[Federal Register: January 2, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 1)]
[Notices]               
[Page 111-112]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02ja09-34]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration

 
Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation; Request for 
Nominations for Voting Members

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is 
requesting nominations to fill vacancies on the Advisory Committee on 
Organ Transplantation (ACOT). The ACOT was established by the Amended 
Final Rule of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) 
(42 CFR Part 121) and, in accordance with Public Law 92-463, was 
chartered on September 1, 2000.

DATES: The agency must receive nominations on or before February 2, 
2009.

ADDRESSES: All nominations should be submitted to the Executive 
Secretary, Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation, Healthcare 
Systems Bureau, HRSA, Parklawn Building, Room 12-105, 5600 Fishers 
Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857. Federal Express, Airborne, UPS, etc., 
mail delivery should be addressed to Executive Secretary, Advisory 
Committee on Organ Transplantation, Healthcare Systems Bureau, HRSA, at 
the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Remy Aronoff, Executive Secretary, 
Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation, at (301) 443-3300 or e-
mail Remy.Aronoff@hrsa.hhs.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As provided by 42 CFR 121.12 (64 FR 56661), 
the Secretary established the Advisory Committee on Organ 
Transplantation. The Committee is governed by the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act (5 U.S.C. Appendix 2), which sets forth standards for the 
formation and use of advisory committees.
    The ACOT advises the Secretary, acting through the Administrator, 
HRSA, on all aspects of organ procurement, allocation, and 
transplantation, and on other such matters that the Secretary 
determines. One of its principal functions is to advise the Secretary 
on ways to maximize Federal efforts to increase living and deceased 
organ donation nationally. Other matters that recently have been 
reviewed by the ACOT include:
     Accreditation of all establishments required to be 
registered with the FDA as manufacturers of human cells, tissues, and 
cellular- and tissue-based products;
     Concerns about U.S. citizens traveling abroad in order to 
receive organ transplants (also known as transplant tourism);
     Collection of data on the long-term health status of 
living donors;
     Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network development 
and distribution within the transplant community of a set of practice 
guidelines to be followed with respect to public solicitation of organ 
donors, both living and deceased; and
     Standards of coverage for living donors relating to future 
adverse events.
    The ACOT consists of up to 25 members, including the Chair. Members 
and Chair shall be selected by the Secretary from individuals 
knowledgeable in such fields as organ donation, health care public 
policy, transplantation medicine and surgery, critical care medicine 
and other medical specialties involved in the identification and 
referral of donors, non-physician transplant professions, nursing, 
epidemiology, immunology, law and bioethics, behavioral sciences, 
economics and statistics, as well as representatives of transplant 
candidates, transplant recipients, organ donors, and family members. To 
the extent practicable, Committee members should represent the 
minority, gender and geographic diversity of transplant candidates, 
transplant recipients, organ donors and family members served by the 
OPTN. In addition, the Director, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention; the Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid 
Services; the Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration; the Director, 
National Institutes of Health; and the Director, Agency for Healthcare 
Research and Quality (or the designees of such officials) serve as non-
voting ex-officio members.
    Specifically, HRSA is requesting nominations for voting members of 
the ACOT representing: Health care public policy; transplantation 
medicine and surgery, including pediatric and heart/lung 
transplantation; critical care medicine; nursing; epidemiology and 
applied statistics; immunology; law and bioethics; behavioral sciences; 
economics and econometrics; organ procurement organizations; transplant 
candidates/recipients; transplant/donor family members; and living 
donors. Nominees will be invited to serve a 4-year term beginning after 
July 2009.
    HHS will consider nominations of all qualified individuals with a 
view to ensuring that the Advisory Committee includes the areas of 
subject matter expertise noted above. Individuals may nominate 
themselves or other individuals, and professional associations and 
organizations may nominate one or more qualified persons for membership 
on the ACOT. Nominations shall state that the nominee is willing to 
serve as a member of the ACOT and appears to have no conflict of 
interest that would preclude the ACOT membership. Potential candidates 
will be asked to provide detailed information concerning financial 
interests, consultancies, research grants, and/or contracts that might 
be affected by recommendations of the Committee to permit evaluation of 
possible sources of conflicts of interest.
    A nomination package should include the following information for 
each nominee: (1) A letter of nomination stating the name, affiliation, 
and contact information for the nominee, the basis for the nomination 
(i.e., what specific attributes, perspectives, and/or skills does the 
individual possess that would

[[Page 112]]

benefit the workings of ACOT), and the nominee's field(s) of expertise; 
(2) a biographical sketch of the nominee and a copy of his/her 
curriculum vitae; and (3) the name, return address, and daytime 
telephone number at which the nominator can be contacted.
    The Department of Health and Human Services has special interest in 
assuring that women, minority groups, and the physically disabled are 
adequately represented on advisory committees; and therefore, extends 
particular encouragement to nominations for appropriately qualified 
female, minority, or disabled candidates.

    Dated: December 21, 2008.
Elizabeth M. Duke,
Administrator, HRSA.
 [FR Doc. E8-31219 Filed 12-31-08; 8:45 am]

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