Pediatric Liver Transplant Team
At Children's Carlos and Marguerite Mason Transplant Center, our healthcare professionals are experts in caring for children and young adults before, during and after pediatric liver transplants.
The Children’s Liver Transplant team includes:
Pediatric Liver Transplant Surgeons
The doctor who performs the pediatric liver transplant surgery and is in charge of your child’s care in the children’s hospital following the liver transplant.
- Stuart Knechtle, M.D.
Surgical Director, Children's Liver Transplant Program; Chief of Division of Transplantation and Professor of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine; Director of Liver Transplant, The Emory Clinic; Clinical Director, Emory Transplant Center
- Led a team that performed Wisconsin's first liver transplant from a living donor and the state's first combined liver/pancreas transplant.
- Widely published author and respected researcher with more than 300 articles, publications and abstracts.
- Invited lecturer to more than 60 local, regional, national and international conferences and meetings.
- Recipient of the American Society of Transplantation Wyeth Senior Achievement Award in Clinical Transplantation (2008).
- Steven Hanish, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine
- Winston R. Hewitt, Jr., M.D., F.R.C.S.C., F.A.C.S.
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine
- Christopher B. Hughes, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine
Pediatric Hepatologists
A doctor who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases in children. He works with the transplant surgeon to care for your child's digestive system (stomach, liver and intestines).
- René Romero, M.D.
Medical Director, Children's Liver Transplant Program; Chief, Pediatric Hepatology; Active Director, Gastroenterology; Joseph H. Moss Chair of Pediatric Hepatology and Liver Transplant; Associate Professor of Pediatric Gastroenterology at Emory University School of Medicine.
- Award-winning physician educator.
- Extensive clinical research in neonatal liver failure, neonatal hemochromatosis, hepatopulmonary syndrome and medical issues post-transplantation.
- Member of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) Region III Liver Transplant Review Board.
- Author of more than 60 papers on pediatric liver disease and pediatric liver transplantation.
- Participated in more than 55 national/international lectures and conference presentations and speaker in hepatology international conferences at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Santiago, Chile; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Istanbul, Turkey.
- Nitika A. Gupta, M.D., D.C.H., D.N.B., M.R.C.P.C.H
Pediatric Hepatologist at Children's; Assistant Professor of Pediatric Gastroenterology at Emory University School of Medicine
- Miriam Vos, M.D., M.S.P.H.
Pediatric Hepatologist at Children's; Assistant Professor of Pediatric Gastroenterology at Emory University School of Medicine
Pediatric Anesthesiologist
A medical doctor that monitors your child during surgery. Your child will be given a special medicine (anesthesia) that allows him to be in a deep sleep so he cannot see, hear or feel anything, not even pain.
Pediatric Physician Assistant and Nurse Practitioner
Clinical staff who assist your child’s doctor in the liver transplant surgery. They are supervised by doctors and help take care of your child before, during and after his surgery.
Pediatric Liver Transplant Coordinator
Registered nurses specially trained to care for children before and after a liver transplant. They are available 24 hours a day for urgent matters.
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Patient Floor Nurses
Nurses who care for the child while in the ICU and on the patient floor.
Pediatric Respiratory Care or Respiratory Therapist
Clinical staff who help your child with his breathing. They give breathing treatments, oxygen and monitor how your child breathes.
Pediatric Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist
Clinical staff who evaluate diet and growth patterns both before and after liver transplant.
Transplant Pharmacist: A pharmacist who has special training with transplant medicines. She arranges for your child’s medicines and teaches you what you need to know about them. She also helps with research studies.
Psychologist
A medical professional who helps you and your child cope with feelings about having a liver transplant. They pscyhologist helps with the transplant evaluation.
Physical Therapist
Helps your child with exercises to make him stronger before and after the liver transplant. He can also teach you what you can do at home to help your child regain strength.
Child Life, Social Workers, Chaplains, Teachers, Therapists
Provide family-centered care through various support services
Transplant Financial Counselor
Educates you about your insurance policy and benefit coverage and help you figure out ways to minimize your out-of-pocket costs
Some physicians and affiliated healthcare professionals who perform services at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta are independent providers and are not hospital employees.