Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute
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starzlinstitute.bsky.social
Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute
@starzlinstitute.bsky.social
30 followers 40 following 22 posts
Our mission has been to improve the clinical, scientific, and social aspects of transplantation. Associated with the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC.
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starzlinstitute.bsky.social
More photos from Friday! (3/3)
Dr. Heth Turnquist is a man with a long beard, no hair, and glasses. He is wearing a dark colored suit, a white button up shirt, and a black tie. He is speaking into a microphone and holding the award certificates in his left hand. Dr. Faruk Sacirbegovic and Kassandra Baron posing in front of her poster presentation. Felicia Kemp explaining her poster abstract to Dr. Mark Snyder. Poster presentation session.
November 24, 2025 at 6:32 PM
starzlinstitute.bsky.social
Additionally, congratulations to Bailey Chalmers upon receipt of the 2025 Brian N. Seidel Award for her poster presentation!!! Congratulations as well to second place winner, Felicia Kemp, and third place winner, Megan Stasik.🎉🎉🎉 (2/?)
Megan Stasik (left, 3rd place winner) is a woman with long, dark hair holding her award certificate and smiling at the camera. She is wearing a black long sleeve shirt and black flowy trousers. Bailey Chalmers (middle, 1st place winner) is a woman with brown hair in a ponytail, holding her award certificate and smiling at the camera. She is wearing a green blouse with dark colored trousers. Felicia Kemp (right, 2nd place winner) is a woman with light brown hair in a ponytail, holding her award certificate and smiling at the camera. She is wearing a purple dress with white floral print and a gray cardigan. Bailey Chalmers accepting her 1st place award and describing her research. Felicia Kemp accepting her 2nd place award and describing her research. Megan Stasik accepting her 3rd place award and describing her research.
November 24, 2025 at 6:29 PM
starzlinstitute.bsky.social
Thank you to everyone who presented at and/or attended our 2025 Richard H. Johnson #scientificretreat here at STI!! A very special thank you to our keynote speaker, Dr. David Hildeman, from the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center👏 (🧵 1/?)
Retreat attendees listening to a lecture. Retreat attendees listening to a lecture and Q+A session. Dr. Chethan Puttarajappa is a man with dark hair and a short beard, presenting his lecture from behind a podium. He is wearing a dark gray suit and a light-colored button up. Dr. David Hildeman is a man with grey hair, a short beard, and glasses. He is wearing light-colored trousers, a purple button up shirt, and a dark gray suit coat. He is lecturing from behind a podium.
November 24, 2025 at 6:25 PM
starzlinstitute.bsky.social
Congratulations to Dr. Nicole Ponde (postdoc) from the Gaffen Lab upon receipt of the LaJean Chaffin Postdoctoral Travel Award to attend the Keystone Meeting of the Medical #mycological Society of the Americas ( #MMSA) in January!!! 🥳
Dr. Nicole Ponde is a woman with brown braids in a ponytail, wearing an off-white crewneck with a white lab coat over it. She is sitting at a lab bench smiling at the camera. There are some miscellaneous lab supplies blurred in the foreground.
October 31, 2025 at 4:05 PM
starzlinstitute.bsky.social
Congratulations to Kassandra Baron & Jordan Warunek (predocs) from the Turnquist Lab upon receipt of IST COTS- @astinfo.bsky.social Scientific Congress Awards for their abstracts (abstract titles in the comments due to character limits)!!! Keep up the good work👏👏
Kassandra Baron is a woman with dark brown hair, light eyes, and a nose piercing smiling at the camera. She is in front of a dark gray background, and she is wearing a light blue button up shirt. Jordan Warunek is a man with brown hair, light eyes, and a short beard smiling at the camera. He is standing in front of a light wall, and he is wearing a gray-checkered button up shirt.
October 21, 2025 at 8:14 PM
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Thank you to everyone who attended yesterday's #Eberly Distinguished Lectureship in #Immunology! Thank you especially to Dr. Ananda Goldrath for such a wonderful talk!!! It's been an honor to host you and learn more about your research🔬🌌
From left to right: Dr. Heth Turnquist (man with a beard and glasses wearing jeans, a white button up shirt, and a black suit coat), Dr. Ananda Goldrath (woman wearing a long navy blue dress and orange shoes), and Dr. Dario Vignali (man with glasses wearing dark pants, a gray button up shirt, and a dark gray suit coat) all smiling. They are standing in front of a large projector screen with Dr. Goldrath's title slide in the background, "T cell function in tissues is imprinted by anatomical positioning And CD8 T cell exhaustion rescued by restoration of proteostasis". Dr. Ananda Goldrath lecturing from behind a podium, next to a large projection screen showing graphs of T cell biology.
October 17, 2025 at 1:21 PM
starzlinstitute.bsky.social
Congratulations to Dr. Mohamed Ezzelarab upon his election to the International #Xenotransplantation Association (aka #IXA, @ttsorg.bsky.social) Council for 2025 - 2029!!!👏🎉

