Lung Transplant

Our Experts

The Lung Transplant Team consists of doctors, nurses, social workers and other professionals who meet weekly to focus on improving patient success. Team members review specific problems of patients on the waiting list and discuss managing patients who already have received transplants. Team members meet every day to visit patients who have just undergone transplants.

Doctors

• Dr. Jeffrey A. Golden, medical director of Lung Transplantation

• Dr. Thomas Sloane Guy, cardiothoracic surgeon

• Dr. Steven R Hays, pulmonologist

• Dr. Charles W. Hoopes, director of heart and lung transplants

• Dr. Lorriana Leard, pulmonologist

• Dr. Pierre Theodore, lung surgeon

Other Experts

Several other team members conduct specialty evaluations and make recommendations to the team. These include an anesthesiologist, cardiologist, psychologist, intervention counselor, infectious disease specialist, hematologist and physical therapist.

An insurance coordinator reviews the insurance coverage of patients to ensure that they will not experience financial hardship related to the transplant or postoperative and discharge care and coordinates insurance coverage with outside case managers.

Nikki Galin is a clinical social worker for the UCSF Heart and Lung Transplant Programs. She and social worker Martha Russell assess prospective transplant candidates from a psychosocial perspective. The assessment focuses on emotional, psychological, social, financial and logistical considerations. Once a patient is accepted for transplant, Galin and Russell are available throughout the treatment process to provide counseling and education to patients and their families to help cope with the stresses in adjusting to the transplant experience. She and Russell hold a monthly transplant support group. They also provide assistance to access social and community services and government entitlements, when available.

Joyce Lee is mainly involved with the care of patients while in the hospital recovering from transplantation. She assists in monitoring immunosuppressant drug levels and monitoring drug interactions. Lee helps teach patients and their families about their medication needs as they prepare for discharge and she orders the medications that will be needed. In addition, Lee attends monthly transplant support group meetings where she answers patients questions about medication.

As a clinical social worker for the UCSF Heart and Lung Transplant Programs, Martha Russell assesses prospective transplant candidates from a psychosocial perspective. This assessment focuses on emotional, psychological, social, financial and logistical considerations. Once a patient is accepted for transplant, Russell and social worker Nikki Galin provide counseling and education to patients and their families to help cope with the stresses of adjusting to the transplant experience. She and Galin hold a monthly transplant support group and provide assistance to assess social and community services and government entitlements, when available.