Coffee & Compatibility

Dr. Geoffrey Funk, OPO CEO, joins Coffee & Compatibility to explain what NRP is, how it has impacted solid organ transplant allocation, and why some see it as controversial.

Valen Keefer, a two-time transplant recipient and leading patient advocate, shares her story and insights with the Coffee & Compatibility crew.

Madam President and all-around Immunogenetics boss, Dr. Cathi Murphey joins the podcast to discuss recent CMS updates, guidance, and clarifications on HLA testing and personnel.

What will the next 50 years hold for ASHI? Katie Mellon joins the podcast to discuss how ASHI can attract the next generation of technologists and reflects on her experience at her first ASHI Annual Meeting!

Coffee & Compatibility goes live from the 50th Annual ASHI Meeting! Tune in to hear Dr. Annette Jackson, Rebecca Upchurch, and Dr. Anne Halpin share their insights on the changing regulatory landscape and what it means for your lab. Plus, questions from our live audience!

HLA Director and Transfusion Medicine Specialist, Dr. Ryan Pena, joins Coffee & Compatibility to discuss how HLA laboratories can support transfusion medicine specialists. From HLA typing to anti-HLA antibody analysis in this niche service, Dr. Pena breaks it all down.

Dr. Gerald Morris, the current Chair of the OPTN Histocompatibility Committee, joins Coffee & Compatibility to discuss upcoming changes in HLA testing and nomenclature, and their potential impacts on organ allocation in the United States.

Dr. Zahra Kashi and Russell Martin share how Kashi Laboratory developed their HLA molecular testing menu and how they expanded into non-HLA molecular diagnostics. Tune in to find out what non-HLA molecular diagnostic testing may be the future for HLA laboratories.

Dr. Medhat Askar joins the podcast to discuss the utility and validation of donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) testing for solid-organ recipients. Dr. Askar also discusses the regulatory status of dd-cfDNA in the United States.

Dr. Christina Jorge shares what has made Portugal's organ allocation system one of the best in the world, as well as the challenges it faces and the innovations it has planned.

Organ allocation expert Larry Suplee joins Coffee & Compatibility to discuss the strengths of the U.S. organ allocation system and explore future improvements.  

Trailblazer Donna Phelan shares her journey in HLA including moments of special connection with ASHI's mission, groundbreaking advances in technology, and paving the way for technologist leadership in ASHI!

Kicking off a celebration of ASHI's 50th anniversary, the podcast welcomes Dr. Carolyn Hurley for a conversation about the history and future of ASHI.

Coffee & Compatibility jumps into 2024 with Dr. Robert Liwski, who will give best practices advice on ruling spurious reactivity out of your antibody detection assays. This is your opportunity to up your antibody data accuracy game in 2024!

Patrick Wells-O'Brien joins the podcast to discuss a new law in Michigan designed to grow the organ donor registry and how you can initiate similar legislation in your state.

Our special guest, transplant pharmacist, Dr. Reed Hall, joins us to honor the memory of transplant patient advocate, Amy Silverstein, and do discuss her concerns regarding the need for innovation in immunosuppressing transplant patients.

Dr. Cathy Gebhart and Cordy Kudika explain what ASHI is doing to attract lab professionals, engage students, and spark greater interest in histocompatibility and immunogenetics as a career!

Drs. Cathi Murphey and Michael Gautreaux join the show and share their unique perspectives on dual HLA typing for deceased donors

Join Kelley, Eric, and Jeremy as they share stories and discuss the exciting networking opportunities at the ASHI Annual Meeting!

An interview with Drs. Sharoni Jacobs and James Lu, from Helix, Inc. on the role of Omic technologies in modern medicine and the future opportunities it opens for the ASHI community.

What do medical residents already know about HLA when they rotate through our labs and what do they hope to gain? Dr. Shasta Theodore, a pathology resident, shares her perspective as she begins her histocompatibility lab rotation.

Dr. Maria Bettinotti stresses the importance of HLA consultation for optimal clinical service to bone marrow and hematopoietic stem cell transplant programs. Join us to learn more about “best practices” in BMT/HSCT HLA testing and clinical consultation.

Step into the world of event planning magic with this episode featuring ASHI Meeting Manager, Stephanie Ritter. Learn more about the engaging workshops, networking receptions, and how this year's ASHI Annual Meeting is an event you don't want to miss!

The Chair and past-Chair of the UNOS/OPTN Lung Committee, Dr. Erika Lease and Dr. Marie Budev, join Coffee & Compatibility to discuss the innovative changes in the new deceased donor lung allocation model in the United States. Join us to learn about the advances and challenges in lung allocation.

The podcast team hosts Phillip Fisher for a discussion on creative continuing education opportunities that can advance your career.

Dr. James Lan joins Coffee & Compatibility to continue the discussion on equity and innovation in solid organ transplantation. Register for the 2023 ASHI Annual Meeting by clicking here: https://2023.ashi-hla.org/registration

On this episode, we talked with Mr. John Sadowski, the Lead Technologist at UPMC for Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS). Mr. Sadowski performed beta testing of the Oxford Nanopore System for HLA sequencing and he walks us through how nanopore sequencing works and names the advantages and disadvantages compared to other sequencing methods.

Dr. Loren Gragert discusses recent and future data tools developed to enhance and optimize solid organ transplant offer assessments and tools on the horizon, as well as the system updates that will be vital to their future applications.

In this episode, we interview Sharon Adams about her career in HLA, overcoming common challenges faced by technologists, and her advice for the next generation.

