June 15, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - James K. Kirklin, M.D., director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, has been elected president of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation for 2010.
The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation is a multidisciplinary professional organization dedicated to improving the care of patients with advanced heart or lung disease through transplantation, mechanical support and innovative therapies via research, education and advocacy. It was created in 1981 and has more than 2500 members from more than 45 countries, representing more than 14 different disciplines involved in the management and treatment of end-state heart and lung disease.
Kirklin is widely known for his surgical expertise and for spearheading the UAB Heart and Lung Transplant Program, establishing it as one of the leading heart-lung transplant programs in the world. Heart transplantation began at UAB in 1981, and in 1986 Kirklin became the director of the program, which later expanded to include lung transplantation.
Kirklin was instrumental in the formation of the Cardiac Transplant Research Database and the Pediatric Heart Transplant Study, and in establishing UAB as headquarters for both programs. Clinical information from the major heart transplant centers in the United Stated is funneled into these databases for use in analyses that help guide doctors in the management of heart transplant cases.
Kirklin also is the principal investigator of INTERMACS, or Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support. INTERMACS is a national registry that tracks patients who are receiving mechanical circulatory support device therapy to treat advanced heart failure. The registry is a joint effort of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Food and Drug Administration and clinicians, scientists and industry representatives. Researchers at UAB coordinate data collection and analysis, and the United Network for Organ Sharing is responsible for maintaining the database.
For the past nine years, Kirklin has served as editor of the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, the official publication of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. He is listed among "The Best Doctors in America," and as one of the "best doctors" in cardiac surgery by Good Housekeeping, American Health and other publications.
A graduate of The Ohio State University and Harvard Medical School, Kirklin trained at Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children's Hospital, as well as UAB. He joined the UAB faculty in 1981, performing congenital and adult cardiothoracic surgery.
About UAB
UAB is the Southeast's most comprehensive and advanced health care facility for treating cardiovascular and thoracic disorders. The Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery has a long history of excellence, performs nearly 2,000 open heart procedures each year, and has performed almost 45,000 such operations since 1966. UAB also is the only facility in the state of Alabama that performs heart and lung transplantation, complex mechanical circulatory support, complex neonatal and infant heart surgery, and complex airway reconstructions.