Washburn to Lead Transplant Divisions at Ohio State, Nationwide Children's Hospital

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children’s Hospital announce the joint appointment of Dr. W. Kenneth Washburn as director of transplant programs at each hospital, beginning in March.

Washburn will be the executive director of the Ohio State Comprehensive Transplant Center and the Division of Transplantation. At Nationwide Children’s he will be chief of the Division of Transplantation as well as director of the new Abdominal Transplant Program. In these roles, he will lead the hospital’s Pediatric Kidney Transplant Program and will establish Nationwide Children’s first Pediatric Liver Transplant Program.

“We are pleased to welcome Ken to this new role that will oversee a full continuum of care for transplant patients as they transition from childhood to adulthood,” said Dr. Sheldon Retchin, executive vice president of health sciences and CEO of Ohio State Wexner Medical Center.

A national authority on liver and kidney transplantation, Washburn comes to Columbus from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, where he led the Liver Transplant Program and was a professor of surgery. He also provides national leadership in setting transplant policy and serves on the board of directors of United Network for Organ Sharing.

“Dr. Washburn’s recruitment is a true testament to the collaborative partnership between Nationwide Children’s and Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center. This relationship is a tremendous step forward for children and adults with severe liver and kidney disease, and will allow us to provide state-of-the-art care and innovative research that will advance the transplant field,” said Dr. Steve Allen, CEO of Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Washburn earned his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh and completed his internship and residency in general surgery at Tufts-New England Medical Center as well as a multi-organ transplantation fellowship at Harvard's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Ohio State Wexner Medical Center is a nationally recognized leader in transplantation. As central Ohio’s only adult transplant center, Ohio State has performed more than 8,000 heart, lung, kidney, kidney-pancreas, liver and pancreas transplants since 1967. It’s ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report as a top hospital caring for patients with kidney disease, heart disease and lung disease.

Recognized on U.S. News & World Report’s 2015-16 “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals Honor Roll,” Nationwide Children’s offers central Ohio’s only pediatric kidney transplant program. That heritage of quality care will continue with the addition of the pediatric liver transplant program.