April is National Donate Life Month. National Donate Life Month was established to encourage Americans to register as organ and tissue donors and to honor those that have saved lives through the gift of donation.
Organ donation and organ transplantation can save lives, Thursday, April 15 at 10am, watch a special edition of abc27’s, Good Day PA. Discover why organ donation, especially living organ donation, is so important, meet donors and recipients who have experienced the transplant journey.
Plus, have your questions answered in a live webchat with transplant specialists from UPMC. All on a special edition of abc27’s Good Day PA.
To submit questions prior, click the comment button below. Enter your name, then click the sign-in button. Once your information has been entered, you will have the ability to submit your question.
Becca Brown, RN
Unit Director
Becca Brown is the Unit Director in the Transplant Department at UPMC in Central Pa. She received her nursing degree from York College and her master’s in nursing from Liberty University. She has been a Registered Nurse for over 30 years; the first decade in critical care, the next two in transplant.
Ms. Brown was a contributing author for Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt’s The Heart of Evidence-Based Practice: True Stories of how EBP Inspires Nurses and Improves Patients’ Lives. She is a member of the International Transplant Nurse’s Society and NATCO, the Organization for Transplant Professionals. Ms. Brown has also served on the Astellas Advisory Board as a consultant to help improve medication adherence in transplant patients.
Outside of work, Ms. Brown enjoys skiing and snow shoeing in the winter. In the summer, she can often be found hiking the woods of Central Pa. with her two German Shorthaired Pointers.
PinnacleHealth Transplant Associates
Brady Building
205 South Front Street, 8th floor
Harrisburg, PA 17104
717-231-8700
Ganesh Swaytha, MD
Dr. Ganesh is medical director of the Living Donor Program at UPMC. Dr. Ganesh is renowned for her clinical expertise in treating a wide range of patients with liver disease with a specific interest in living-donor liver transplantation. Dr. Ganesh’s areas of research include evaluating recipients and donors and assessing their eligibility for living donor surgery, managing patients on the waiting list, and developing disease management protocols in post-liver transplant patients with metabolic syndrome, hyperlipidemia, and systemic hypertension.
Harold Yang, MD, PhD
Transplant surgeon
Harold Yang, MD, PhD, is a transplant surgeon and is certified in surgery by the American Board of Surgery. He is the surgical director of general surgery and transplant services at UPMC in Central Pa. He received his medical degree and completed his residency in general surgery at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, followed by his fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Yang is a member of a number of professional and scientific societies, including the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, the American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, and the Kidney Foundation of Central PA-Advisory Group
PinnacleHealth Transplant Associates
Brady Building
205 South Front Street, 8th floor
Harrisburg, PA 17104
717-231-8700
