RWJUH Paired Kidney Transplant Featured on CBS News

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Dr. David Laskow on CBS NewsChannel 2 News – WCBS New York featured Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and its patients in a story about paired kidney donation.

Dr. David Laskow was interviewed as the surgeon who performed one of two simultaneous living donation kidney transplant surgeries – one was done here at RWJUH and the other one was done at the same time at the University of Toledo Medical Center in Ohio.

The patients involved in this unique transplant traveled from Michigan, North Brunswick and Staten Island to New Brunswick and Toledo to participate in the altruistic donations.

This is the first time in New Jersey a paired kidney exchange has been performed inter-state.

RWJUH is among the state’s top hospitals for organ donation and through its participation in the paired exchange program, will be able to link more willing donors with more patients from across the country, reduce waiting time and ultimately save more lives.

Click here for the complete Channel 2 News story which aired on July 31.

About Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital

Selected as one of four hospitals nationwide to offer the world's first self-contained implantable artificial heart, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (www.rwjuh.edu) is a 600-bed academic medical center and the principal hospital of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, NJ. Robert Wood Johnson is an innovative leader in advancing state-of-the-art care in medicine. Its Centers of Excellence include cardiovascular care from minimally invasive heart surgery to transplantation, cancer care, and women's and children's care including The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (www.bmsch.org). The hospital is also a Level 1 Trauma Center and serves as a national resource in its ground-breaking approaches to emergency preparedness.

The hospital has earned significant national recognition for clinical quality and patient safety. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is ranked among the top 50 hospitals in the nation for both heart and heart surgery and respiratory disorders, according to U.S.News & World Report's 2008 ranking of "America's Best Hospitals." The American College of Surgeons' Commission on Cancer has rated Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital among the nation's best comprehensive cancer centers. The Leapfrog Group rated Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital as one of the 50 exceptional U.S. hospitals, as published in Consumers Digest magazine. Harvard University researchers, in a study commissioned by The Commonwealth Fund, identified Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital as one of the top 10 hospitals in the nation for clinical quality. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is also a recipient of the prestigious Magnet Award for Nursing Excellence for more than 10 consecutive years.