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Transplant Services

Compassionate Transplant Services

Kidney Transplant

Since 2008, Halifax Health – Center for Transplant Services has successfully performed more than 100 kidney transplants for patients with end-stage kidney failure. To elevate our program and continue our mission to provide exceptional care to our patients, Halifax Health entered an affiliation with UF Health Shands Transplant Center in 2017. UF Health was the first transplant center in the state of Florida to complete a kidney transplant. This affiliation gives us the ability to help more patients and save more lives.

Give Us A Call 386.425.KDNY

Highest Quality of Care

Better Care. Better Outcomes.

Click here to fill out a kidney candidate referral form. 

Click here to fill out the authorization form.

Kidneys perform critical functions for the human body such as:

  • Removing waste products from the blood
  • Balancing the nutrients and chemicals in the blood
  • Regulating blood pressure
  • Maintaining fluid
  • Producing hormones that stimulate red blood cell production

Your kidneys are bean-shaped and weigh approximately 6 ounces. They are located behind the upper abdominal organs on either side of your spine.

 

If you have advanced kidney disease you could be a candidate for a kidney transplant. Additional requirements may be:

  • Being on dialysis
  • Kidney functions that are at or below 20%
  • Type 1 Diabetes with Chronic Kidney Disease
  • Acceptable lung function
  • Acceptable cardiovascular, vascular and lung function
  • BMI of <40
  • And others

The kidney transplant process starts by talking to your doctor or nurse for a consultation about having a kidney transplant. Your doctor will refer you to Halifax Health – Center for Transplant Services. Our center will work with you and your dialysis social worker in completing the necessary forms.

  • Evaluation Day: Consists of two medical evaluations with the Transplant Nephrologist and Transplant Surgeon, meetings with the Transplant Team and bloodwork
  • Team Meetings and Patient Selection: Before the candidate's final, pre-transplant tissue-typing test, there will be a 'Patient Selection Committee' to discuss the readiness of the transplant based on the candidates' medical, financial and psychosocial information compiled during the evaluation process. They will decide if the candidate needs further medical or psychological assessment and if their financial and social support is adequate.

 How does a kidney transplant differ from dialysis? 

  • With dialysis, one has a machine that acts as the kidney to filter your blood
  • During dialysis, the blood is only filtered during treatments while a functioning kidney filters blood 24/7

Do I need a doctor referral or can I contact the transplant program myself?

  • A doctor's referral isn't necessarily needed but your doctor may have test results and information that will make it easier for evaluation. But you are allowed to contact our transplant center on your own.

Can I be evaluated for a transplant before I need dialysis?

  • Yes, knowing your glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is always needed and beneficial
  • Your GFR needs to be 20 or below before evaluation
  • The earlier the better to start the discussion about transplant options

Do I need medical insurance for a transplant evaluation?

  • Due to the drugs and the follow-up medical care needed, even after the transplant surgery, insurance is usually encouraged. Our social worker can help you with insurance or other financial options.

 

 

If you haven't registered to be an organ donor yet, and would like to, click here to register.

Meet Your Transplant Services Team

Transplant Services Doctors

Mark Johnson, MD
UF Health, Professor, Transplantation Surgery
Mark Johnson, MD
UF Health, Professor, Transplantation Surgery

Mark W. Johnson, MD, FACS, is a professor of surgery in the division of transplantation surgery at the University of Florida College of Medicine. Dr. Johnson earned his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine and completed his residency in general surgery at New England Medical Center in Boston. He went on to complete a clinical and research fellowship in transplantation surgery at Harvard Medical School and a clinical teaching fellowship in surgery at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Dr. Johnson has previously worked as chief transplant officer and medical director of transplant services at Wellstar Health System in Marietta, Georgia, as program director of Piedmont Transplant Institute of Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta and as director of liver transplantation at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

He has twice received the Montague Boyd Award and is recognized by the renowned Best Doctors in America. Dr. Johnson’s professional affiliations include the Medical Association of Georgia, the American Transplant Congress, the American Society of Transplantation and the American Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association.

Dr. Johnson’s clinical interests include liver transplantation, renal transplantation and management of biliary complications after liver transplantation.

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Sajid Latif, MD
Halifax Health – Center for Transplant Services, Medical Director
Sajid Latif, MD
Halifax Health – Center for Transplant Services, Medical Director

Dr. Latif has been practicing Nephrology for over 11 years. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Nephrology and has been a longstanding member of the Volusia County Medical Society. Doctor Latif completed his Internal Medicine fellowship at Georgetown University, D.C. General Hospital in Washington, D.C. and his Nephrology fellowship at St. Johns Hospital in Detroit, MI.

As a Transplant Nephrologist, Dr. Latif has years of experience in the care and treatment of pre and post-transplant patients. He is currently serving as the Medical Director for Kidney Transplantation at the Halifax Health – Center for Transplant Services.

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Transplant Services Navigators

Robin Bassett
DNP
Robin Bassett
DNP

Graduating from Armstrong State College in Savannah, GA in 1988 with a BSN in nursing, Robin worked in the ICU for over 10 years holding a critical care certification. She also previously worked in case management holding a certification with ANCC. She received her MSN FNP at the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2010 and completed her thesis on Chronic Kidney Disease, which was published in 2014. Robin currently holds a Family Practice Nurse Practitioner Certificate from the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. She received her Doctorate of Nursing Practice, DNP, at the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2016, completing a project on Acute Kidney Injury. She’s a previous officer in the US Public Health Service stationed in Alaska working with the Alaska Native population through Indian Health Service and has multiple publications on kidney disease. Robin currently serves on the American Nephrology Nursing Association Conference Planning Committee and volunteers at the Jesus Clinic every month seeing patients with kidney concerns.

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Shannon Starin
MSN, RN
Shannon Starin
MSN, RN

Graduating from Daytona State College with an Associates of Science in Nursing (ASN) in May 2007, Shannon began her nursing career in Intensive Surgical Care at Halifax Medical Center and then transferred to Interventional Radiology in the Fall of 2008.  She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Florida State University in December 2009 and moved to Fredericksburg, VA where she worked at a HCA hospital, Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center, in the Cardiac Cath Lab and Interventional Radiology.  In October of 2013, life brought Shannon back to Daytona Beach and she picked up where she left off at Halifax Health in Interventional Radiology as an RN, and eventually charge RN.  In May 2015, Shannon was nominated as the Radiology Nurse of Excellence and became the Radiology Nursing Coordinator at the end of 2016.  She graduated from Chamberlain College of Nursing with a Masters of Science in Nursing in leadership in April 2018.  Shannon was nominated as a Top 100 Health Professional for the Daytona Beach News Journal Awards in May 2018, and accepted a role as Nurse Manager of the Neuroscience unit at Halifax in July 2018.  Shannon has been the Manager of Halifax Transplant associated with UF Health since September 2020.

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Working Together for Your Healing

Kidney disease symptoms can be vague and difficult to detect. If you suspect you’re having kidney issues, it’s important to get checked out right away. Halifax Health kidney specialists are here to help get your systems functioning smoothly again so you can live your healthiest, happiest life.

311 N. Clyde Morris Blvd., Suite 360, Daytona Beach, FL 32114

Monday – Thursday: 8:00 am – 4:00 pm

Friday: 8:00 am – 2:00 pm

 

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