liver transplant patients. Dr. Suthanthiran, one of the preeminent transplant physicians in the nation and the current editor of the journal Transplantation, will be a key collaborator for scientific and immunologic issues. Howard Worman, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine and Anatomy and Cell Biology, and Arthur Magun, M.D., Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, both at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, supervise an active liver disease teaching clinic. Extensive family support is an integral part of all New York Presbyterian Hospital transplantation programs. Ronald McDonald House is available to families undergoing liver transplantation. Hotel rooms for family members are also available in the Milstein Hospital Building and Babies & Children’s Hospital. Nearby hotel accommodations, with shuttle service transport offered to and from the Columbia-Presbyterian campus, are available.