Organ transplantation exemplifies the use of high-technology medicine to treat advanced and chronic diseases. Dr. Dew will discuss the health psychology of organ transplantation, and its relevance to the broader study of psychological issues in chronic disease. Drawing on her studies in this area over the past 25 years, as well as the burgeoning literature in the field of transplantation, she will describe the most common psychological problems and concerns arising in transplant populations; consider factors that increase risk for such problems; and review evidence concerning the impact of such problems on transplant-related morbidities and mortality. She will also describe strategies that either improve—or hold promise to improve—mental health and general psychosocial well-being after transplantation. Although the focus of the talk will be on transplant recipients, she will consider the perspectives of family caregivers and living donors, and the impact of the transplant process on these individuals as well as the transplant recipients themselves.
Dr. Dew directs the Clinical Epidemiology Program at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC), and she is Co-Director of the Center for Late Life Depression Prevention and Treatment at WPIC. She is also Director of Quality of Life Research, Artificial Heart Program, Adult Cardiothoracic Transplantation at UPMC, and she is active in the University Center for Social and Urban Research and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Light lunch provided.