#155 - Chris Sonnenday, M.D.: The history, challenges, and gift of organ transplantation

 

We discuss:

• What attracted Chris to medicine, and his leadership in residency (3:30);
• How Chris maintained his empathy and humanity through the stresses of med school and residency (8:30);
• Why Chris chose a complicated field like transplant medicine (23:15);
• Explaining kidney transplantation to showcase the challenge of organ transplantation surgery (28:00);
• Overcoming the immune-based challenges of transplant surgery (37:00);
• How the discovery of cyclosporine transformed the field of organ transplantation (49:00);
• Rising chronic kidney failure due to the prevalence of pre-diabetes and metabolic syndrome (53:45);
• Why living kidney donations are superior, and the possibility of a market for kidney donation (59:30);
• Designing a fair system of organ distribution (1:17:30);
• The debate on what constitutes "death" when deciding when to take organs from a registered organ donor (1:21:45);
• Reflections on the gift of organ donation (1:33:15);
• The history of liver transplantation and why it's so complex (1:39:15);
• Addressing acute liver failure and the amazing baboon experiment (1:46:15);
• The potential for the rising prevalence of NAFLD and NASH to overwhelm the liver transplant infrastructure in the US (1:54:45);
• The importance of teamwork in successful organ transplantations, and the most tragic event Chris has ever witnessed (2:05:45); and
• More.

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