25 Years of AST History and beyond...

1981

• November: the charter members of AST met at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and decided that a separate society was to be organized for transplant physicians.

1982

• May 10: The American Society of Transplant Physicians (ASTP) was founded
• The society was incorporated in Iowa and formed with 7 initial officers and councilors
• ASTP was a society open to physicians and health professionals who were interested in transplantation medicine and biology
• 1st Membership meeting of the ASTP was on June 3, 1982 in Chicago
• 5 Committees were established: Membership, Nominating, Program and Publication, Scientific Studies, and Patient Care Standards
• 295 members joined the society during its inaugural year
• ASTP membership dues were $30
• 1st Annual Meeting was held in Chicago on December 10, 1982

1983

• 2nd Annual Meeting was held June 1 in Chicago
• The society had a total of 335 members
• Thomas A Gonwa, MD, AST President 1994-1995, was the first recipient of the ASTP Young Investigator Award
• Ronald D. Guttmann, MD, FRCPC served as ASTP President 1982-1983
• Terry B. Strom, MD served as the first ASTP Past President 1982-1983

1984

"In 1985, when I was the Past President, the ASTP was invited to send a representative to the Intersociety Council for Research of the Kidney and Urinary Tract. It's task was to speak with one voice to Congress regarding NIH research funding." - Charles Carpenter, MD

• 3rd Annual Meeting was held May 29 - 31 in Chicago
• Charles B. Carpenter, MD served as ASTP President 1983-194

1985

• 4th Annual Meeting was held May 21 - 22 in Chicago
• ASTP membership dues were raised to $95 and included a subscription to Transplantation
• Robert B. Ettenger, MD served as ASTP President 1984-1985

1986

• 5th Annual Meeting was held May 27 - 29 in Chicago
• The 1st ASTP-Sandoz Fellowship in Transplantation Award was given to Dr. Amy S. Rosenberg
• Fred P. Sanfilippo,MD, PhD served as ASTP President 1985-1986

1987

• 6th Annual Meeting was held May 25 - 29 in Chicago
• Nancy E. Goeken, PhD served as ASTP President 1986-1987

1988

• 7th Annual Meeting was held May 30 - June 3 in Chicago
• Lawrence G. Hunsicker, MD served as ASTP President 1987-1988

1989

• 8th Annual Meeting was held May 30 - 31 in Chicago
• Barry Levin, MD served as ASTP President 1988-1989

1990

"The annual meeting moved from the Drake Hotel to the Fairmont Hotel in 1990. For a record third consecutive year Dr. M. Suthanthiran developed an outstanding program. An under-powered slide projector (remember slides?) made the first presentation by Dr. Lenny Ramos a challenge in night vision! That is probably forgotten, but nostalgia for the red-carpeted Drake lives on." - William E. Braun, MD

• 9th Annual Meeting was held May 29 - 30 in Chicago
• William E. Braun, MD served as ASTP President 1989-1990

1991

"I joined the ASTP because there was not a professional organization available that accepted transplant nephrologists and basic scientists who were not surgeons. Being President of the ASTP from 1990-1991 was undoubtedly one of the highlights of my professional career." - M. Roy First, MD

• 10th Annual Meeting was held May 28 - 29 in Chicago
• M. Roy First, MD served as ASTP President 1990-1991

1992

• 11th Annual Meeting was held May 26 - 27 in Chicago
• Ronald H. Kerman, PhD served as ASTP President 1991-1992

1993

• 12th Annual Meeting was held May 17 - 19 in Houston
• Alan R. Hull, MD served as ASTP President 1992-1993

1994

• 13th Annual Meeting was held May 16 - 18 in Chicago
• Manikkam Suthanthiran, MD served as ASTP President 1993-1994

1995

"I attended the very first scientific meeting of the society at the Drake Hotel in 1983. It was a very limited affair with less than 100 attendees. Scientific presentations consisted of a morning session and an afternoon session, probably no more than 20-30 abstracts. How we have grown since then!" - Thomas A. Gonwa, MD

• 14th Annual Meeting was held May 14 - 17 in Chicago
• Susan Nelson became Executive Director of the ASTP
• ASTP Newsletter was redesigned
• ASTP Website launched
• Thomas A. Gonwa, MD served as ASTP President 1994-1995

1996

• 15th Annual Meeting was held May 26 - 29 in Dallas
• First Fellows Symposium on Transplant Medicine was held – July 27-28, St. Louis
• ASTP was accredited by ACCME
• Douglas J. Norman, MD served as ASTP President 1995-1996

