Speakers

Joe Brierley


Lead Consultant Paediatric Intensive Care & Director of Paediatric Bioethics Centre, Great Ormond St Hospital (GOSH) for Sick Children, London 

Past Medical President European Paediatric and Neonatal intensive Care (ESPNIC)                            

Chair European Academy of Paediatrics Ethics Strategic Advisory Group

Chair ESOT PEDAT Group  

Research interest in organ donation, severe sepsis, end-of-life care, ethics and law                                  

Everton football club, not going well I’m afraid

Lucky husband, & father of four now young adults, how did that happen…..

Beatriz Domínguez-Gil


Beatriz Domínguez-Gil is medical doctor specialised in Nephrology and PhD by the Complutense University in Madrid, Spain (Summa Cum Laude). In November 2006, she joined the Spanish Organización Nacional de Trasplantes (ONT) and is its Director General since May 2017. ONT is acknowledged worldwide for the development of the so-called Spanish Model on Organ Donation and Transplantation, leading Spain to extraordinary levels of deceased donation.

Beatriz Domínguez-Gil was the co-chair of the Spanish Presidency that lead the technical negotiations of the SoHO Regulation, both in the Public Health Council working party and with the European Parliament, providing expert knowledge and managerial skills of utmost relevance for reaching the political agreement of the file. She was also part of the team that lead the development of Directive 2010/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on standards of quality and safety of human organs intended for transplantation, adopted during the Spanish presidency of the EU in 2010. She is the current chair of the Committee of Transplantation of the Council of Europe (CD-P-TO), and also chaired this Committee during 2017-2019. She has co-chaired the 6th-9th Editions of the Council of Europe Guide on the quality and safety of human organs intended for transplantation. She is president of the Iberoamerican Network/Council on Organ Donation and transplantation (RCIDT) and member of the Task Force in Transplantation established by the World Health Organization.

She is past chair of the European Donation and Transplant Coordination Organization (EDTCO). past councillor for Europe at The Transplantation Society (TTS), and past chair of the Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism. She has more than 250 publications in scientific journals and book chapters and more than 560 conferences and presentations in national and international congresses and courses.

Carl-Ludwig Fischer-Fröhlich

By asking daily the questions “How can we achieve good long-term function of donated organs? Widen the donor pool safely? And how do we get this in real world with simplifying life?” Carl-Ludwig Fischer-Fröhlich could summarize the work as active coordinator over more than 35 35 years. After completing residency in Transfusion medicine at the Tübingen University Hospital with a focus on automatization in testing for blood borne viruses of blood donor he worked in coordination of the organ donation and transplantation programme in Tübingen until 2001. Then he changed to fulltime donor coordination within the Southwestern Region of Baden-Württemberg in Germany at the Deutsche Stiftung Organtransplantation (DSO, national OPO). Since 2010 he cared for multiple chapters and co-chaired the 6th-10th Editions of the Council of Europe Guide on the quality and safety of human organs intended for transplantation. From 2009-2019 he was member of the board of the European Donation and Transplant Coordination Organization. Currently since 2012 his major involvement within the DSO is developing the IT documentation system for organ donation (DSO.isysweb) regarding all medical issues. This reflects the passion for medical technology with a focus on how to keep workload low for redundant issues by standardisation and open spaces for proper consideration of unexpected or new situation especially when widening the donor pool.

 

 

Morten Hagness

Morten Hagness is Head of the Department of Transplantation Surgery at Oslo University Hospital, where he works clinically as a consultant transplant surgeon performing liver, kidney, and pancreas transplantation. His main research interests are machine perfusion of the liver and liver transplantation for malignancy, in particular colorectal liver metastases.

He has been engaged in quality work within the transplantation field through several roles in Nordic and European organisations: Board Member of Scandiatransplant (2017–2023), Norwegian representative to the Council of Europe's expert committee on organ transplantation (CD-P-TO), National Focal Point for Travel for Transplantation, Chair of the Scandiatransplant infectious disease group (2021–2022) and now member, and NFP in the SoHO Organs group.

Are Martin Holm

Are Martin Holm, born 1965, Head of Department at the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Oslo University Hospital and Professor of Medicine at the University of Oslo. Member of the Board of Scandiatransplant.

Medical studies at Albert-Ludwig University in Freiburg, Germany. Approved specialist for internal medicine and pulmonary medicine. PhD on T-cell dysfunction and immunodeficiency. Previous chair of the Ethics Committee and member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Previous chair of Scandiatransplant Heart- and Lung Group.

 

Nichon Jansen

Dr Nichon Jansen is a senior policy advisor and researcher at the Dutch Transplant Foundation, in 
Leiden, the Netherlands. Her academic background is in Social Sciences. The professional interests of 
Nichon are in deceased organ donation (DBD and DCD), including organ donation after euthanasia. 
She is also account holder for the donation intensivists in her country.
At a European level, she is co-chair of the working group to establish the Organ Guide 10th edition, 
under the responsibility of the EDQM (Council of Europe). She is also a member of the working group 
‘Deceased Donation’ of ELPAT (a section of the European Society for Organ Transplantation).

Johan Jarl

Johan Jarl is a senior lecturer in health economics at Lund University, Sweden. His work focuses on register-based studies on consequences of disease and treatment on both the individual and close relatives. He also conducts health economic evaluations, assessing the cost-effectiveness of interventions and treatments. Jarl’s research has demonstrated the substantial benefits of kidney transplantation in terms of survival, healthcare cost savings, and improved labour market outcomes in the Swedish context. His work has provided evidence that kidney transplantation is not only positive for the individual, but also the preferred treatment option from the viewpoint of the society.

Anneli Kannus

Patient with a rare disease – diagnosed with lymphangioleiomyomatosis (2006) and double lung transplant (2018).

I have been directly and indirectly involved in healthcare development my entire life, working for a total of 25 years as a lecturer and rector at Tartu Applied Health Sciences University. By education, I am a nurse, social pedagogue and I also have master’s degree in school administration. In addition, I have contributed to the development on the nursing field as the president of the Estonian Nurses Union for eight years. Today I work for a political organization to influence the development of Estonian healthcare through politicians.

My personal experience with a rare disease and double lung transplantation has led me to write the blog annelikannus.ee, which aims to offer hope to the persons who a waiting for the transplant and to educate the wider public about transplants. Because of this, I have also studied to become an experience advisor and volunteer to offer support both before and after transplantation.

Mother of two grown children and married for 37 years.

 

Johan Nilsson

Dr. Johan Nilsson is the Chairman of the Thoracic Transplantation Program at Skane University Hospital and Professor of Thoracic Surgery and Bioinformatics at Lund University. With a unique background in Engineering Physics prior to his medical training, Dr. Nilsson operates as a physician-inventor, driven to bridge the gap between advanced technology and clinical practice.

His passion for medical technology innovation is exemplified by his pioneering work in machine perfusion. He was the Principal Investigator for the development of the Non-Ischemic Heart Preservation (NIHP) system—often associated with HOPE (Hypothermic Oxygenated Perfusion) —at his institution. Dr. Nilsson performed the world’s first human heart transplantation using this novel technology, a milestone in extending safe organ storage times. Currently, Dr. Nilsson focuses on the digital frontier of medicine as the Research Manager for Artificial Intelligence and Bioinformatics in Cardiothoracic Sciences. He leads a dynamic research group developing machine learning algorithms to improve risk stratification and donor-recipient matching. An influential academic voice with over 160 peer-reviewed publications, he actively supervises numerous PhD students, fostering the next generation of innovators at the intersection of surgery and engineering.

 

 

Gabriel Oniscu

Prof Gabriel Oniscu is the Chair of Transplantation Surgery and Head of Transplantation Surgery Division at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. He is also the Clinical Director of the Department of Transplantation at the Karolinska University Hospital. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians in Glasgow.

His clinical focus is liver, kidney and pancreas transplantation as well as kidney living donation. Gabriel has been one of the pioneers in the field of novel organ perfusion and preservation technologies and has made a significant contribution to the development of Normothermic Regional Perfusion in DCD donation. He currently leads the Karolinska Organ Perfusion and Translational Research Centre, a unique clinical and research facility in transplantation and regenerative medicine.

Prof Oniscu is the recipient of the NRS Career Research Fellowship, MRC confidence in concept award and an MRC Clinical Academic Research Partnership grant to investigate therapy delivery during ex situ liver perfusion. Total funding raised by his research group since 2015 in grants from EU, Swedish and UK national funding agencies and industry exceeds 10 million euros.

