Making an IMPACT
We strive to make an impact in all that we do! See what we’ve been up to below!
Thiessen Lab at ATC 2026!
Many members of the IMPACT Lab presented research presentations at ATC 2026 in Boston, MA.
Thiessen lab at the Dells
For our summer outing, the Thiessen lab took on the Wisconsin Dells! We had a blast exploring!
Angela Presenting!
Angela Gifford presented on her and the teams work examining factors contributing to allocation out-of-sequence for kidneys at ATC 2026. A similar poster focused on liver allocation was also presented by Dr. Thiessen!
Amelia Presenting!
Amelia Gold presented on her and her team’s work investigating crowdfunding trends for patients seeking kidney and liver transplants at ATC 2026.
Rupa Presenting!
Rupa Ballamudi presenting her project “Transplanting Individuals Who Are Incarcerated (IWAIs): Challenges and Strategies” at ATC 2026.
Juliette Presenting!
Juliette had two first authored posters at ATC 2026! Pictured is her presenting on her work examining pre-procurement conversations between donor families and surgery teams.
Thiessen Lab at WTC!
Members of the IMPACT Lab presented research presentations at the 2025 WTC in San Francisco, CA.
Dr. Philip presenting!
Dr. Philip presented research on hypothermic machine perfusion parameters and their relationship to transplant outcomes at WTC!
Sierra presenting!
Sierra presenting her work “Too Risky? Says who?” at the 2025 American Surgical Congress!
Jackie and Chris at ASTS!
Dr. Garonzik Wang & Chris Jaynes (34Lives CEO) presenting “The First Dedicated Normothermic Rescue Center for Unused Renal Grafts”
Jackie & 34 Lives at ASTS
Dr. Garonzik Wang and the 34 Lives team presenting “The First Dedicated Normothermic Rescue Center for Unused Renal Grafts.”
Summer Kayaking!
The Thiessen lab enjoying some sun on a lab kayaking adventure down the Wisconsin River!
Liz presenting at TTS!
Liz presented her talk “A Liver for a Kidney: Donor and Professional Attitudes Toward Trans-organ Exchange” at TTS 2024
Ang at ATC
Angela representing the IMPACT lab at ATC!
Beth presenting at ATC
Beth presenting her project Concerns with Crowdfunding for Solid Organ Transplant-related Expenses: Results from a National Survey
Zoe presenting!
Zoe presenting at the 2024 Undergraduate Research Scholars Symposium for work related to living kidney donor/recipient closeness!
Helia Presenting!
Helia presenting at the Medical Student Research Forum on pre-procurement discussions between donor families and transplant teams!
Elizabeth presenting!
Liz presenting at the Medical Student Research Forum on donor and transplant professional attitudes towards trans-organ exchange!
Thiessen Lab Escapades
The Thiessen lab at the Sherlock Holmes escape room! Unfortunately, we did not make it…
Megan Presenting!
Megan Saucke presented on her and her team’s work investigating the lived experiences of patients seeking renal auto-transplants at the 2026 Research Summit.
- Congrats to all IMPACT lab members for a successful presentation week at the 2026 American Transplant Congress! Full abstracts for all 9 of the works presented will be available online via the American Journal of Transplantation soon!
- Rupa Ballamudi and Dr. Thiessen’s work investigating transplantation in the criminal justice system was presented at the Southeastern Regional Clinical & Translational Science Conference.
- “Transplant Professionals’ Perspectives on Transplantation for Patients Involved in the Criminal Justice System: A National Survey” – Urbanski M, Ballamudi A, Blythe E, Hu C, Nonterah CW, Rogers J, Ng YH, Calnon M, Chen G, Fogel A, Taffe J, Thiessen C.
- The Thiessen lab had 9 abstracts accepted for poster presentations at 2026 ATC!
- Daniel Rice’s abstract was accepted for an oral presentation at 2026 ATC. Congrats Danny!
- “Impact of Normothermic Regional Perfusion on Hypothermic Machine Perfusion Metrics and Deceased Donor Kidney Outcomes” – Rice D, Aufhauser D, Marshall N, Gifford A, Bradley T, Leverson G, Neidlinger N, Collins K, Garonzik-Wang J, Philip J.