1997

"During my Presidency we held a meeting in each major organ discipline to establish guidelines for patient selection for transplantation. The meetings were all held at the NIH and resulted in published guidelines which were endorsed by most major societies." - Leslie W. Miller, MD

• 16th Annual Meeting was held May 11 - 14 in Chicago
• First Winter Symposium, Transplantation in the 21st Century: Optimal Targets for Immunosuppression and Tolerance, was held – February 13-17, Squaw Peak, Phoenix
• Leslie W. Miller, MD served as ASTP President 1996-1997

1998

"A little more than 25 years ago a handful of us awaited the outcome of a meeting with the leadership of the ASN seeking more space for scientific and clinical discourse. Having learned of the failure of our proposals, the ASTP was born. Larry Hunsicker was tasked with applying for formal corporate status and with writing the Bylaws. We met for the first time at a scientific plenary session piggybacked to the ASTS Chicago meeting. As we grew in number, in accomplishment, as we employed highly accomplished leadership skills, our small band of brothers and sisters expanded to become the leading transplant scientific and clinical society." - Hal Helderman, MD

• 17th Annual Meeting was held May 10 - 13 in Chicago
• ASTP Website redesigned
• Primer on Transplantation published
• ASTP name change to AST (American Society of Transplantation)
• AST/ASN Renal Transplant Fellowship Training Program created
• Hal Helderman, MD served as ASTP President 1997-1998

1999

"My term was perhaps more frenetic than some, fueled by a number of big ideas and feverish accomplishments as well as being fraught with a certain sturm und drang ensnared with controversial notions of cold fusion. However, amidst all of the sound and fury, three new codons were conceived and incubated in that 12 month gestation: ATC, AJT and AST. These were no mere point mutations, but were in fact important blueprint elements integral to today's 25 year old entity. ATC (American Transplant Congress) is a transgenic being engaged in social and scientific intercourse. AJT (American Journal of Transplantation) is both a reporter region and an expression library. And AST (American Society of Transplantation) is the taxonomic designation, replete with complex structural elements, a number of promoter and regulator functionalities and importantly, with notably few restriction elements." - John F. Nyelan, MD

• 18th Annual Meeting was held May 16 - 19 in Chicago
• AST established a Washington office under the guidance of William Applegate
• AST Washington Round-Up was first published
• First AST Patient Education Brochure was published, Keeping Your Kidney Healthy: Facts About Transplant Medicines
• John F. Neylan, MD served as AST President 1998-1999

2000

• First Annual Joint Transplant Meeting (American Transplant Congress) with the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) was held May 14 - 17 in Chicago
• John R. Lake, MD served as AST President 1999-2000

2001

• ATC was held May 13 - 16 in Chicago
• American Journal of Transplantation (AJT) was launched
• AST Endowment Fund was created
• AST Employee Leave and Organ Donation Program introduced
• Associate Member Category is launched
• 2nd Edition of the Primer on Transplantation was published
• Mohamed H. Sayegh, MD served as AST President 2000-2001

2002

"I recall the first AST meeting I attended in the Drake Hotel in Chicago. I think there was 1 day with a single session in the morning and afternoon. I recall when Dan Salomon was Program Chair; he made the revolutionary and controversial suggestion that we have 2 parallel sessions in the afternoon! I guess it was a good idea and we really have grown and thrived." - Laurence A. Turka, MD

• ATC was held April 26 - May 1 in Washington, DC
• First Associate members were elected to the society
• Laurence A. Turka, MD served as AST President 2001-2002

2003

• ATC was held May 30 - June 4 in Washington, DC
• The Infectious Diseases Committee became the Infectious Disease Community of Practice
• William E. Harmon, MD served as AST President 2002-2003

2004

• ATC was held May 14 - 19 in Boston
• The Community of Allied Health Professionals was formed
• Michael R. Lucey, MD served as AST President 2003-2004

2005

"A year as President of AST is incredibly brief for all that needs to be done - but we, somehow, found ourselves in Canada and Mexico for the AST Winter Symposia, in Washington, DC for a conference on minority affairs in transplantation, working with corporate partners on a new patient education website, and to Geneva for the ESOT meeting and the First World Transplant Day." - Jay A. Fishman, MD

• ATC was held May 20 - 25 in Seattle
• The Women's Health Committee became the Women's Health Community of Practice
• First AST Regional Meeting, “Long Term Management of the Organ Transplant Recipient; Continuum Care for the Post Transplant Patient,” was held in Philadelphia, PA, June 25, 2005
• First AST Clinical Trials Symposium, “Optimizing Clinical Research in Transplantation”, was held September 9-10, 2005 Rosemont, IL
• Jay A. Fishman, MD served as AST President 2004-2005

