Dr. Tom Pearson Elected to National Transplant Post
FEBRUARY 2014
The Organ Procurement and Transplant Network and United Network for Organ Sharing (OPTN/UNOS) announced that Dr. Thomas Pearson, executive director of the Emory Transplant Center, has been elected incoming associate councillor of OPTN/UNOS Region 3 for a two-year term that will begin July 1. He was elected by transplant and organ donation professionals at Region 3 transplant organizations within Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas as well as Puerto Rico.
Each of the 11 OPTN/UNOS regions has an associate councillor who serves as the regional representative to the national Membership and Professional Standards Committee (MPSC), which oversees transplant community membership, policy, and regulatory compliance, and makes recommendations to the board regarding policy violations. The MPSC is charged with insuring that OPTN/UNOS member clinical transplant centers, independent organ procurement organizations (OPOs), independent tissue typing laboratories, and non-institutional members meet and remain in compliance with OPTN/UNOS Criteria for Institutional Membership.
In addition to his Emory clinical, administrative, and leadership background, Dr. Pearson brings skills honed as an associate medical director (2000-2013) and current medical director of LifeLink of Georgia, the OPO that serves Georgia. These posts require knowledge of all aspects of organ donation, including managing individual donors and improving the donor process.
Dr. Pearson has also been active in UNOS, serving as Region 3 representative to the kidney committee (2005-2007), as a member of the scientific advisory committee (1997-1999), and as an at-large member of the histocompatibility committee (1996-1998). He currently is a board member of the American Society of Transplantation and has been a member of the Board of Governors of LifeLink Foundation since 1996.
After Dr. Pearson's term as associate councillor ends in 2016, he will assume the role of councillor for an additional two-year term of service, representing Region 3 on the board of directors of the OPTN/UNOS.