- Dr. Philip’s R01 investigating MRI-based Quantification of Perfusion and Microstructure received funding! Congrats to Dr. Philip and the Philip’s lab!!
- Congrats to Dr. Thiessen for being elected to the membership of the Society of University Surgeons!
- Congrats to Dr. Thiessen for being selected as an Associate Editor for the American Journal of Transplantation!
- Amelia Gold presented at the 6th annual Ethics, Legal, and Psychosocial Aspects of Transplantation (ELPAT) Congress in October:
- “Financial need among solid organ transplant candidates and recipients: Evidence from GoFundMe crowdfunding campaigns” – Gold A, Shah A, Dickman J, Chen G, Gifford A, Sloan C, Ubel P, Kimberly L, Thiessen C.
- Amelia Gold also presented at the American Society for Bioethics & Humanities Conference in October:
- “Crowdfunding for living donors: Creative financial solutions or ethical quagmire?” – Gold A
- Congratulations to Dr. Philip for receiving a two-year, $150,000 New Investigator Award from the Wisconsin Partnership Program. The grant will support a study titled “Reducing Donor Kidney Discards and Improve Kidney Failure Outcomes in Wisconsin Through Improved Assessment of Deceased Donor Kidneys.”
- Sierra Auleta won an AST COP travel grant to attend the 2025 World Transplant Congress this August. Way to go Sierra!
- Dr. Thiessen was recently named a recipient of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) Health Policy Fellowship! During this fellowship, Dr. Thiessen will develop essential skills, conduct impactful research, gain leadership experience, and expand her professional network.
- Congratulations to all IMPACT lab members for a successful presentation week at the World Transplant Congress! Full abstracts for all 14 of the works presented can be found here.
- The IMPACT lab submitted 14 abstracts to the 2025 World Transplant Congress (WTC), and we are happy to report that all submissions were accepted for presentation as either posters, oral or rapid fire talks, or full program talks! Congrats to everyone who submitted and we look forward to sharing our work in August with the world!
- Zoe Gonzalez gave an oral presentation at the 2025 UW Undergraduate Research Symposium. Way to go Zoe!
- “Assessing the Impact of The Living Kidney Donor Transplant Process on Donor-Recipient Relational Closeness” – Gonzalez ZC
- Dr. Thiessen was invited to serve as an Associated Editor for the American Journal of Transplantation. Congrats Dr. Thiessen!
- Angela Gifford was awarded an Academic Staff Professional Development grant to attend WTC in the fall. Way to go Ang!
- Taylor Bradley and Alex Shipe presented posters at the 2025 Department of Surgery Research Summit:
- “Longitudinal Assessment of Solid Organ Transplant Recipients with SARS-CoV-2” – Bradley T, Vuyk W, Bobholz M, Emmen I, Lail A, Minor A, Bhimalli P, Ries HJ, Machkovech H, Wei W, Wiler A, Richardson A, DePagter C, VanSleet G, Maansi B, Gifford A, Benito M, Shipe A, Mohamed R, Smith J, Wilson N, Friedrich TC, O’Connor DH, Garonzik-Wang J.
- “Using a centralized normothermic machine preservation and assessment service to rescue hard-to-place kidneys” – Gifford A, Bradley T, Holzner ML, Goggins W, Guerra G, Philip JL, van Leeuwen LL, Shapiro R, Leuvenink HGD, Jaynes CL, Garonzik-Wang J.
- Dr. Garonzik-Wang presented a poster at the 2025 ASTS Winter Symposium:
- “Longitudinal Assessment of Solid Organ Transplant Recipients with SARS-CoV-2” – Bradley T, Vuyk W, Bobholz M, Emmen I, Lail A, Minor A, Bhimalli P, Ries HJ, Machkovech H, Wei W, Wiler A, Richardson A, DePagter C, VanSleet G, Maansi B, Gifford A, Benito M, Shipe A, Mohamed R, Smith J, Wilson N, Friedrich TC, O’Connor DH, Garonzik-Wang J.
