The Solid Organ Transplant (SOT) SIG

In 2017 at SPPAC in Portland, Oregon, several psychologists working with solid organ transplant patients met over lunch and discussed their desire for a transplant-specific special interest group within SPP. Several months later, a formal request for the SOT SIG was submitted to SPP leadership and approved. The mission of the SOT SIG is to connect SPP members who have clinical, research, and program development interests in the areas of heart, liver, kidney, lung, multivisceral, and other solid organ transplants. The collaboration fostered by the SIG helps us better serve our patients, teams, and the community.

The Transplant SIG is proud to have 71 members. We have three working groups in the areas of pretransplant evaluations and health disparities. These groups have actively contributed to the scientific knowledge relevant to pediatric organ transplants, including:

  • Earlier this year, we conducted a survey of psychologists across the United States who work with pediatric transplant patients to gather information regarding pretransplant evaluation practices; we are currently analyzing this data with a goal to disseminate and publish findings.
  • In collaboration with the Cardiology SIG, we are in the process of developing written recommendations for the psychosocial evaluation of pediatric heart transplant and ventricular assist device candidates. We plan to soon submit our recommendations for publication.
  • We are proud to have recently published a systematic review of social determinants of health in pediatric organ transplant outcomes in Pediatric Transplantation. This project was a joint effort of SOT SIG trainee members and faculty members (see reference below).

The SOT SIG is currently led by co-chairs, Kelli Triplett, PhD, ABPP (Children’s Medical Center Dallas, University of Texas Southwestern) and Lauren Schneider, PsyD (Stanford University, Stanford Medicine Children’s Health). Our wonderful student representatives are Kara West, PhD (Children’s Hospital Philadelphia) and Ke Ding, PhD (Nemours Children’s Health).

If you are interested in joining the SOT SIG, please register via the pedpsych.org membership portal. You can also follow us on Twitter @SPP_Transplant and visit our website: Solid Organ Transplant - Society of Pediatric Psychology (pedpsych.org)

Reference:
Rea, K. E., West, K. B., Dorste, A., Christofferson, E. S., Lefkowitz, D., Mudd, E., Schneider, L., Smith, C., Triplett, K., & McKenna, K. (2022). A Systematic Review of Social Determinants of Health in Pediatric Organ Transplant Outcomes. Pediatric Transplantation, e14418. doi: 10.1111/petr.14418