Division of Transplantation Professor and Arnold G. Diethelm Endowed Chair in Transplantation Surgery Jayme Locke, M.D., MPH, was accepted as a member into the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) in April 2022.
Locke holds numerous leadership roles across UAB, from director of the Division of Transplantation, to director of the UAB Comprehensive Transplant Institute. In addition, she is a prolific researcher having published more than 180 peer reviewed manuscripts and is currently the principal investigator of three NIH R01’s.
Of the hundreds of applications that the ASCI receives each year, they select only 100 for membership. For Locke, the membership recognizes the duality of her identity as a transplant surgeon as well as a researcher at UAB.
“I have always known that I wanted to be both surgeon and scientist. I really can’t imagine one without the other. For me, ASCI membership is an honor of a lifetime that recognizes Jayme Locke the ‘scientist.’ It is both humbling and exhilarating to be elected to an organization of extraordinarily accomplished scientists whose collective body of work has saved countless lives.”
Locke is an abdominal transplant surgeon who specializes in innovative strategies for the transplantation of incompatible organs, disparities in access to and outcomes after solid organ transplantation, and transplantation of HIV-infected end-stage patients.
Her research interests include complex statistical analysis and modeling of transplant outcomes and behavioral research focused on health disparities.
Most recently, Locke made national and international headlines, alongside her transplant team, for conducting the first clinical-grade transplant of gene-edited pig kidneys into a brain-dead human in the world. The pig kidneys transplanted were taken from pigs that had been genetically modified with 10 key gene edits that may make the kidneys suitable for transplant into humans.
The ASCI is a nonprofit medical honor society composed of more than 3,000 physician-scientists from all medical specialties. The Society is dedicated to the advancement of research that extends understanding of diseases and improves treatment, and members are committed to mentoring future generations of physician-scientists.