Key Dates
6 May 2008
Notification of Acceptances
26 May 2008
Early Registration Cut-off Date
9 June 2008
Late breaking Abstract Submission Date
2 July 2008
Pre & Post Congress Tours
2 July 2008
Social Program Bookings
2 July 2008
Congress Day Tours
9 July 2008
Accommodation Bookings
9 July 2008
Accommodation Deposit deadline
9-10 August 2008
Postgraduate Weekend Courses
10-14 August 2008
Congress Opens
With thanks to
Prof Alain Assounga
I am Alain Guy Assounga. I was born on 27/02/1961 in Congo-Brazzaville. I went to school in Congo Brazzaville where I completed high school as the top graduate in the country and I went on to study Medicine where I graduated in 1984 with a MD degree as top student in my class. Then I proceeded to study Internal Medicine and Nephrology in Montpellier (France) where I graduate as Specialist Physician-Nephrologist in 1988.
I went on to further my studies in Boston at Harvard Medical School where I studied transplant Immunology under Prof. Terry Strom. I obtained a PhD degree in Immunology and Molecular biology and MSc in Mathematics (Combinatorics) in 1993. I returned to Brazzaville where I joined Marien Ngouabi University and the University Hospital until 1997.
I worked in Botswana for 3 years before moving to in Durban to Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine where I am currently Chief specialist, Professor and Head of Nephrology. I am also leading a research laboratory at the Doris Duke Medical Research Institute. Our area of interest is immunology and molecular biology of kidney diseases. In 2004 we published a paper on Tap genes and MHC class I which was among the best immunology papers (25th) of that year.
Professor Jose Medina Pestana
Professor Medina is a full Professor of Nephrology and head of the renal transplant division at the "Hospital do Rim e Hipertensão" in São Paulo - Brazil. He is a past President of the Brazilian Organ Transplant Association and also of the Latin America Transplant Society. He is a Fellow by election of The Royal College of Surgeons in UK since 2004.
On completion of his residency in 1982 he set up a transplant service in São Paulo. After his PhD, he worked with Donald Steinmueler in the USA, and then with Peter Morris and Margaret Dallman in Oxford from 1987 to 1990.
In the last ten years he has being able to maintain his kidney transplant programme performing over 500 transplants per year. As with other academics, he also carries out medical voluntary work, at his hometown, Ipaussu, where he was a lathe operator before going to Medical School in São Paulo He has published over 100 papers, that includes the "Organization of a High-Volume Kidney Transplant Program - the "Assembly Line" Approach - published in Transplantation 2006; 81: 1510-1520.
Francis L. Delmonico, MD FACS
Francis L. Delmonico, MD, is Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Director of Medical Affairs of The Transplantation Society (TTS). He works closely with the World Health Organization where he has been appointed as an Advisor on organ transplantation. In addition, he is the Medical Director of the New England Organ Bank (NEOB) and Director of Educational Activities for the Transplantation Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr Delmonico received his medical degree from George Washington University. He completed his initial general surgical training under the direction of pioneer transplant surgeon Dr David Hume at the Medical College of Virginia and a clinical and research fellowship in transplantation at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr Delmonico has served on the Boards of many professional societies, including the American Society of Transplantation (AST), the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS). He has been the Chair of the ASTS and TTS Ethics Committee. He is a current member of the Board of the National Kidney Foundation. He is a member of the American Surgical Association.
Dr Delmonico has also served on the Board of Trustees and numerous committees of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). He is a past president of the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN)/UNOS.
Dr Delmonico has been an invited lecturer and Visiting Professor in numerous cities and universities throughout the world including North and South America, Australia, Singapore, China, Central Africa, South Africa and Europe. He has authored or co-authored more than 250 publications, either as original articles, reviews, commentaries or book chapters. His original writings have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association and the New York Times. He has appeared on numerous television and radio programs including Nightline, Good Morning America, CBS Sunday Morning and NPR news. Dr Delmonico is an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Transplantation and reviewer for many medical journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Journal of the American Association of Nephrology, and Surgery. He is a current member of the Editorial Board of Transplantation.
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