Caitrin is the Manager of Clinical Education at Infinite Legacy, serving the state of Maryland, Washington DC and northern Virginia. A Western Michigan University graduate with more than 20 years experience in medicine, including emergency, critical care, and transport, she has served as an EMS field provider, bedside provider, supervisor and educator in EMS and nursing roles. Caitrin joined the Washington Regional Transplant Community as a Clinical Coordinator in 2016 working as a CPTC and AOC. She became Manager of Training and Professional Development for WRTC in 2020. WRTC and The Living Legacy Foundation merged to form Infinite Legacy in January of 2023 where Caitrin continues managing the education and training team. She is proud to be donor family, and grateful to be part of the donation and transplantation mission.
Pediatric Partial Heart Transplants: An Innovative Approach to Decrease Waitlist Mortality
Donation and transplantation professionals are relentlessly exploring innovative ways to decrease waitlist mortality and increase organ utilization within the adult and pediatric population. Most recently, a team at Duke Health performed the first world’s first pediatric partial heart transplant that involved the fusing of donated arteries and valves to a patient’s existing heart. Not only does this remarkable procedure have the potential to extend the life expectancy of pediatric patients who otherwise would be waiting for a life-saving heart transplant, but it allows surgeons to make use of hearts that would otherwise go untransplanted. Join us to hear from Dr. Joseph Turek, Duke’s Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, and his colleagues who assisted in making this surgery a success to learn more about the overall process from procurement to transplant.