The British Transplantation Society (BTS) is a non-profit professional body representing the community of physicians, surgeons, nurses, allied health professionals and scientists involved in organ transplantation in the United Kingdom.[1][2] The BTS supports the provision and dissemination of medical research in organ transplantation, and also develops national guidance and policy in the provision of transplant care to patients,[3][4][5][6] including living donation.[7] Notably the society supported the debate for presumed consent from deceased donors in United Kingdom parliament[8] and also the use of donation after circulatory failure (DCD) in the expansion of the donor pool.[9][10]
Purpose
The purpose of the BTS is "to promote transplantation in all its forms".[11] However, the society states four strategic aims:[12]
To advance research and innovation in the field of organ transplantation
To promote ethical standards in research and transplant medicine
To promote a culture of organ donation by influencing public opinion
To support patients living with a transplanted organ
Education and research
The BTS provides training and education to doctors in clinical transplantation. The BTS congress is held annually in order for novel research to be disseminated to the clinical and scientific communities.
Awards
The BTS awards two prizes each year to clinicians and scientists for excellence in transplantation research.
Medawar Medal
The society gives two Medawar Medals each year to a doctor and scientist presenting the best clinical or scientific research, respectively.[13] The award is named after Sir Peter Medawar, the founder chairman of BTS and winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for the discovery of transplantation principle.[14]
Roy Calne Medal
The society awards a medal to the competitive winner of submission of a peer review publication in a recognised academic journal.[15] The award is named after Sir Roy Yorke Calne, who was the first surgeon to perform a combined heart-lung-liver transplant in 1987, the first liver transplantation operation in Europe in 1968, and the first small bowel transplant in the UK in 1992.[16]
^McPherson S, Elsharkawy AM, Ankcorn M, et al. Summary of the British Transplantation Society UK Guidelines for Hepatitis E and Solid Organ Transplantation. Transplantation 2018; 102(1): 15-20.
^Newsome PN, Allison ME, Andrews PA, et al. Guidelines for liver transplantation for patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Gut 2012; 61(4): 484-500.
^Parker, A. , Bowles, K. , Bradley, J. A., Emery, V. , Featherstone, C. , Gupte, G. , Marcus, R. , Parameshwar, J. , Ramsay, A. , Newstead, C. and , (2010), Management of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder in adult solid organ transplant recipients – BCSH and BTS Guidelines. British Journal of Haematology, 149: 693-705. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2141.2010.08160.x
^Andrews PA, Burnapp L, Manas D, Bradley JA, Dudley C. Summary of the British Transplantation Society/Renal Association U.K. guidelines for living donor kidney transplantation. Transplantation 2012; 93(7): 666-73.
