[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 21 (Thursday, January 31, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5855-5856]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-1730]


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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 March 3, 2008.

ADDRESSES: All nominations should be submitted to the Executive 
Secretary, Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation, Healthcare 
Systems Bureau, HRSA, Parklawn Building, Room 12C-06, 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: Gregory Fant, Ph.D., Executive 
Secretary, Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation, at (301) 443-
8728 or e-mail [email protected].

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 have been reviewed by the 
ACOT include:
     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 a set of practice 
guidelines to be followed with respect to public solicitation of organ 
donors, both living and deceased;
     Standards of coverage for living donors relating to future 
adverse events; and
     CMS reimbursement of organ procurement organizations for 
donation after cardiac death.
    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 pediatrics; 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 between January and July 2009.
    HHS will consider nominations of all qualified individuals with a 
view to

[[Page 5856]]

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 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: January 22, 2008.
Elizabeth M. Duke,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. E8-1730 Filed 1-30-08; 8:45 am]
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