Chief of Transplant Surgery Elected Vice President of National Transplantation Network
John Roberts, MD
John Roberts, MD, UCSF professor and chief of transplant surgery, has been elected vice president/president-elect of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/United Network for Organ Sharing (OPTN/UNOS) Board of Directors.
Roberts will serve a one-year term beginning in June 2011 and will become the organization’s president in June 2012.
The OPTN brings together medical professionals, transplant recipients and donor families to develop national organ transplantation policy. The OPTN is managed by UNOS, a private, nonprofit organization that manages the nation's organ transplant system under contract with the federal government. The Board of Directors for OPTN also serves as the Board of Directors for UNOS.
As vice president/president-elect, Roberts will serve on the OPTN/UNOS Executive Committee and will chair the OPTN/UNOS Membership and Professional Standards Committee, which is responsible for developing standards for OPTN membership and evaluating members’ compliance with policies affecting patient safety.
Roberts is a past president of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and has chaired the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. He also is a board member of the California Transplant Donor Network and is co-editor of the journal Liver Transplantation, the official publication of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease and the International Liver Transplantation Society.
An expert in liver transplant surgery for adults and children, Roberts joined UCSF Medical Center in 1988 and has spearheaded an effort to expand procedures involving living donor transplants to increase the availability of donor organs. As a UCSF professor of surgery, Roberts supervises medical students, residents, and postdoctoral fellows. He has received awards from the residents for his teaching efforts and is active in health policy regarding transplantation.
After receiving his medical degree at the University of California, San Diego, Roberts completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Washington, Cornell University and the University of Minnesota.
UCSF is home to one of the largest and most highly regarded transplant programs in the country. A leader in both adult and pediatric transplants for liver, kidney and pancreas, the program attracts patients nationally and internationally.