Santiago R. Vera, M.D., director of the Liver Transplant Program at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute has been elected to serve as Region 11 Councillor on the board of directors for the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).

Created to advance organ availability and transplantation, UNOS is a national non-profit, scientific and educational organization that also administers the nation’s only Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). Comprised of transplant hospitals, organ procurement organizations, donor family members and medical professionals, UNOS members are divided into 11 geographic regions. As the new Region 11 Councillor, Dr. Vera will serve as the representative for UNOS members in Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Dr. Vera received his medical degree from Central University of Venezuela Vargas School of Medicine in Caracas, Venezuela and completed his post-graduate training at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. He has been with the Transplant Institute since 1982.

In addition to serving on the board of UNOS, Dr. Vera is a professor of Surgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and is a member of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, the American Liver Foundation, and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.