A Word From the Director
The Emory Transplant Center (ETC) continues to mark extraordinary accomplishments in both the clinical and academic arenas, and - as is our hallmark - in the integration of the two. Of particular note in Fiscal Year (FY) 2009, ETC performed more transplants than ever before. As part of this, we doubled our liver transplants, which is in direct response to our having assembled a nationally recognized liver transplant team of surgeons and hepatologists whose efforts have transformed clinical care and quality outcomes for liver transplant patients. Transplant admission length of stay has dropped from 17 to 9 days (median) with ICU stays diminishing from 6 to 2 days. Intra-operative blood product utilization has decreased from a median of 9 to 4 units and intubation times from 24.5 to 17 hours. Readmissions within the first 30 days have decreased from 0.32 to 0.11 per population. These remarkable quality improvements occurred alongside dramatically increased liver transplant volumes. We are excited to provide these outstanding services and high quality care for our patients. In the Transplant Center Outpatient Clinic, transplant candidates, recipients and donors continue to receive coordinated care from surgeons, nephrologists, hepatologists, cardiologists, pulmonologists, psychiatrists, dermatologists, infectious disease specialists, nurses, pharmacists, and social workers in a single location. ETC Physicians and Surgeons continue to perform pediatric transplants at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, which, as of December 2008, is the 4th largest pediatric transplant center in the US, ranking in the Top 5 for the eighth consecutive year.
On the academic side, our investigators and programs continue to make major contributions. Our extramural funding is growing robustly despite declining federal funding trends. Our total program funding is now over $19 million (FY 09), an impressive increase of more than 134% since FY 04 ($8.1 million). This vitality stems from the unique strength of the ETC - the translation of quality scientific research to patient care - facilitated by unparalleled collaborations, and faculty and staff recruitment, retention and development. We continue to excel in exceptional recruitment and growth, reaching a high of 55 faculty members during FY 09, all working towards an ever-increasing level of success.
Last year, I challenged us to define the next phase of the ETC journey - to become the leading transplant center in the US. Since we began this dialog across the Center last Fall, the world has changed. We face difficult times in this country, and this has affected us all. Our patients and their families face job loss and insecurity, challenges finding the resources for care, and loss of insurance. There has been a significant impact on our organization. The decline in the endowment has resulted in a loss of capital and budget that places us squarely in a time of restraint. We are all being challenged to do more with less. It is especially at a time like this that we must focus on our core purpose and mission - a focus on our patients and a focus on our people. The three fundamental areas in which we must excel to lead have not changed: we must be the best place to come to receive a transplant, the best place to work, and the best home for investment as we seek to develop innovative solutions to address the major unmet needs of patients through our research and innovative approaches to multi-disciplinary care delivery.
I ask you to join me in renewing our commitment to this mission. We are fortunate to have exceptional team members across the ETC, and our achievements are vibrant examples of what can be accomplished when a diverse and dedicated team pursues a common goal of transforming health and healing. Continued challenges and numerous opportunities await us in the year ahead. I applaud the remarkable and collaborative work of all of the members of the Emory Transplant Center and am pleased and proud to present the outcome of our work for fiscal year 2009 in this Annual Report.
Christian P. Larsen, MD, DPhil
| Download the Annual Report from the Director. (PDF 774K)  |
