Intestinal Transplant

Our Experts

Doctors

• Dr. Sang-Mo Kang, transplant surgeon

• Dr. Uri Ladabaum, gastroenterologist

Nurses

Claudia Praglin is an nurse practitioner for the Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplantation and Liver Transplant programs at UCSF Medical Center. She specializes in the care of intestinal and liver transplant patients before and after their procedures. Before joining UCSF, Praglin worked as a nurse practitioner and transplant coordinator for Stanford University Medical Center's Liver Transplant program.

Praglin graduated with honors from University of San Francisco where she earned her undergraduate degree in nursing. She earned a master's degree, with specialty preparation as an adult nurse practitioner at UCSF. She is a member of several professional organizations, including Sigma Theta Tau, North American Transplant Coordinators Organization and California Association of Nurse Practitioners.

Other Experts

Wendy Kahn serves as the living donor social worker for liver and kidney patients, as well as the clinical social worker for adult and pediatric patients of the UCSF Intestinal Transplant and Rehabilitation Program. Kahn is particularly interested in the ethical, quality of life and psychosocial issues organ transplant patients and their families face, both before and after transplant.

Prior to working with organ transplant patients, Kahn has extensive experience as an oncology social worker, HIV social worker and hospice social worker. She received her graduate degree in social work at the University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois and completed a fellowship with the National Institute of Mental Health. Kahn is a member of numerous professional organizations, such as the Society for Transplant Social Workers, North American Liver Transplant Social Workers Association and Bay Area Social Workers in Health Care. She is also a member of the UCSF Transplant Professional Practice Committee, Education Sub Committee.

David Quan serves as a clinical pharmacist for the Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant program, as well as the Liver Transplant program at UCSF Medical Center. In addition to caring for patients, he also holds the position of associate clinical professor of pharmacy at UCSF, where he provides didactic and experiential teaching for pharmacy students and residents in pharmacy practice.

Quan is the author of various publications regarding transplant immunosuppression, aspects of liver disease and pharmacotherapy. He also is the author of several textbook chapters and serves as a senior editor of the Textbook of Therapeutics: Drug and Disease Management. Quan received his doctor of pharmacy and completed a residency in clinical pharmacy at UCSF.

Viveca Ross is a dietitian with UCSF's Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant Program, where she assesses the nutritional status of patients and recommends ways to improve their gastrointestinal tolerance with changes to their diet. She provides guidance to patients receiving enteral and parenteral nutrition as well. Ross also helps care for patients hospitalized for surgery at UCSF Medical Center at Mount Zion, particularly those who need parenteral nutrition.

In addition to working with patients, Ross teaches classes to dietetic interns and medical residents at UCSF. She has a special interest and expertise in the role of nutrition in wound healing.

Ross received her bachelor's degree in nutrition and clinical dietetics from UC Berkeley and joined UCSF in 1989. She is a member of the American Dietetic Association and the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.