DATE: February 2, 2022

Washington, DC (February 2, 2022) – The Kidney Transplant Collaborative (KTC) announced today its appointment to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ End Stage Renal Disease Treatment Choices Learning Collaborative’s (ETCLC) Leadership Coordinating Council (LCC). KTC President and Chair Dr. Louis Diamond will serve as the organization’s representative on the council.

The Leadership Coordinating Council is tasked with carrying out the ETCLC’s primary goal of encouraging greater use of home dialysis and increasing kidney transplants for Medicare beneficiaries nationwide. The Kidney Transplant Collaborative will work with stakeholders across the ESRD community, including transplant centers, organ procurement organizations, donor hospitals and patient and family advocates, to identify existing barriers to kidney transplants and propose and implement solutions.

“The Kidney Transplant Collaborative is grateful to be a part of the ESRD Treatment Choices Learning Collaborative’s Leadership Coordinating Council,” said Dr. Diamond. “Given KTC’s sharp focus on advocacy and our mission to create positive change that will directly impact transplant patients and donors, we are eager to bring our perspective to the table alongside so many other trusted and valued partners in this space.”

Dr. Diamond, who will serve a three-year term on the council, has been involved in ESRD advocacy since 1978. He has held a number of distinguished positions in health care and medicine, including Vice President and Medical Director for Thomson Reuters Healthcare, Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Georgetown University Department of Medicine and the Dean for Medical Affairs at DC General Hospital. In addition, Dr. Diamond was the Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Cape Town School of Medicine and Groote Schuur Hospital.

He is a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow and is also a Fellow at the American College of Physicians in the United States and South Africa. He is a graduate of the University of Cape Town Medical School, South Africa.

“More than 700,000 Americans are being treated for ESRD, and 80,000 remain on the waiting list for a kidney transplant today,” added Dr. Diamond. “I’m confident this initiative will bring forth innovative solutions to ensure these individuals can access the care and treatments they need to lead healthier lives.”

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The Kidney Transplant Collaborative (KTC) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing kidney transplants and decreasing financial obstacles and other problems kidney patients, donors and their families experience with the kidney transplant process. For more details, visit the KTC website at www.kidneytransplantcollaborative.com.

Media Contact:
Mary Jane Rodes
859.494.4484