BWH Face Transplant Recipient Dallas Wiens Set to Leave Hospital, Resume Life
Boston, MA - The nation's first full face transplant recipient, Dallas Wiens, will address the media at a news conference scheduled for Monday, May 9th at 11:00 a.m. Joining Dallas will be Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, who led the face transplant team in the 15 hour procedure in March and Dr. Elof Eriksson, chief of Plastic Surgery at BWH. Also in attendance will be Dr. Jeffrey E. Janis, Chief of Plastic Surgery, Parkland Health and Hospital System, Dallas, Texas. He performed the original life-saving surgery on Dallas in 2008 prior to the full face transplant and will continue to provide care moving forward.
The Brigham and Women's Hospital news conference is scheduled for
Monday, May 9th
11:00 a.m. in Carrie Hall, 15 Francis Street.
Please confirm attendance by calling
617-534-1605 or via pager at 617-732-6660 pager ID 12247.
The press conference will be webcast live at:
https://wmlive.vitalstreamcdn.com/live_phsbwhmkg_vitalstream_com_live2
Questions from webcast viewers may be sent via email to: bwhmediarelations@partners.org
Order of speakers:
Dr. Elof Eriksson - Chief of Plastic Surgery
Dr. Bohdan Pomahac - Plastic Surgeon, BWH (pronounced Bo-Done Palm-a-Hawk)
Dr. Jeffrey Janis - Parkland Hospital
Dallas Wiens - BWH Face Transplant Recipient (pronounced WEENS)
Q and A
Additional information, including b-roll video, images and animation will be posted
at 10 a.m. Monday May 9th and can be found at:
https://www.brighamandwomens.org/about-bwh/newsroom/face-transplant-wiens
Dallas will not be available for interviews following the press conference.
Interview requests for Dallas Wiens and his family are being handled by
Derede McAlpin, vice president, Levick Strategic Communications, 202-973-1314, dmcalpin@levick.com
For more information about Dallas Wiens visit, www.dallaswiens.com
Consent for the donation of the tissue graft from the face was obtained by New England Organ Bank staff after conversations with the donor family. Signing up as an organ and tissue donor on a driver's license is not accepted as consent for face donation; family consent is required.
Transplant History at BWH
Today, BWH is recognized as one of the world's leaders in transplantation.
In 1954, a BWH team led by Dr. Joseph Murray performed the first successful human organ donor transplant, a kidney, from one brother to another. In recognition of this achievement, Dr. Murray received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1990.
The first heart transplant in New England was performed at BWH in 1984; this year, the 600th heart transplant was successfully performed at the hospital.
The first heart-lung transplant in Massachusetts was done at BWH in 1992
BWH also performed the first triple organ transplant and the first quintuple lung transplant in the United States in 1995 and 2004 respectively.
In 2006, BWH performed for the first time in its history 100 kidney transplants in one year and in 2008, more than 30 lung transplants were performed, putting BWH among the top hospitals in the country for volume.
