World transplant congress

Here's the program of the 2014 World Transplant Congress,

Joint meeting of

And here's my part of the program...my working title is "Transplantation: One economist’s perspective," and I'll talk about how changes in the organization of transplantation have increased access to transplants, and how further changes might lead to further improvements.

Here's some background on the meeting:

In 2006, history was made in the field of transplantation medicine. The largest meeting in transplant science was held in Boston, The World Transplant Congress (WTC). This meeting was a joint collaboration of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS), The Transplantation Society (TTS), and the American Society of Transplantation (AST) with record breaking attendance. There were over 6500 specialists in this field as well as an additional 1000 exhibit personnel.  

The three societies are joining together again for the Word Transplant Congress 2014, being held July 26 – 31 in San Francisco, California. WTC 2014 will bring together transplant scientists, physicians, surgeons, trainees, nurses, organ procurement personnel, pharmacists and other associated transplant professionals from around the world.  

Also speaking at the conference will by Shinya Yaminaka, who shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in medicine for his work on turning ordinary cells into stem cells. Here's a story in Nephrology News: Nobel Laureates to deliver lectures at Transplant Congress

"Recent progress in iPS cell research towards regenerative medicine
Professor Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, is the Director of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University in Japan. In 2012, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of reprogramming and converting mature, specialized cells into pluripotent cells, capable of developing into all tissues of the body.

During his State-of-the-Art address on Wednesday, July 30, Dr. Yamanaka will provide characteristics of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which have the ability to proliferate and differentiate into multiple lineages. He will discuss technologies related to iPSC generation, in addition to improvements achieved in iPSC production in terms of both safety and efficiency. These iPSCs and subsequently differentiated target cells/ tissues would provide unprecedented opportunities in regenerative medicine, disease modelling, proof-of-concept studies in drug development, drug screening, and future personalized medicine."