This episode of Coffee & Compatibility is dedicated to Tyler Douglas Weeks, son of ASHI's Accreditation Manager, Melissa Weeks, who passed away on April 5, 2023. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for donations to the 1p36 deletion syndrome association in Tyler's memory.  It's Medical Laboratory's Professionals Week! Click here to learn more about how you can celebrate with ASHI, and win prizes! On this episode we discuss how Dr. Nicholas Brown has made his way within ASHI. Dr. Brown discusses how he went from Fellow to Director, his leadership experience at ASHI, and balancing volunteer commitments. On our newest segment "The Tea", we answer a listener's questions on NMDP's organ allocation system. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button!

We introduce our new co-host, Mr. Jeremy Sherrill! In an interview with Bioinformatician Dr. Abeer Madouly, we discuss the evolving role of race, ethnicity, and ancestry in the field of immunogenetics. Dr. Madouly discusses how and why they are used in HLA genotyping now and in the future. We also answer a question from listener regarding CHS testing in our newest segment, The Tea.

In this episode, we dive into the considerations behind choosing HLA-matched vs. haplo-identical HSCT donors and the clinical innovations that are driving increases in haplo-identical HSCT.

In this episode we are joined by Dr. Sam Ho for a discussion on how virtual crossmatch is being utilized in different laboratory models in the U.S. and how requests for federal regulatory changes and organ allocation models are impacting its future application.

Discussion on the development of Machine Learning approaches and advancements within the ML/AI technology towards application with transplantation.

Check out this live recording of Coffee & Compatibility from the 2022 ASHI Annual Meeting. Podcast hosts Drs. Eric Weimer and Kelley Hitchman interview ASHI's CEO Ms. Katherine Giovetsis, Dr. Peter Lalli, Dr. Luis Hidalgo, and Ms. Carey Killion.

In this episode, Mr. James Nguyen, a Principal Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft Azure, discusses the application and design of machine learning approaches to healthcare. He talks about how applying his years of experience with big data analytics to modern healthcare challenges can aid in the solution of complex challenges. Topics will include data engineering, data quality, and most importantly, how to get started.

HLA Innovators Dr. Robert Liwski, Dr. Annette Jackson and Dr. Anne Halpin set the stage for best practices in anti-HLA antibody testing and analysis on this special Coffee & Compatibility Episode. You do not want to miss this episode or the related session at this year's ASHI annual meeting in Las Vegas, NV October 24-28.

Join us and Dr. Matthieu-P. Schapranow of the NephroCAGE consortium, for an episode dedicated to the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning in transplant risk assessment.

In this short episode, we interviewed ASHI's government liaison representation Mr. James Fleischmann of Wheat-Shroyer Government Relations firm and ASHI Board Member Dr. Cathi Murphy to discuss concerns regarding the VALID Act and what you can do to help.

In this very salient episode, Dr. Yvette Miller guides us through current concerns in Sickle Cell Disease, the dire need for African American blood donor recruitment and the needs for the medical community to work harder to earn trust, and focus equity and access, in disadvantaged populations.

Join us for the third and final episode of our series on the progress of the Sensitization in Transplantation: Assessment of Risk (STAR) workgroup. Dr. Michelle Hickey joins us to discuss perhaps the newest and most controversial STAR workgroup sub-study, non-HLA antibody testing and diagnostics.

Join us for the second episode of our series on the progress of the Sensitization in Transplantation: Assessment of Risk (STAR) workgroup. During this second episode of the STAR workgroup series we are joined by Dr. David Pinelli for a discussion on alloimmunity and diagnostics.

Join us for the first in a multi-episode series on the progress of the Sensitization in Transplantation: Assessment of Risk (STAR) workgroup. In the first episode of the STAR workgroup series, we discuss progress in the utility of anti-HLA antibody testing in clinical trials with Dr. Nicole Valenzuela.

Ms. Julie Shroyer and Mr. James Fleischmann, of Wheat Shroyer Government Relations, join Coffee & Compatibility to describe what it is like to be ASHI's eyes and ears in Washington D.C. and to let our listeners in on current legislation impacting clinical laboratory science.

In this episode, Dr. Alexandre Loupy discusses his group's recent discoveries and insights into biomarker discovery for transplant patients.

Tune in for a very special episode with Dr. Robert Montgomery. Dr. Montgomery is the Professor of Surgery and Director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute. For over a decade he served as the Chief of Transplant Surgery and the Director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center at Johns Hopkins.

Coffee and Compatibility hosts Eric and Kelley recap their first year as podcasters. Tune in to hear about their favorite episodes, hosting the ASHI Annual Meeting, and what happens behind the scenes.

Guest Dr. Abeer Madbouly explains the field of bioinformatics and how it has the potential to shape the future of histocompatibility and immunogenetics.

Check out the live episode of Coffee & Compatibility at the 2021 ASHI Annual Meeting in Orlando with special guests: Executive Producer and ASHI Chief Operating Officer Mandi Cruz ASHI President-elect Dr. Robert Liwiski 2021 J Marilyn MacQueen Rising Star Award recipient Dylan Smith Professor of Surgery & Epidemiology and Associate Vice Chair of Surgery at Johns Hopkins University Dr. Dorry Segev

Dr. Massimo Mangiola, of NYU, joins us to explain the differences between epitopes and eplets, the current state of eplet research in transplantation risk assessment and how this work is shaping the future of transplant compatibility considerations.

This episode will explore killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) testing in solid organ and hematopoietic cell transplantation with experts Drs. Paula Arnold and Luis Hidalgo. We will explore recent literature on KIR utility in clinical decision-making.