Advisory Board
The CORE Advisory Board is composed of 22 to 25 members and must include professionals from transplant centers, intensive care or emergency departments, tissue banks, voluntary health organizations, hisocompatibility members, neuroscience physicians, transplant surgeons, chief medical directors, medical directors of an eye bank, organ donor families, and public members. The board meets biannually.
Joseph Africa, MD
Medical Director
Charleston Area Medical Center
Stephen H. Bailey, MD
Director, Cardiac Surgery
Allegheny Health Network
Meaghan Beerson
Program Administrator, Transplant Services
UPMC Hamot
Lynsey Biondi, MD, FACS
Physician Director of Transplantation, Surgical Director of Kidney Transplant
WVU Medicine
Thomas V. Cacciarelli, MD
Director, Liver Transplant Program
VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System
Russell Mitesh Cerejo, MD
Co-Director, Endovascular Services
Allegheny Health Network/Cerebrovascular Center
Robert C. Dolence
Transplant Recipient Representative
Armando Ganoza, MD
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute
Lindsey Herlinger
Transplant Administrator
VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System
Ajai Khanna, MD
Professor of Surgery
UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
Jennifer Knight, MD
Associate Program Director, General Surgery Residency Program
West Virginia University; Ruby Memorial Hospital
Glen Martin
Associate Administrator
Charleston Area Medical Center/General Hospital
Valliammai Muthappan, MD
Corneal Surgeon; Cataract and Eye Consultants
Sightline Ophthalmic Associates
Reshma Paranjpe
Cornea, External Disease and Refractive Surgery
Allegheny Ophthalmic and Orbital Associates
Frederick Peterson
Public Representative
The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania
Diane Pidwell, PhD
Director, Histocompatibility Laboratory
Allegheny General Hospital
Richard Plowey, MD, MPH
Keystone Pain Consultants
Duke Rupert
COO & Transplant Administrator
Allegheny General Hospital
Kathleen K. Ryan
Executive Director and Legal Counsel
Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association
Gina Velar
Donor Family Representative
Travis Watson
Transplant Program Administrator
UPMC Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute
Martin Wijkstrom, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Division of Transplantation
Director Islet Transplantation
Director Abdominal Transplant Fellowship
UPMC Montefiore
M. Asad Zaman, MHA
Director, Transplant Services
UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
Rachelle (Shelley) Zomak, RN, MS, CCTC
Director, Transplant Operations and Compliance
WVU Medicine – WVU Hospitals
Ex Officio Members
Matthew R. Morrell, MD
CORE Chief Medical Officer & Advisory Board Chair
Medical Director, Lung Transplant Program
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Susan Stuart, RN, MPM
President/CEO
Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE)
Roheena Kamyar, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
William R. Wagner, PhD
Director
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine