About the Transplant Forum Benefit
The Transplant Forum at Columbia University Irving Medical Center is dedicated to raising awareness and funding for transplantation research across all organ disciplines. As a committed group of scientists, clinicians, patients, and families, the Transplant Forum works collaboratively to support research focused on improving outcomes and quality of life for solid organ transplant patients. Families travel from all over the world to Columbia for their care, as Columbia is a national leader in clinical transplantation with respect to volume and patient outcomes.
In 2015, the Transplant Forum launched an annual benefit with the goal of raising awareness and funds for groundbreaking transplant research at Columbia. The event has grown in recent years and in 2018, the Benefit was moved to the Metropolitan Club in New York City to accommodate a growing audience. Since its inception, the Benefit has provided funds to support research in every organ area and in translational immunology.
Examples of research projects that have been funded through the Transplant Forum Benefit include:
- Eliminating the need for immunosuppressant medications post-transplant
- Expanding access to live donor liver transplantation
- Studying acute kidney injury as a risk-factor for kidney discards
- Growing our understanding of the impact that extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has on post-operative outcomes for lung transplant recipients
- Determining the effects of Belatacept, an immunomodulatory drug, used in conjunction with standard immunotherapies on post-heart transplant outcomes
- Creating opportunities for young trainees in transplantation to receive funding for their research activity, through the Transplant Forum Scholars