Share the beat

What the Event Supports

Proceeds from the 2009 event will benefit the AST endowment, created to support transplant research and the training of transplant professionals and the Redford AnimAction Project: It's a Rap, an educational outreach program geared toward youth and dedicated to raising transplant awareness. A portion of your ticket purchase is tax deductible.

Why support Share the Beat?

• The majority of the ticket prices is a donation to transplantation research and organ donation awareness
• Your purchase is tax deductible
• You receive a tax deduction letter at the time of purchase
• Share the Beat is a great cause!

AST Endowment

The AST endowment fund was created in 2001 to ensure the continuance of core programs in perpetuity. As the fund grows, so does its ability to:

• Enhance patient care through the education of transplant physicians, surgeons and allied health professionals.
• Advance research in the field by funding meritorious research proposals.
• Promote improvements in the field through the facilitation of consensus conferences where vexing clinical and scientific issues are addressed.

Only recently have we been able to use the interest from the fund to support research and consensus conferences.

Supporting Research

There have been many significant discoveries in the field of transplantation medicine that have advanced knowledge in transplantation. Beginning with groundbreaking surgical experiments that ultimately led to the award of the Nobel Prize to Dr. Joseph Murray; a discovery that opened wide the field of solid organ transplantation. With remarkable medical and surgical advances new, even greater, challenges in organ transplantation have evolved. The transplant field is now faced with a critical shortage of organs for transplantation, an inability to prevent the chronic loss of organ function, and with reliance upon toxic, nonspecific, immunosuppressive medications in order to prevent acute rejection. Each of these challenges must be addressed in the basic science laboratory where investigators attempt to answer fundamental questions in transplantation immunobiology. The ability of our transplant scientists to meet these basic challenges is seriously threatened, however. Over the past few years, funding for basic science research in the United States has been sharply reduced and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget remains at an all time low. The result of the funding reduction is that many transplant scientists can no longer sustain their laboratories and are leaving the field of basic research. We have entered an era of scientific chaos and decline driven by the loss of publicly funded research. Supporting research has always been a key mission of the AST. Through the endowment fund’s support, we hope to prevent the loss of physicians and scientists dedicated to transplantation research.

The AST research portfolio has been very successful in retaining investigators in the field. Since 1995, the society has administered 135 fellowship and faculty grants. Ninety-six recipients who completed their AST-funded research were surveyed to assess the effectiveness of the program and to learn how the funds provided by the Society assisted them in career development. Of the 96 grant recipients surveyed, 67 (70 percent), responded and indicated that they were still active in the field of transplantation research. Of the 67 respondents:

• 43 (64 percent) were in basic science research.
• 8 (12 percent) were in clinical science research, 14 (21 percent) were in both, basic and clinical science research.
• Of the 67 respondents, 13 (20 percent) received NIH funding, 28 (42 percent) received other funding, and, 12 (18 percent) received funding from both, the NIH and other sources.

The success enjoyed by these investigators was attributed in great part to the assistance provided by the AST research grants program. The endowment has now funded two investigators who would have otherwise gone unfunded. One investigator remarks below on the importance of the funding to her research:

“The AST Branch Out Grant makes it possible for our group to solidify our collaborations with colleagues in neurobiology and to pursue our studies on neural stem cell transplantation. Through this interaction we can apply our knowledge of transplant immunology to the field of stem cell transplantation in the hope that this will provide new therapeutic options in the future.”

Olivia Martinez, PhD – Recipient of the 2007 AST Branch Out Grant

Training the Next Generation of Transplant Physicians and Surgeons
A review of undergraduate and graduate medical education curricula shows there are scarce systematic or cohesive instructional opportunities for medical students to learn basic and clinical science and even the nomenclature supporting the growing field of transplantation, especially immunobiology. Those entering the field of transplantation need a way to obtain basic information required for them to be effective members of transplant care and research teams. The AST’s annual Fellows Symposium and the accompanying course syllabus provide a very important educational service to the field of transplantation.

Evaluations results from previous AST Fellows Symposia indicate that those attending found the information and the opportunity to meet nationally known scientists and clinicians extremely helpful in getting them “up to speed” in their early days as transplant fellows. This is echoed by training program directors whose “new” fellows attend this meeting. Some program directors suggest that this activity significantly accelerates the fellows’ effective entry into the fellowship program.

The core content for the Fellows Symposium, captured in the course syllabus, comes from the Primer on Transplantation, a compilation of articles written by renowned scholars that forms the foundation of the field of transplantation. By the end of the symposium, those in attendance have received comprehensive introduction to current clinical care, current thinking guiding clinical and basic science research, controversies confronted by the transplant patient and healthcare community, and the nomenclature essential to effective communication among transplant professionals. The AST provides travel funds for a limited number of fellows to attend the meeting each year. More funding is needed to expand this important program and to attract young physicians and surgeons to the field.

Consensus Conferences

Each year, the AST supports up to three consensus conferences where renowned transplantation experts are invited to share their latest research and collectively discuss a vexing clinical issue. These deliberations culminate in the production of white papers or clinical guidelines that are published as scholarly papers in the field’s many scientific journals. These papers are ultimately used by transplant professionals to improve the care of their patients. In 2008, the AST endowment fund supported a consensus conference on “Hepatocellular Cancer (HCC)”. The goal of the conference was to better characterize the long-term outcome of liver transplantation for HCC so as to inform liver transplantation practice and organ allocation policy. The experts gathered examined whether it was justified to continue the policy of granting increased priority for candidates with early stage HCC on the liver transplant waiting list.

Redford AnimAction Project

The Redford AnimAction Project: “It’s a RAP!” creates powerful animated public service announcements (PSAs) stressing the importance of organ donation. Students are introduced to the topic of organ donation in an interactive multimedia presentation and then brainstorm, conceptualize, and produce animated PSAs. The purpose of the program is to educate young people so that they are able to make an informed decision about organ and tissue donation. Choosing “YES” or “NO” to be an organ and tissue donor is one of the first adult decisions a teenager may make. Too often this critical decision is made without fully understanding the issue and without family discussion. The Redford AnimAction Project’s goal is to engage young people and give them the opportunity to share their voices with their peers and in turn their families. They will learn how they can take action so that their wishes are carried out so that more lives can be saved through organ donation and transplantation. Being a responsible driver means not only wearing a seatbelt and driving sober, but also registering as an organ donor in their State.

The Redford AnimAction Project goals are:

1. To provide students with basic information for making an informed decision as to whether to be an organ and tissue donor.
2. To encourage students to discuss this important topic with their parent(s) or guardian(s).
3. To raise awareness of organ and tissue donation and the ability of transplantation to save lives in the hope of increasing the number of individuals who consider the option of donation.

The impact of the Redford AnimAction Project is demonstrated in the following testimonials:

“Students told me that they learned so much about organ donation and animation. Despite the brevity of the workshop, they told me they were in love with the project, because it allowed them to see the connections between subjects and real life. Also, they created a product that is airing on television.”

Mary Ann Hess – Art teacher at East Hollywood High

“We are thrilled to have young people creating these spots that will speak to their peers about becoming organ donors.”

Alex McDonald – Director of Public Education/Relations for Intermountain Donor Services

“I had no idea we could do this much in two days. I already knew a ton about organ donation, but I learned so much more. It was a definite experience coming up with the ideas and drawing them out without computers.”

Cheyenne Hall – High school freshman planning to pursue an acting career