Sue McDiarmid

MD

It is with great enthusiasm that Liver Health Foundaiton presents “Lifetime Achievement Award” to Sue V. McDiarmid, MD. Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and Surgery. Chief of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition of the University of California Mattel Children’s Hospital.
Please read Dr. McDiarmid’s personal bio and her accomplishments.


“I graduated from the Otago University Medical School in Dunedin New Zealand in 1976. My pediatric residency was at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk Virginia, and I completed my fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology and hepatology at UCLA in 1988. I joined the faculty at UCLA in 1989, became Professor of Pediatrics and Surgery in 2000 and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology in 2011.

In 1995 I founded the Studies of Pediatric Liver Transplantation – now the Society of Pediatric Liver Transplantation. In 2005 I served as the President of the International Liver Transplantation Society, and in 2007 completed my term as President of the United Network of Organ Sharing and the Organ Procurement Transplant Network.

I served as President of the American Society of Reconstructive Transplantation between 2016-2018. In 2006 I was awarded the Clinical Science Established Investigator Award by the American Society of Transplantation. My research is focused on understanding outcomes and complications after pediatric liver transplantation and the clinical development of new immunosuppressive drugs.

I have been involved in the Pediatric Liver Transplantation Program at UCLA soon after its inception 39 years ago – and have been the Director of our Program since 1994. I have had the experience of a lifetime taking care of over 1,200 children who have undergone liver transplantation at UCLA. None of this would have been possible without the mentorship and unwavering support of Dr. Ronald Busuttil - the surgical founder of our transplant program, and Dr. Marvin Ament – the pediatric hepatologist who could foresee the lifesaving benefit of transplantation for these children. I owe any success in my career to them. I have also had the privilege of working with an evolving team of remarkably dedicated surgeons, physicians, nurses, social workers, and a whole army of supporting staff who believed and fought for the success of our mission – no matter how difficult it could be some days. The great honor to serve these families and try to protect their children on their journey, is a great gift in my professional life. As so many of our patients are transplanted as infants, I now have the unique privilege to see many of these patients becoming adults - fulfilling their dreams and even becoming parents themselves. Their stories are the inspiration that drives us all forward.

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