He published over 160 papers, 21 book chapters, edited three books and gave more than 160 invited lectures at international conferences. Prof Oniscu is the Co-Chair of the ESOT-Lancet Commission on Transplantation and is the immediate past President of the European Society for Organ Transplantation.

Susanne Dam Poulsen

Dr Susanne Dam Poulsen is Professor of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Infectious Diseases at Copenhagen University Hospital - Rigshospitalet, Denmark. Her main research interests include infections and prevention of infections in persons with immune deficiencies, including solid organ transplant recipients. She is the Principal Investigator of the Immune Function as Predictor of Infectious Complications and Clinical Outcome (ImmuneMo) which studies the patterns of infections and impact of immune function in solid organ transplant recipients. Furthermore, she is the Principal Investigator of the Herpes Virus Infections in Kidney Transplant Patients (HINT) and the Herpesvirus immunology in solid organ transplant recipients - liver transplant study (HISTORY) studies focusing on herpes virus infections and vaccination. Susanne Dam Poulsen is the leader of Viro-Immunology Research Unit, and she is the co-author of > 300 scientific publications (PubMed: Nielsen SD). Finally, Susanne Dam Poulsen has since 2021 been a member of the Scandiatransplant Infectious Diseases, and she has served as chair for the group since 2022.

Anna Pszenny

A graduate of the Medical University of Gdańsk, Medical University of Warsaw and Medical University of Barcelona,
Philosophiae Doctor of Medical Science, discipline of medicine, specialization: transplantology,
Head of the Department for International Cooperation in Polish Transplant Coordinating Center POLTRANSPLANT
Transplant Coordinator with 19 years of experience, actually responsible for international organ exchange programme (FOEDUS),
Quality auditor (audits in donor hospitals and transplant centers),
Chair of the Network of National Focal Points on Travel for Transplantation, EDQM, Council of Europe,
Board Member of The European Donation and Transplant Coordination Organisation (EDTCO) - Section of European Society of Transplantation (ESOT)
Nominated expert of 10th edition of Organ Guide (Guide to the quality and safety of organs for transplantation) – scientific publication of European Committee on Organ Transplantation, EDQM, Council of Europe,
Academic lecturer,
Member of the Polish Transplantation Society, the Polish Association of Transplantation Coordinators, and the European Society for Organ Transplantation
Participant of the Council of Europe and European Commission programs,
Author and coauthor of many science publications in index medical magazines,
Participant and lecturer of many national and international congresses, conferences and courses concerning transplantology,
Coordinator of many educational actions which promote organ donation and transplantation.

 

Axel Rahmel

Dr. Axel Rahmel is active in the field of organ transplantation for almost 40 years: After studying medicine at the Georg August University in Göttingen, Germany, he worked as a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine studying the mechanisms of cardiopulmonary adaptation to exercise in heart transplantation

After completing his residency at the Westfäiische Wilhelms University in Münster, he worked as a senior physician in the Department of Cardiac Surgery and the Department of Cardiology at the University Hospital in Leipzig until 2005. As Heart Failure and Heart Transplant Cardiologist he took care of patients prior to and after heart transplantation during these years.

From 2005-2014, he was Medical Director at Eurotransplant International Foundation (ETI) in the Netherlands, this organization that is in charge of organ allocation in eight European countries (Austria, Belgium. Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Luxemburg, Slovenia, The Netherlands).

Since April 2014, he is Medical Director of the German Organ Procurement Organization (DSO), Frankfurt/Main, Germany.

Allan Rasmussen

Previous Occupations
Fellowship: Surgical Organ Transplantation: Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, UK. 
Assistant Professor: University of Cambridge, UK, 
Consultant Surgeon: Department of Surgery, Addenbrookes Hospital Cambridge, UK. 
Associate Professor: University of Cambridge, UK. 
Present Occupation
Consultant Surgeon: Department of Surgical Gastroenterology and Transplantation, Rigshospitalet, University of 
Copenhagen. 
Positions of trust, previous posts
Co-founder of European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS Surgery), Division of Transplantation, 2005.
President, Danish Transplant Society.
President of 19’th ESOT Congress in Copenhagen.
Member of Board of Executives, Scandiatransplant.
Positions of trust, present posts
President, UEMS Surgery, Division of Transplantation.
Chairman Board of Executives, Scandiatransplant.
Chairman, College of European National Transplant Societies.
Member of Board of Executives, UEMS
Member of Steering Committee, European Directorate for Quality of Medicine & Health Care, Council of Europe