Transplant Learning Conference 2025

For the last 20 years, we have hosted an annual Transplant Learning Conference aimed at providing healthcare workers with crucial information, best practices, and the latest advancements in the field of kidney transplantation.

Last month, five of our specialists—along with members of our leadership team and Methodist Dallas Medical Center President, John Phillips—traveled to Puerto Rico to co-host this highly informative conference with Dorado Health. The event plays a crucial role in advancing transplant knowledge.

In conjunction with our Transplant Learning Conference, Dorado Health hosted a symposium on liver transplantation and invited our liver specialists to present on a variety of topics, including:

• MDMC & Puerto Rico's Transplant History

• Disparities in Transplant

• Road to Liver Transplantation

• Infection Prevention & Management

• Managing Patients with Cirrhosis

• Transplant & Hepatobiliary Surgery at MDMC

Providing vital liver transplant knowledge to healthcare workers in Puerto Rico continues our longstanding mission to elevate liver care in a region with significant need.

We continue to lay the groundwork for expanding our liver transplant services in Puerto Rico and are guided by more than four decades of work that brought us to this point. What began with Dr. Vergne-Marini and Dr. Dickerman back in 1983 continues to grow into a life-saving pathway to liver transplant—built on our transplant expertise and the unwavering dedication of frontline liver care providers in Puerto Rico

Sharing Their Kidney Transplant Knowledge

Dr. Christie Gooden, Transplant and Dialysis Access Surgeon, presented on Optimizing Dialysis Access: Best Practices for Cannulation and Ensuring Optimal Patient Outcomes as well as a section on Overcoming Obstacles: Managing High BMI in Kidney Transplant Candidates and Tailored Weight Loss Strategies.

Dr. Edward Dominguez, Transplant Infectious Disease Specialist, presented on: Protecting Transplant Recipients: Understanding and Managing Infectious Disease Risks.

Dr. Hector Nazario,  Transplant Hepatologist, presented his section on: Complex Cases, Complex Solutions: Managing ESRD Patients with Liver Disease and Combined Liver-Kidney Transplants.

Dr. Alejandro Mejia, Transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgeon, spoke to the audience about The Gift of Life: Navigating the Living Donor Process and Financial Assistance Options.

Dr. Jose Castillo-Lugo, Transplant Nephrologist, explored the topic of: The Future of Transplantation: Exploring Xenotransplantation and its Potential Impact