2006

• 1st World Transplant Congress was held July 22 - 27 in Boston (Joint transplant meeting with AST, ASTS & TTS)
• The International Committee became the International Community of Practice
• First AST Western Regional Meeting, “Long Term Management of the Organ Transplant Recipients; The Continuum of Medical Care,” was held in West Hollywood, CA, October 28, 2006
• Associate members became Full voting members
• Donald E Hricik, MD was named as Post Graduate Education Director
• Richard N. Fine, MD served as AST President 2005-2006

2007

• AST's 25th Anniversary
• ATC was held May 5 - 9 in San Francisco
• The Pediatric Committee became the Pediatric Community of Practice
• First AST Conversations in Transplantation Podcasts were launched
• AST Website was redesigned
• Transplant Nephrology Core Curriculum course was launched
• Of the 295 original members, 106 were still members
• The society had over 2,600 members, 14 officers/councilors and 28 Committees, including 3 Communities of Practice
• AST is a society for all individuals actively engaged in the science and clinical practice of organ and tissue transplantation
• Jeffrey S. Crippin served as AST President 2006-2007

2008

• ATC was held May 31 - June 4 in Toronto, Canada
• AST Ask the Expert service was launched
• The society had over 2,700 members
• Flavio Vincenti, MD served as AST President 2007-2008

2009

• AST Winter Symposium on "Antibodies and Transplantation: Moving up from the B list" was held March 4 - 5 in Banff, Alberta, Canada
• Share the Beat event held May 30 in Boston
• ATC was held May 30 - June 3 in Boston
• The Thoracic Transplantation Advisory Council became the Thoracic & Critical Care Community of Practice
• The Transplant Pharmacy Community of Practice was formed
• The society had over 2,800 members
• The AST launched a Facebook page and Twitter account
• AST Fellows Symposium held October 2 - 4 in Dallas Fort Worth, TX
• AST Distinguished Fellows Research Forum held October 16 - 17 in San Diego
• AST Transplantation: The Year in Review meeting held October 24 - 25 in Houston, TX
• Two new lectures were added to the Transplant Nephrology Core Curriculum course
• The first AST Annual Scientific Exchange (ASE) meeting was held on December 2-6
• Barbara Murphy, MD served as AST President 2008-2009

2010

• AST Winter Symposium "After the Honeymoon: Promoting a Healthy Relationship with the Allograft" was held on March 11 - 14 in Rancho Mirage, CA
• The Transplant Administrators Community of Practice was formed
• ATC was held May 1 - 5 in San Diego, 10th Joint Meeting
• The society had over 3,000 members, 14 committees, 5 advisory councils and 7 community of practices
• The AST mission statement was updated, "The American Society of Transplantation is an international organization of professionals dedicated to advancing the field of transplantation and improving patient care by promoting research, education, advocacy, and organ donation
• The AST Fellows Symposium was held August 6 - 8 in Dallas Fort Worth, TX
• First AST Magazine issue launched
• AST AudioConference Series was launched
• AST/ESOT Joint meeting on "Highlights in Biological Agents and Transplantation" was held Oct. 1 - 3 in Nice, France
• AST Annual Scientific Exchange (ASE) was held Oct. 21 - 24 in Orlando, FL
• New website re-design was launched in December
• Joren C. Madsen, MD, DPhil served as AST President 2009-2010

2011

• Share the Beat event held March 11 in San Francisco
• AST/CST Clinical Trials Symposium was held April 29 in Philadelphia
• ATC was held April 30 - May 4 in Philadelphia
• The AJT mobile app was launched
• The Liver and Intestines Advisory Council became the Liver & Intestinal Community of Practice
• The Trainee & Young Faculty Community of Practice was formed
• The Transplant Diagnostics Community of Practice was formed
• 3rd Edition of the Primer on Transplantation was published
• AST Handbook of Transplant Infections was published
• AST Fellows Symposium was held on September 23 - 25 in Dallas Fort Worth, TX
• Transplant Nephrology Core Curriculum course was updated
• AST T3: Timely Topics in Transplantation webcast series was launched
• AST Annual Scientific Exchange (ASE) was held December 1 - 4 in San Antonio, TX
• Of AST's 200+ charter members who formed the society in 1982, 183 were still members
• More than 1,000 members have been part of the society for more than 10 years
• More than 100 members have been part of the society for more than 25 years
• The society had over 3,100 members, 12 committees, 4 advisory councils and 10 community of practices
• Maryl Johnson, MD served as AST President 2010-2011