- Sierra Auleta presented an oral presentation at the 2025 American Surgical Congress
- “Too risky? Says who? Living kidney donors’ preferences on who should influence donor eligibility decisions” – Auleta S, Alagoz E, Robbins S, Gifford A, Gannon J, Yu K, Li S, Gray D, Mussell A, Kennedy K, Dobosz D, Stalter L, Hanlon B, Reese P, Gordon E, Kulkarni S, Thiessen C.
- Dr. Thiessen was awarded a NIH Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (also known as a K23 grant)! This four-year project will investigate the impact of cognitive biases on patient and provider willingness to accept imperfect kidneys for transplantation! Congratulations to Dr. Thiessen and the team!
- Liz Nies presented at The Transplantation Society’s 2024 meeting:
- “A liver for a kidney: Donor and professional attitudes toward trans-organ exchange” – Nies E, Pati B, Alagoz E, Samstein B, Cullen JM, Roberts JP, Thiessen C.
- Aditi Shah and Zoe Gonzales’s abstracts were selected for presentation at the Wisconsin Surgical Society. Way to go team!
- Dr. Jacqueline Garonzik Wang, IMPACT Lab Director, was elected as a councilor for the American Society of Transplant Surgeons. The American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) is a group of transplant professionals who are dedicated to saving and improving lives through the transformative power of organ donation and transplant surgery. The mission of the ASTS is to advance the art and science of transplant surgery through patient care, research, education, and advocacy. Congratulations Dr. Garonzik Wang!
- Numerous members of IMPACT lab presented or had presentations at the 2024 American Transplant Congress in June:
- “Current Practices in Transplantation Financial Toxicity Screening” – Koo DC, Chiu MZ, Scalise PN, Cuenca AG, Iglesias J, O’Melia L, Kim H, Collins K, Garonzik-Wang J,
Elisofon SA, Lee CK, LeMarier G, Lee EJ.
Presenter: Donna Koo, MD - “Seasonal Patterns of Living Kidney Donation in the United States from 1995 to 2019” – Arking, Kaddu G, Segev D, Garonzik-Wang J, Snyder J, King E, Muzaale A, Al Ammary F.
Presenter: Fawaz Al Ammary, MD, PhD - “Detailed Analysis of Kidney Transplant Recipients Admitted to a Tertiary Care Transplant Center with Sars-Cov-2” – Zona E, Gibes ML, Jain AS, Smith J, Garonzik-Wang J, Mandelbrot D, Parajuli S.
Presenter: Sandesh Parajuli, MD - “Emotional Burdens and Educational Benefits: Pre-procurement Conversations Between Donor Families and Transplant Teams” – Gagnon H, Saucke M, Alagoz E, Neidlinger N, Thiessen C.
Presenter: Helia Gagnon - “Living Donor Kidney Transplant Derived Ehrlichia Chaffeensis”- Kuehler D, Doyle A, Antwi N, Annambhotla P, Thiessen C, Odorico J, Karpathy S, Saddler C, Pruett T, Kandaswamy R.
Presenter: Daniel Kuehler, MD - “Length of Stay Following Orthotopic Adult Liver Transplant” – Fedorova E, Garonzik-Wang J.
Presenter: Ekaterina Fedorova, MD - “Concerns with Crowdfunding for Solid Organ Transplant-related Expenses: Results from a National Survey” – Erb B, Braun H, Im C, Nies E, Gordon EJ, Mezrich J, Thiessen C.
Presenter: Bethany Erb
- “Current Practices in Transplantation Financial Toxicity Screening” – Koo DC, Chiu MZ, Scalise PN, Cuenca AG, Iglesias J, O’Melia L, Kim H, Collins K, Garonzik-Wang J,
- Dr. Jacqueline Garonzik-Wang won Best Overall Presentation at Weikel LEADS Program. Congrats!
- Congrats to Dr. Carrie Thiessen for being elected as Co-Chair of the Executive Committee for the Psychosocial and Ethics Community of Practice in the American Society of Transplantation!
- Zoe Gonzales has been awarded a 2024/2025 Sophomore Research Fellowship! This $2500 award will help her continue to pursue work on better understanding the relations between living donors and their recipients. Way to go Zoe!