Meet the Team

Our nationally renowned team includes four transplant nephrologists, eight kidney transplant surgeons, advanced practice practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, social workers and financial coordinators. One of the most important members of the team is the transplant clinical coordinator, who will be at your side throughout the process to any questions or concerns.

Ari J. Cohen, MD, Medical Director of Multi-Organ Transplant Institute, Section Head of Transplant Surgery

George E. Loss Jr, MD, Associate Medical Director and System Chairman, Department of Surgery Chief, Multi-Organ Transplant Institute

Jorge C. Garces, MD, Associate Program Director, Nephrology Fellowship Training Program Associate Professor of Medicine, Louisiana State University Transplant Nephrologist

Pinky Patel, MD

Zohren Soltani, MD

Catherine Staffeld-Colt, MD

David Bruce, MD

Ian C. Carmody, MD

Humberto E. Bohorquez, MD

Emily Bugeaud, MD

John Seal, MD

Dennis Sonnier, MD

Dana A. Paddock, AGPC, NP-C, APRN, MSN

Mallory Gilbert, PA-C

Denise Martin, FNP-C

Devin Marroquin, FNP-C

Allison Messonnier, PA-C

Melissa Voltz, FNP-C

Hilary Ledet, DNP-C

Tara Redwantz, APRN

Anna McDermott, PA-C

Mary Upchurch, PA-C

Tara Kempton-Jerez, APRN, FNP-C

Katherine Ward, PA-C

Sara Artigues, RD, LDN

Elizabeth Hartley, RD, LDN

There for you before, during and after transplant surgery

Your journey to wellness will begin with a comprehensive evaluation before your transplant, performed at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans or in collaboration with your referring physician. Ochsner offers patients a one-day work-up with pre-transplant medical, psychosocial and financial consultations conveniently scheduled on the same day.

After the initial evaluation, recommendations regarding candidacy for transplantation are provided by a committee made up of a team representing many disciplines. Once approved, transplant candidates are then placed on a national register to wait for the availability of a cadaveric organ. If you have a living donor, your transplant may occur shortly after approval. After transplantation, we closely monitor all of our patients. Our commitment to you lasts long after you’re discharged from the hospital.

The Advantage of Having Your Transplant Surgery at Ochsner

• Kidney-pancreas transplant patients at Ochsner typically wait less than six months for a transplant. This is far less than the standard three years.
• Our survival rates are better than the national average.
• Our patients experience shorter hospital stays than national rates after their transplants.
• Our unit features sophisticated, state-of-the-art equipment including high-tech monitoring.
• The Ochsner transplant team participates in multi-center clinical trials and research. We’re always looking for new and better ways to improve outcomes and make transplants safer.

Conditions

Conditions that may lead to the need for a kidney or kidney-pancreas transplant include:

• End-stage kidney disease (renal failure)
• Severe diabetes
• Glomerular diseases
• Hypertensive nephrosclerosis
• Polycystic kidney disease
• Renovascular and other vascular diseases
• Uncontrolled hypertension

What Referring Physicians Need to Know

The Ochsner Multi-Organ Transplant Institute provides consistent follow-up information to all referring physicians via written correspondence. You’ll be kept abreast of initial clinic visits, surgery, hospital discharge and routine follow-up visits to the clinic. After surgery, our team continues to monitor for transplant-related complications and regulates maintenance immunosuppression.

To refer a patient for transplant, call our 24-hour Referral Hotline: 1-800-643-1635 or email referrals to: KidneyTransplant@Ochsner.org.