DLH Medical Experts

Contact us for a free consultation from one of our DLH Medical Experts.

Dr. Matt Hartwig

American Board of Thoracic Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Duke Health
  1. Care for patients with severe lung disease, especially those needing lung transplantation.
  2. Practice advanced minimally invasive techniques in thoracic surgery to treat diseases such as lung or esophageal cancers as well as more invasive surgeries like angioplasty, open heart surgery and transplant surgeries.
  3. Have used the newest medical techniques such as the ex-vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) system and the TransMedics OCS for lungs.
  4. Participating in the Lung Bioengineering clinical trial of a remote donor-lung perfusion facility.
  5. Patients from all over the world come to Duke for lung transplantation, one of the best programs in the country.

Dr. Gabriel Danovitch

University of California, Los Angeles; Medical Director, Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation; Ronald Reagan Medical Center at UCLA
  1. Longtime Medical Director of UCLA's Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program: one of the largest and most successful in the U.S. Also medical director for OneLegacy, the OPO serving Los Angeles.
  2. Served on the board of the American Society of Transplantation (AST) and the United Network for Organ Donation (UNOS) and is the past Chair of its International Relations committee.
  3. Founding member of the Declaration of Istanbul on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism and past Co-Chair of it’s custodian committee (DICG).
  4. Textbook, the Handbook of Kidney Transplantation, now in its sixth edition and translated into five languages, has become required reading for those entering the field.
  5. In 2020 received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Society of Transplantation (AST) and the Kidney Transplantation Award of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF).

Ginny McBride

OurLegacy Organ and Tissue Donation Services
  1. I knew at a very young age I would be a nurse, just like my mother and great grandmother.
  2. I had the good sense to marry an Irishman from Dublin.
  3. I am one of only a handful of people in the U.S. who have experienced organ donation/transplantation from both the clinical side and the federal regulatory side.
  4. I coordinated the first lung transplant performed in Philadelphia.
  5. While working for the US government I helped lead work that increased the number of organ donors in the U.S. by 25% over 5 years.

Dr. Robert Montgomery

Director, NYU Langone Transplant Institute
  1. Director of medical and surgical specialists who provide a wide variety of transplantation services, including bone marrow, heart, kidney, liver, lung, and facial transplantation.
  2. Received a heart transplant at NYU Langone Transplant Institute.
  3. Member of the team that developed the laparoscopic procedure for live kidney donation, a minimally invasive procedure allowing for faster recovery and has become the standard throughout the world.
  4. Developed and performed the first “domino paired donation,” which is when two or more donors and recipients are paired in a kidney swap.
  5. Credited in The Guinness Book of World Records with performing the most kidney transplants in one day.

Dr. Linda Sher

USC Division of Hepatobiliary/Pancreatic Surgery and Abdominal Organ Transplantation
  1. Have provided expert consultation and supported storylines on multiple television shows.
  2. Trained under the "father of transplantation" Dr. Starzl. On his wikipedia page you will see a black and white photo, I am the very pregnant surgeon on the left.
  3. Numerous publications on immunosuppression, chronic rejection, disease recurrence, infection, and prophylaxis and hepatobiliary surgery.
  4. Involved in the establishment of two liver transplant programs in Los Angeles prior to joining the USC program in 2001.
  5. Have been part of transplantation since the early days and have quite a few stories to tell.

Dr. Thomas A. Nakagawa

Medical Director, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Wolfson Children’s Hospital, Jacksonville, FL
  1. Actively involved with issues pertaining to end-of-life care, organ and tissue donation, neurologic and circulatory determination of death, and ethical issues for the past 20 years.
  2. Chaired and served on national and international committees for organ donation and transplantation including the Secretary of Health and Human Services Advisory Council on Organ Donation and Transplantation (ACOT).
  3. Lead author of the updated guidelines for the determination of brain death in infants and children from the Society of Critical Care Medicine, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Child Neurology Society (CNS).
  4. Authored numerous articles and book chapters and developed the North American Transplant Coordinators Organization (NATCO) pediatric donor management and dosing guidelines utilized by organ procurement organizations nationally and developed a pediatric organ donation pin used by several organ procurement organizations and hospitals across the country.