@pittdeptofmed.bsky.social
Dr. Mohamed Ezzelarab is a man with a mustache and glasses, wearing a white lab coat with "Mohamed Ezzelarab, MD - Transplant Surgery" embroidered on it. He is smiling and standing in front of his lab space.
October 14, 2025 at 1:04 PM
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Also, congratulations to Dr. Turnquist's post-doc, Dr. Afsana Naaz, on her Elevator Pitch entitled "Finding the Best Way to Mend a Breaking Heart (Shaping Transplant Outcomes)"🎉🙌
October 7, 2025 at 1:34 PM
starzlinstitute.bsky.social
(2/2)
Felicia Kemp is a woman with glasses wearing dark jeans, tall boots, and a blue long-sleeved blouse, smiling. She is standing next to her poster presentation entitled "PPAR loss impairs the proliferation of alloreactive CD4 T cells and decreases GVHD severity". Heth Turnquist is a man with a beard and glasses wearing a blue button up shirt and a brown blazer. He is standing behind a podium, in front of a projector screen with the title slide of his presentation up. The lecture is titled "Elucidating the role of immune cell-mediated repair in heart transplantation outcomes".
October 1, 2025 at 8:21 PM
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The #Turnquist Lab takes on the 2025 #Immunology Dept (@pitt-immunology.bsky.social) Retreat!! Special congratulations to Dr. Turnquist's pre-doc, Jordan Warunek, for winning 2nd Best Poster🎉👏
(1/2)
Afsana Naaz is a woman wearing a green t-shirt with a long black skirt, smiling. She is standing next to her poster presentation entitled "Alloimmunity Generated Injury Signals Control Local Chemokine Levels in Areas of Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy". Betsy Varghese is a woman with glasses wearing a horizontal black and white striped long-sleeve shirt with black bottoms, smiling. She is standing next to her poster presentation entitled "Establishing immune biomarker surrogates of neuro-, surgical and rejection-mediated inflammation in Whole Eye Transplant (WET)" Jordan Warunek is a man wearing khakis and a dark checkered button up shirt, smiling. He is standing next to his poster presentation entitled "Macrophage Recognition of Donor MHCI Tunes IL-27 Production to Shape Tissue Repair Following Heart Transplantation".
October 1, 2025 at 8:21 PM
starzlinstitute.bsky.social
Dr. Ananda Goldrath (Allen Institute for Immunology) will present "Thinking about the immune system in tissues across space & time" at our next #Eberly Distinguished Lectureship in #Immunology!! @pitt-pmi.bsky.social

See you Thurs., Oct. 16th at noon in the Assembly Building Auditorium or Zoom!
Dr. Ananda Goldrath is a brunette woman with a curly bob, wearing a dark purple v-neck long sleeve shirt and gold hoop earrings. She is standing in front of a blurred background, smiling at the camera.
September 9, 2025 at 6:24 PM
starzlinstitute.bsky.social
Part 3/? (🧵)
Dr. Faruk Sacirbegovic (blue and white checkered shirt, white pants) explaining his research poster to a colleague. Dr. Fadi Lakkis (white shirt, blue suit coat) posing for a photo with a feminine person (black long sleeve shirt, gray skirt), behind a podium that reads "WTC 2025". Dr. Fadi Lakkis waiting at the bottom of the stairs to enter the stage, next to a projector screen with his photo and the words "Mentoring Award"
August 20, 2025 at 7:21 PM
starzlinstitute.bsky.social
Part 2/? (🧵)
Dr. Armando Ganoza wearing a blue suit while giving his invited speaker presentation, behind a blue podium, next to two panelists/moderators. Ms. Megan Stasik wearing a black dress, standing next to her mentor Dr. Geoffrey Camirand (wearing a blue suit and glasses), holding her AST Travel Award. Drs. Heth Turnquist, Faruk Sacirbegovic, and Geoffrey Camirand as well as Ms. Kassandra Baron and various guests sitting around a circle dinner table in a restaurant. Drs. Heth Turnquist, Faruk Sacirbegovic, and Geoffrey Camirand as well as Ms. Kassandra Baron and various guests sitting around a circle dinner table in a restaurant.
August 19, 2025 at 4:09 PM
starzlinstitute.bsky.social
Congratulations to everyone who presented and/or participated as a moderator at least week's 2025 World Transplant Congress (WTC) in San Francisco!!👏👏

Here are some photos from the festivities🌟(🧵) If you have any photos from the conference, please tag us in them!
#starzltxinstitute #WTC2025
Dr. Khodor Abou Daya wear a suit, presenting at the Plenary Seminar behind a podium, in front of a projector screen. Ms. Megan Stasik wearing a black dress, standing in front of her poster presentation. Ms. Megan Stasik wearing a black dress, explaining her research poster to someone. Dr. Riwa Kanj wearing a white flowy tank top, standing in front of her research poster presentation.
August 19, 2025 at 4:05 PM