Membership & Professional Standards Committee (MPSC)

The OPTN Membership and Professional Standards Committee (MPSC) is an operating committee of the OPTN. The MPSC maintains membership criteria and monitors OPTN member compliance with OPTN membership criteria, OPTN bylaws and policies, and the OPTN Final Rule. The MPSC takes action or makes recommendations for further action to the OPTN Board of Directors as needed.

The MPSC, through peer review:

Reviews events identified as presenting a risk to patient safety, public health or the integrity of the OPTN.
Evaluates and supports OPTN members by providing feedback on and recommendations to improve members’ performance, compliance, and quality systems.
Reviews applications for membership in the OPTN, approval of designated transplant programs, and changes in OPTN member key personnel.

The MPSC also:

Identifies opportunities for transplant community education to improve patient safety and safeguard the integrity of the transplant system, often through dissemination of successful examples of membership engagement and sharing of best practices.
Develops bylaws and policies related to membership criteria or the oversight responsibilities of the MPSC that align with the OPTN mission to maximize organ supply, provide efficient and safe care, and provide equitable access to transplantation.

Current projects

Review

Update Transplant Program Key Personnel Training and Experience Requirements

Implemented

Update Criteria for Post-Transplant Graft Survival Metrics
Require Reporting of Patient Safety Events
Enhance Transplant Program Performance Monitoring System
Change to Hospital-Based OPO Voting Privileges (8/2018)
Revising OPTN Bylaws Appendix L (1/2018)
Revise transplant fellowship training program approval bylaws (7/2017)
Primary transplant surgeon requirement changes (8/2016)
Primary liver transplant physician subspecialty requirement changes (8/2016)
Primary kidney transplant physician update (8/2016)
Update transplant hospital definition (8/2016)

Committee members

Chair

Dr. Clifford D Miles
The Nebraska Medical Center

Vice Chair

Dr. Scott A Lindberg
Houston Methodist Hospital

Liaison

Sally H Aungier
UNOS Employee
sally.aungier@unos.org

Members	Organization	Position	End Term Date
Josh Abelson	General Public Region 3	At Large	6/30/2027
Bradley L Adams	Southwest Transplant Alliance	Region 4 Representative	6/30/2027
Dr. Kamyar Afshar	University of California San Diego Medical Center	At Large	6/30/2027
Dr. Abbas Ardehali	University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center	Region 5 Representative	6/30/2027
Ms. Mitzi A Barker	Children's Hospital Medical Center	At Large	6/30/2026
Ms. Megan L Bell	Cedars-Sinai Medical Center	At Large	6/30/2027
Dr. David A Bruno	VCU Health System Authority, VCUMC	Region 11 Representative	6/30/2027
Dr. Michael F Daily	Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital	Region 1 Representative	6/30/2027
Dr. Chadrick E Denlinger	Indiana University Health	At Large	6/30/2027
Dr. Niraj M Desai	North Shore University Hospital/Northwell Health	Region 9 Representative	6/30/2027
Dr. Amishi Desai	Northwestern Memorial Hospital	At Large	6/30/2027
Mr. Chad E Ezzell	Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency	At Large	6/30/2026
Dr. Roshan P George	Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta - Arthur M. Blank Hospital	At Large	6/30/2026
Dr. Dipankar Gupta	UF Health Shands Hospital	At Large	6/30/2026
Dr. Shelley A Hall	Baylor University Medical Center	Ex Officio (non voting)	6/30/2026
Mr. Richard D Hasz	Gift of Life Donor Program	At Large	6/30/2026
Dr. Nicole A Hayde	Montefiore Medical Center	At Large	6/30/2027
Mr. Kyle R Herber	Live On Nebraska	At Large	6/30/2026
Dr. Dean Y Kim	Children's Hospital of Michigan	Region 10 Representative	6/30/2027
Dr. Lindsay Y King	Duke University Hospital	At Large	6/30/2027
Dr. Varvara A Kirchner	Stanford Health Care	At Large	6/30/2027
Dr. Kevin J Koomalsingh	Providence St. Vincent Medical Center	Region 6 Representative	6/30/2027
Dr. Kevin M Korenblat	Barnes-Jewish Hospital	At Large	6/30/2027
Dr. Peter N Lalli	Immunology Laboratory at Carolinas Medical Center	At Large	6/30/2026
Dr. Maricar F Malinis	Vanderbilt University Medical Center	At Large	6/30/2026
Dr. Michael R Marvin	Geisinger Medical Center	Region 2 Representative	6/30/2027
Deborah A Maurer	University of Pittsburgh Medical Center	At Large	6/30/2027
Dr. Saeed Mohammad	Vanderbilt University Medical Center	At Large	6/30/2026
Dr. Kenneth A Newell	Emory University Hospital	Region 3 Representative	6/30/2027
Dr. Anthony L Panos	University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Transplant Programs	Region 8 Representative	6/30/2027
Dr. Deirdre L Sawinski	New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center	At Large	6/30/2026
Dr. Nirmal S Sharma	CHI St. Luke's Health Baylor College of Medicine Medical Center	At Large	6/30/2027
Dr. Paul A Stahler	Hennepin County Medical Center	Region 7 Representative	6/30/2027
Dr. Carrie Thiessen	University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics	At Large	6/30/2027
Dr. James J Yun	The Cleveland Clinic Foundation	At Large	6/30/2026

Meeting summaries

Reports to the Board of Directors

MPSC resources

Explore Board reports and community updates about key topics.

MPSC resources

Date Last Reviewed:

December 2025

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