The AST is pleased to announce its 2025–2026 Board of Directors election results. We extend a warm welcome to the new leaders who will help guide the Society in the year ahead.

The AST announced the recipients of its 2025 Achievement Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award and Transplant Advocacy Award, at the World Transplant Congress (WTC) in San Francisco, CA. The recipients were awarded for their achievements and contributions to the AST and the field of transplantation.

Know an early-career professional or student interested in transplantation? Encourage them to check out the AST Fellows Symposium! This unique program offers expert-led sessions and valuable networking with leaders in the field. It’s a great opportunity for fellows, residents, pharmacists, nurses, and students to explore career paths in transplant and build lasting connections.

The Living Donor Protection Act (LDPA) has been reintroduced in Congress, and we need your support. This bipartisan legislation would prohibit insurance discrimination against living organ donors, ensure they can use FMLA leave during recovery, and require updated educational resources to promote donation.

Take action now — urge your lawmakers to support the LDPA.

Funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) put critical transplant research at risk. NIH-funded studies have driven advancements in transplantation, improving patient outcomes and paving the way for innovations like new immunosuppressants, immune tolerance strategies, and even organ regeneration. Without this support, progress in the field could slow, affecting countless patients and families.

We need your help to ensure that transplant research remains a priority. Use our advocacy page to contact your members of Congress and urge them to protect NIH funding. Together, we can make a difference. Take action today!

The AST developed a survey aimed at soliciting your perspectives on legislative and regulatory issues that significantly influence both patient care and professional practice. Our goal is to establish a platform for our membership to share their invaluable ideas and perspectives and actively engage with the Public Policy Committee and AST leadership. We look forward to your input as we navigate the dynamics of our ever-evolving landscape of transplant care and practice.

Source: American Journal of Transplantation
Active rejection (AR) remains a major risk factor for graft dysfunction and loss. Donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) is a dynamic, noninvasive biomarker for AR. We hypothesized that dd-cfDNA monitoring postrejection may enable physicians to stratify patients into those with more and less favorable prognoses. This prospective multicenter study of kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) with biopsy-proven AR (BPAR) monitored dd-cfDNA for 8 weeks following diagnosis and recorded clinical outcomes at 12 months. 

Kidney failure with replacement therapy (KFRT) such as dialysis or transplantation represents a severe stage of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and poses a major global health burden. Although many CKD cases are diagnosed in the earlier stages, the greatest risk occurs when CKD progresses to KFRT. Despite its considerable financial and imposing impact on public health, there is a notable gap in international policies addressing CKD and KFRT. To bridge this gap and help policymakers and health systems effectively tackle the public health challenge of KFRT, a better understanding of the disease burden is essential. Thus, this analysis aims to provide a detailed overview of the global prevalence of KFRT and its associated aetiologies with estimates from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) from 1990 to 2023.

Source: Wiley Online Library
Although liver transplantation (LT) rates have increased globally, the demand for organs still exceeds the supply. This review highlights cultures with significant influences on organ donation and LT.

Source: Springer Nature Link
Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) have an increased burden of neurodevelopmental delays (ND). However, the neurocognitive outcomes of children with heart failure needing heart transplantation (HTx) in childhood are not well described. We performed a single center retrospective cohort study including all children undergoing HTx between 01/2017 and 12/2022 at age ≤ 2 years, who had developmental follow-up and assessment either in the Cardiac Developmental Outcomes Program (CDOP) clinic or by their pediatrician.