Our Team
The faculty and staff at the Hume-Lee Transplant Center are dedicated to education and ongoing research to promote the most outstanding outcomes and continued quality of life for our patients that we are able to continually achieve.
Our multi-disciplinary team is comprised of many transplant and internal medicine industry experts who collaborate to provide our patients the highest quality of care before, during and after transplantation. Our teams also include:
Transplant Surgery Team
Kidney Transplant Team
Liver Transplant Team
Lung Transplant Team
Transplant Infectious Diseases Team
Richmond VA Medical Center
Transplant Administrative Team
| Vice President | Sherri A. Newman, MSHA |
| Transplant Business Operations Director | Jeff Mahalik, MBA |
| Transplant Clinical Director, Living Donor Transplant Program Manager | Allison Lewis, MSN, RN |
| Liver Transplant, TPIAT and HCC Program Manager | Nicky Keller, MS, BSN, RN |
| Kidney & Pancreas Transplant Program Manager | Leana Yancey, MSN, RN |
| Manager, Transplant Services - Heart Failure/ Heart Transplant/MCS/Lung | Kathryn Abernathy, MS, RN, ACCNS-AG, CHFN |
| Associate Vice President, Associate Chief Nursing Officer VCU Health | Brett Neville, DNP, RN, NEA-BC |
| Nursing Director, Cardiovascular and Transplant Nursing | Eddie Buhse, MSN, RN |
Transplant Clinical Team
| Transplant Psychologist | Stephan Weinland, PhD |
| HLA Laboratory Director | Mary Carmelle Philogene, PhD |
| Islet Cell Laboratory Director | Mazhar Kanak, PhD |
| Islet Cell Laboratory Assistant Director | Prathab Balaji Saravanan, PhD |
| Transplant Pharmacist | Idris Yakubu, PharmD |
| Transplant Pharmacist | Andrew Brown, PharmD |
| Transplant Pharmacist | Sara Sterling, PharmD |
| Transplant Pharmacist | |
| Transplant Pharmacist |
Other clinical and administrative team members include:
- Dedicated ambulatory and inpatient Social Workers who work with each patient to enhance quality of life and outcomes.
- Transplant Dieticians who provide transplant-specific education and nutritional support to patients and their families pre- and post-transplant.
- Financial Coordinators who are available to help guide our patients through the insurance process and provide education on the financial aspects of transplant - from evaluation to life after transplant.
- Outreach Coordinators who assist with transplant education for patients, provide outreach and support for community health care providers, and facilitate ongoing communications between Hume-Lee and referring providers.