Westchester Medical Center’s Chief of Kidney Transplant Meelie DebRoy, M.D., FACS, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), a national body that oversees organ allocation and policy in the United States. Her appointment places the WMCHealth Network at the forefront of shaping the future of organ transplantation during a critical moment of reform and innovation.
With more than 100,000 people waiting for organ transplants in the U.S., and someone added to the waitlist every 10 minutes, the OPTN is tasked with addressing a system under pressure. DebRoy’s leadership – and WMCHealth’s role as a leader in transplant expertise – will now help steer national policy to increase equity, improve organ utilization and ultimately save more lives.
DebRoy’s election was recently announced by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) following its special election for the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) Board of Directors.
DebRoy is a renowned surgeon with more than 20 years of experience. She specializes in kidney removal surgery and kidney and liver transplants in adults and children. With a career devoted to advancing equity, ethics and innovation in health care, she brings a deep commitment to improving our nation’s transplantation system for the benefit of all patients in need.
In her new position as a board member of OPTN, she plans to prioritize policy initiatives that enhance donor registration, improve organ utilization and ensure that every patient — regardless of race, socioeconomic status or geography — has a fair chance at life-saving care.
WMCHealth is home to one of the most established multiorgan transplant facilities in New York, with teams that perform complicated, life-saving transplants using the most advanced technology. Led by the top surgeons in the field, the transplant program team has performed thousands of heart, liver, and kidney transplants, including multiorgan transplants in both adults and pediatric patients.
The Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) is a 1,700-bed health -care system headquartered in Valhalla, New York, with nine hospitals on seven campuses spanning 6,200 square miles of the Hudson Valley. WMCHealth employs more than 12,000 people and has nearly 3,000 attending physicians.
The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) is a unique public-private partnership that links all professionals involved in the U.S. donation and transplantation system. Also crucial to the system are individuals who sign organ donor cards, people who comment on policy proposals and countless volunteers who support donation and transplantation, among many others. A driving force of the OPTN is to improve the U.S. system so that more life-saving organs are available for transplant.
