Expert Speaker and Moderator

Donald E. Hricik, MD
Division Chief and Professor
Nephrology & Hypertension
Director Transplantation Services.
UH Case Medical Center
Case Western Reserve University  
Cleveland, OH

Biography Sketch

Donald E. Hricik, MD is Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Nephrology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, where he also serves as Medical Director of the Transplantation Service at the University Hospitals of Cleveland.

He received his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, DC and completed his internship at the New England Medical Center in Boston, MA,  where he also pursued clinical and research fellowships in nephrology.

Dr. Hricik has received many awards including 2006 Man of the Year, Kidney Foundation of Ohio.  He is a member of numerous professional organizations, has published over 300 publications, articles and abstracts.

Dr. Hricik's current research interests include approaches to reduce the side effects of immunosuppressive regimens in renal transplantation and immunologic monitoring of renal transplant recipients.

Expert Speaker

Dale A. Distant, MD
Associate Professor of Surgery
Chief, Division of Transplantation
SUNY Downstate Medical Center
Brooklyn, NY

Biography Sketch

Dale A. Distant, MD, is as assistant professor of surgery at the State University of New York (SUNY) Health and Science Center at Brooklyn, and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery at New York University School of Medicine.  Dr. Distant is also the Director of the Transplant Division Department of Surgery and of liver transplantation at the SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn.  He is an attending surgeon at Kings County Hospital Center.

Dr. Distant was a fellow at Baylor University Medical Center and the SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn.  In 1991, Dr. Distant
 was awarded the SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn Pollack Award for compassion, dedication and abiding concern for patient welfare.  He earned his medical degree from SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn, and was awarded his bachelor’s of science degree in Biomedical Science from City College of New York. 

Dr. Distant has been a member of several professional societies and numerous committees, including the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and the New York Regional Transplant Program.  He has published over 60 publications, presentations, posters and abstracts.

Expert Speaker
Richard B. Freeman, Jr., M.D.
Professor of Surgery
Vice Chair for Research
Director of Surgical Research
Division of Transplantation
Tufts University-NEMC
Boston, MA

Biography Sketch

Richard Freeman, MD received his Medical Degree from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA., and received his General Surgical training and his Transplant Surgery Fellowship at the Deaconess Harvard Surgical Service, Boston, MA.

He then joined the Tufts University School of Medicine Faculty at New England Medical Center in Boston where he has served as a staff Transplant Surgeon for the past 15 years. He was appointed Professor of Surgery in 2003 and Vice Chair for Research and Director of the Surgical research Laboratories in 2007.
           
He served as the Chair of the OPTN/UNOS Liver Committee, and was the chief architect of the current US liver allocation policy that utilizes the MELD system.  Dr. Freeman is a member of the OPTN/UNOs Executive Committee and its Board of Directors and is Chair of the ASTS Legislative Committee.  He is on the Governing Boards of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and the International Liver Transplant Society.  Extensively published, Dr. Freeman is Associate Editor for The American Journal of Transplantation and Liver Transplantation,