May JHLT: The Podcast Explores Race and Gender Disparities in HepC+ Hearts and Lungs, Plus how Metabolomic Profiling During NRP Before HTX

In the May episode of JHLT: The Podcast, The JHLT Digital Media Editors explore two studies from the May issue of The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation. This episode is hosted by Digital Media Editor David Schibilsky, MD, of the University of Freiburg.

Dr. Schibilsky and Digital Media Editor Erika Lease, MD, interview their first guest, Helen A. Hannan, the podcast’s first-ever undergraduate pre-medical guest, from the University of Michigan. Helen was the lead author on the study “ Racial and Gender Disparities in Transplantation of Hepatitis C+ Hearts and Lungs.” The study noted that prior research in utilization of kidneys from donors with Hepatitis C had shown disparities due to gender and education—and wanted to see if this was the case in heart and lung donors as well.

Drs. Schibilsky and Lease chat with Helen about the findings of the study, including some of the interesting differences shown between heart and lung recipients, and the ramifications for better patient discussions at the clinical level.

Next, Dr. Schibilsky and Digital Media Editor Marty Tam, MD, interview their next guest, Lauren Truby, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Dr. Truby is the podcast’s first return guest, having appeared on the show near the end of 2021. This time, she’s featured as first author on the study “Metabolomic profiling during ex situ normothermic perfusion before heart transplantation defines patterns of substrate utilization and correlates with markers of allograft injury.” The paper explores cardiac metabolism of donor hearts during recovery using an ex situ normothermic perfusion system (NRP).

Dr. Truby provides an in depth look at the project’s logistics—which she calls a “labor of love”—its multi-point findings, and what’s next in this line of research.

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