AMERICAN SOCIETY OF TRANSPLANTATION

As outlined in the mission statement, the AST was created to advance the field of transplantation and improve patient care through five main areas of focus: cutting-edge research to improve the organ donation process and therapeutics afterward; education; advocacy; increasing public awareness around the importance of organ donation, and service to the community.

Research: The AST Research Network fosters transformative, multidisciplinary transplantation and immunology research opportunities with the goal of advancing the science and practice of transplantation and immunology. Individual research grants are awarded each year and are focused on key clinical, basic, and translational research priorities. The Network also facilitates innovative research collaboration, which includes a searchable registry that connects transplant professionals with their areas of interest in transplantation and immunology research.

Education: The AST has optimized the development and use of its educational content by AST members, early-career transplant professionals, and other non-member audiences, and is offered via the following formats:

1. Comprehensive Trainee Curriculum (CTC) - an online educational platform that features dozens of webinars on various concentrations of transplantation.
2. Transplant in 10 – a webinar series that offers short whiteboard talks that focus on a broad spectrum of transplant topics presented by experts in the field.
3. Timely Topics in Transplantation (T3) – a live webinar series featuring expert speakers discussing the latest developments in the field of transplantation.
4. Transplant Nephrology Core Curriculum (TNCC) – an online program provided by the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and the AST that focuses on key information needed to prepare for the American Board of Internal Medicine Nephrology Board Certification and Maintenance of Certification examinations.
5. Journal Clubs – organized in cooperation with the AJT and AST's Communities of Practice; provides a forum for open discussion of topical manuscripts and encourages interaction among like-minded transplant professionals.
6. Live Donor Toolkit – a website designed for individuals who are considering living donation, containing information on living donation from a financial and medical perspective.

Advocacy: The AST is the transplant community's voice and seat at the table on Capitol Hill, in the Executive Branch, Federal Agencies, and many state capitols and legislatures. These governmental agencies have direct oversight over many aspects of transplant patient care and medical research. The AST maintains a strong bipartisan and bicameral presence to educate, cultivate, and mobilize support for the Society's public policy agenda.

Organ Donation: The AST supports organ donation in several ways: Power2Save – an initiative to increase public awareness around the importance of funding transplant research, advocating for patient health, and organ donation; Consensus conferences – held to explore and assess current practice and opportunities to optimize living and deceased donation; and the newly created Transplant Community Advisory Council (TCAC) – a panel of transplant recipients, living donors, and caregivers that provide imperative insight to AST's board on advocacy and community engagement efforts.

• AST's Communities of Practice: Over half of the AST's members participate in one or more of its sixteen current Communities of Practice (COPs). The AST COPs are unique, self-governed, special interest groups dedicated to exchanging knowledge and generating educational content in their specific interest area. The COPs provide dynamic forums for networking, advocating for issues relevant to each of their constituencies, and developing resources to meet the needs of their members.

• The AST Research Network: The AST Research Network is designed to expand the scope, reach, and effectiveness of its existing research program. It encourages collaboration and shared resources in a time of scarce research funding, and serves as the mechanism for identifying, funding, and providing ongoing support to the most innovative research in transplantation and immunology. The Network includes hundreds of physicians and scientists who have dedicated their lives to advancing the research necessary to improve and save lives.

• Power2Save: The Power2Save initiative was developed by the AST to prove that everyone has the power to save a life by supporting transplant research, advocating for public health, and promoting organ donation. Power2Save reaches thousands of recipient families, the medical community, individual advocates and registered donors. Companies who support Power2Save programming allow the AST to continue to educate the public on the importance of funding transplant research, donating organs, and advocating for recipient health.

The AST has a consistent member retention rate of 90% with 300 new members joining annually. Its members represent more than 3,900 transplant physicians, surgeons, researchers, coordinators, pharmacists, nurses, psychologists, administrators, and critical care specialists who focus on every aspect of transplantation. Since 1995, the AST has funded more than two hundred research projects with more than ten million dollars through its existing research grants funding structure. This funding has spurred innovative research that has dramatically enhanced the field of organ transplantation. The AST reaches its members and the transplant community through:

Publications
American Journal of Transplantation (AJT) – a joint journal with the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) in the field of transplantation.
Clinical Transplantation Journal – a joint online monthly journal with ASTS that focuses on the complete spectrum of present and future transplant therapies.
Transplant Immunology Handbook – a comprehensive overview of immunology in relation to clinical transplantation.
AST Handbook of Transplant Infections – includes information on preventing and managing post-transplant infections.
AST Infectious Diseases Guidelines, 3rd Edition – a special AJT issue that reflects the evolution of the discipline and informs current clinical practice.

Meetings
American Transplant Congress (ATC) – a joint annual meeting of the AST and ASTS that is the largest meeting for transplant professionals in North America. Cutting edge presentations on clinical, basic, and translational science advancing the field forward.
Cutting Edge of Transplantation (CEoT) – an annual meeting to bring innovative, cutting-edge science and research into an educational setting and bridge the gap from basic to translational to clinical science.
Fellows Symposium – a 3-day, in-depth, interactive overview of clinical transplantation, basic transplant immunobiology, and translational science for fellows just entering the field.
Transplant Community Summit – a new meeting facilitated by the AST that directly connects transplant patients with their support community. The meeting focuses on advocacy and patient/living donor perspectives in transplantation.

The AST envisions a future where one transplant will last a lifetime. To reach that goal, the AST plans to:
• Promote opportunities to apply state-of-the-art technologies to transplant research;
• Define and communicate the value of transplant research;
• Increase financial contributions from internal stakeholders and other external sources;
• Improve the process for approval and funding of educational activities within the AST;
• Enhance participation in available educational offerings;
• Proactively advance and lead transplant public policy initiatives;
• Develop a partnership with the FDA to advance transplant therapeutics;
• Increase member involvement in advocacy;
• And, develop quality metrics that define transplant value.