Largest transplant
society in the United
States honors Baylor
researcher
Dr. Jacqueline O’Leary
Th e
American
Society
of
Tr a nspl a n tat ion (AST) has awarded
Jacqueline O’Leary, M.D. M.P.H., with its
Clinical Science Investigator Award. Dr. O’Leary
is medical director of research for the Baylor Annette
C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute and
medical director of the Liver and Transplant Unit at
Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.
Selected by the AST board of directors, the
recipient of this annual award must have made a
substantial contribution to the field of transplantation medicine, and show signs of a bright future
ahead in transplantation.
“This is very well deserved honor and I am very
proud of Dr. O’Leary for her contributions to our
industry and this prestigious accomplishment,”
said Göran Klintmalm, M.D., Ph.D., chief and
chairman of the Baylor Simmons Transplant
Institute.
Dr. O’Leary has made significant contributions
to transplantation. She has more than 40 original
publications and has been the principal investigator in many key clinical trials in liver disease,
viral hepatitis and liver transplantation.
“The reason I focus on these areas is that they
have the highest risk for death,” said Dr. O’Leary.
She has seen progress in all three of her areas of
focus. “Over the last 10 years, we’ve seen a revolution in Hepatitis C treatment from poorly
tolerated, very toxic medicines that rarely resulted
in cure – to now all-oral therapy, even for transplant patients, that can achieve greater than 90
percent cure in as little as three months.”
Dedicated to improving quantity and quality of
life for patients both before and after transplants,
Dr. O’Leary said, “I like to discover new things that
help people – truly translating research findings into
improved clinical care. We’ve really improved our
ability to find problems early and intervene so we
can prevent complications down the road. We’re trying to do a better job of diagnosing problems with
blood tests or biomarkers out of blood instead of
having to do invasive tests like liver biopsies.”
She was attracted to a career in medicine by an
uncle who was a physician. His cancer diagnosis and
death initially focused her attention on cancer
research. The opportunity to impact patients
through transplantation drew Dr. O’Leary to her
current work in hepatology, because “when patients
get very sick with liver disease, they may have a
transplant, and it’s like a rebirth – which is really
wonderful to experience.”
Many of Dr. O’Leary’s research efforts have been
funded thanks to generous donors to the Foundation.
For more information on how you can support
transplant initiatives, contact Melissa Dalton at
214.820.2705 or [email protected].
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