Portland, Ore

OHSU CARDIOLOGIST APPOINTED TO NATIONAL TASK FORCE ON SUDDEN CARDIAC ARREST

Sumeet Chugh, M.D., associate professor of medicine (cardiology) in the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine, has been appointed to the Heart Rhythm Society's five-member Legislative Task Force on Sudden Cardiac Arrest. The role of this task force will be to define the Heart Rhythm Society's legislative agenda related to sudden cardiac arrest and other heart rhythm disorders. The task force members will conduct a congressional event in Fall 2005, calling attention to this important public health problem and the critical need for enhancing prevention of sudden cardiac arrest. Founded in 1979, the Heart Rhythm Society has more than 4,000 members from 64 countries and represents specialists that focus on the diagnosis and treatment of heart rhythm disorders.

OHSU ETHICIST NAMED CHAIRWOMAN OF NATIONAL TRANSPLANT ETHICS COMMITTEE

Margaret Allee, R.N., J.D., chairwoman of OHSU's Institutional Review Board, has been named chairwoman of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and United Network for Organ Sharing (OPTN/UNOS) Ethics Committee. This national committee considers ethical issues relating to organ procurement, distribution and transplantation. UNOS administers the nation's only organ procurement program, manages transplantation data, facilitates organ matching and placement, and brings the medical community together to help create organ transplantation policy. Allee, an assistant professor of corporate compliance, is the first committee chairwoman who is not a physician. She will serve a three-year term. Allee spent eight years as the director of operations for clinical transplant services at OHSU, three years as the director of Legacy Health System's Heart Institute and Transplant Services, then rejoined OHSU as the chairwoman of its IRB in November 2004. Allee has been an active member of UNOS for seven years and is currently on its board of directors.

DOERNBECHER HEART SURGEON ELECTED TO NATIONAL ORGANIZATION

Ross Ungerleider, M.D., John C. Hursh Chair of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at Doernbecher Children's Hospital, and professor and head of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at OHSU has been named president-elect of the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association (STSA). STSA is one of the four major national organizations for cardiothoracic surgery in this country. Ungerleider is internationally known for his numerous contributions to improving outcomes for infant heart surgery as well as for his unique leadership style. Since arriving in Portland in December 2000, Ungerleider has helped Doernbecher achieve national recognition as one of the leading pediatric cardiac surgery programs in the nation.