Betty Crandall, Director of Sentara Healthcares Cardiac/Vascular/ Transplant Clinical Specialty Services, has been appointed chair of the Transplant Administrators Committee for the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), a two-year post beginning July. Based in Richmond, UNOS maintains the national organ transplant list and coordinates the matching and distribution of donated organs in the U.S. In Virginia, more than 2,420 people are awaiting organs.
"Organ donation touches so many lives," Crandall said. "Serving an organization that helps increase awareness of the critical need for donated organs and tissues is very satisfying."
Crandall has served as head of Sentara's transplant services since 1997. In her role with UNOS, she will coordinate completion of an annual web-based staffing survey, guide the planning and conduct of a national conference for more than 400 transplant administrators, and oversee the maintenance of a standardized web-based document that transplant administrators complete to qualify as designated transplant centers.
Sentara Healthcare's Transplant Center, located at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, has been in existence for more than 30 years and has been part of more than 1,600 transplants. Currently, kidney and heart transplants are performed at the center with pancreas transplants expected to begin this fall.
Sentara's transplant program is committed to providing health care options to the residents of Hampton Roads by offering patients in need of solid organ transplantation the best outcomes, local access, and superior customer service.