Dr. Rosemary O’Meeghan

Medical Director, Referral Management, OneLegacy, Los Angeles
  1. Medical director of the OneLegacy referral management team with oversight of referral process, process improvement initiatives and regulatory responsibilities with the goal of maximizing donor potential.
  2. Intensivist with over 39 years of full-time critical care medicine experience.
  3. Formed and Co-Chaired 13 member Providence-St Joseph organ, eye and tissue donation council with the goal of achieving equivalent best donor hospital practice at each site. Member of the Donor Hospital committee of the National Organ Donation and Transplantation Alliance.
  4. Creator of the donor recognition program at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach California and the Tree of Life and Book of Life donor memorials.
  5. Recipient of the OneLegacy LifeBridge Award recognizing a meaningful and extraordinary impact on organ and tissue donation and transplantation in Southern California. Recipient of the NATCO innovation award.

Dr. Anthony Watkins

Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery, NYU Langone Health
  1. Grandson of a successful surgeon inspired to pursue a similar career path in medicine.
  2. Surgeon who specializes in kidney, pancreas and liver transplantation, laparoscopic donor nephrectomies, dialysis access surgery and general surgery.
  3. Author of several publications and book chapters with current research including improving outcomes and increasing access to transplantation.
  4. Actively involved in research interests include outcome studies related to organ transplantation, disparities in healthcare and surgical education.
  5. Recognized by Super Doctor as a New York Rising Star in 2015 and a recipient of the Top Healthcare Professionals Under 40 Award by the National Medical Association in 2013.

Barry Freidman

AdventHealth Transplant Institute
  1. Transplant Administrator with over 36 years of front line procurement and clinical experience ( St Louis, Dallas, Minneapolis, Orlando).
  2. Retired USAF Major with 2 tours in Iraq in 2003 flying Med Evac.
  3. Lived in Saudi Arabia , Qatar , and Kuwait for 4 years as a civilian providing medical tourism to the University of Minnesota.
  4. Past President of NATCO ( The organization for transplant professionals, procurement and clinical).
  5. Current board member of UNOS (United Network of Organ Sharing) and currently the Chair of the International Committee.

Robert L Kormos

MD, FAHA, FRCS(C), FACS; Was affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
  1. Managed the Cardiac Transplant Program and the Artificial Heart Program at UPMC for 25 years.
  2. Transplanted high profile professional patients and colorful low profile patients.
  3. Was involved in the early development of immunosuppressive agents through clinical trials.
  4. Trained 100's of residents and Fellows and Surgeons both in the USA and internationally on the principles of cardiac transplantation.
  5. Past President of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation.

Anand Annamalai

House Medicine
  1. Built the first new liver transplant program in California in over 20 years.
  2. Presidential leadership scholar 2020 and been awarded multimillion dollar National Research Grants.
  3. Over 20 global humanitarian outreach missions and helped build an international transplant program.
  4. Marathon runner and kite surfer.
  5. The Canadian in me keeps me searching for ketchup chips, beaver tails, and poutine.

Glenn Matsuki

Hospital Development Consultant, Project Manager
  1. Received a heart transplant at Cedars-Sinai Transplant Center in Los Angeles in June 1995.
  2. Worked for OneLegacy and Donor Network West organ procurement organizations in California.
  3. Helped transform several major hospitals in Los Angeles into a nationally recognized center for organ donation winning the HRSA medal of honor.
  4. Work for The Organ Donation and Transplantation Alliance, a non-profit, independent organization, incorporated in 2006 for the purpose of ensuring a continued national commitment to increasing organ availability and eliminating deaths on transplant wait lists.
  5. Run an Organ and Tissue Donation Blog featuring national articles and inspiring stories about our cause: https://donatelife-organdonation.blogspot.com/ .