Jeffery A. Lowell, M.D.
champions organ donation awareness
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Jeffery A. Lowell, M.D. champions organ donation awareness |
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Innovating
transplantation techniques
Jeffrey A. Lowell, M.D., also builds public awareness of the need for organ donations By Daniel Siegel It's remarkable that Jeffrey A. Lowell, M.D., finds time to regularly watch his two daughters play soccer.
"I have a hard time saying no," Lowell said. He tries to make a positive impact in all his endeavors, which include serving as associate professor of surgery and of pediatrics and associate director of abdominal transplantation in the School of Medicine and chief of pediatric transplantation at St. Louis Children's Hospital. "I really feel like I've been able to fulfill my need for Tzedakah, a Hebrew word which means good deed or charity," he said. "My two daughters are my greatest legacy. When they look back on my life, I not only want them to recognize that I worked hard, but more importantly, that I worked hard to help other people." New techniques for new challenges Lowell's fast-paced lifestyle is well suited to the type of cutting-edge medicine he performs. For example, only about half of the organs Lowell transplants are from living donors. For the rest, he typically has to fly somewhere in the middle of the night to extract the organ from someone who recently passed away. In addition to the excitement of these last-minute trips, the newness of the field allows organ transplantation experts to be innovative. "This type of critical-care medicine allows a lot of room for brainstorming," Lowell said. "Because of all the technical challenges involved, the action and pace of it really keep me on my toes." Room for experimentation has allowed Lowell and his colleagues to pioneer new techniques in transplantation. Increasing demand for organs coupled with consistently low organ supplies has led to a scarcity of donor organs. Lowell hopes to alleviate this shortage using new surgical approaches. For example, Lowell was part of the first team in St. Louis to perform a double liver transplant, in which a donor liver was split between two recipients. He also was one of the first surgeons in the region to transfer part of the liver from a healthy adult into an adult with liver failure.
Going for the win Like his father, being a doctor always was in the cards for Lowell. But his chosen specialty is quite different from his father's focus of pathology. Unlike many other specialties, in which treatment often is long and arduous, liver and kidney transplantation seem more like magic than medicine. "I went into surgery because I like fixing things," Lowell said. "But I went into transplantation because I like the immediate gratification of it. We get people who are basically dead when they arrive here, but after a liver or kidney transplant, they are on the road to recovery and typically return home in about four or five days." Although the majority of transplants Lowell performs are on adults -- more than 100 yearly -- he admits that his pediatric patients are special to him. "I really like taking care of kids and their families," he said. "As a father, the emotional highs of 'winning' are magnified. Luckily, we win a lot -- otherwise, I don't know if I would like it." In fact, the program has one of the highest success rates in the country for liver and kidney transplantation. Colleague I. Jerome Flance, M.D., special associate for community development and professor emeritus of medicine, said Lowell has played a significant role in shaping the program in his nine years at the University. "Dr. Lowell is a superb surgeon," Flance said. "An author and co-author of numerous scientific writings in his field, he certainly represents the best tradition of his profession and of the School of Medicine in his concern for health care, both in the hospital and the St. Louis community at large." Outside the hospital Lowell's dedication to the medical field has caught the attention of several other local figures. "I first met Dr. Lowell on a television show that I hosted," said Greg Freeman, host of The Greg Freeman Show on KWMU radio and Post-Dispatch columnist. "For all the work he does, I found him to be very down to earth and without airs. Little did I know that a few years later, he would be my own surgeon." Since receiving a kidney transplant, Freeman has written and inspired several articles in the Post-Dispatch about the importance of organ transplantation and other related issues. Lowell himself has contributed to the series. One wall in his office is lined with articles he wrote on issues that range from current organ shortages to a critique on the validity of the movie John Q, in which a desperate father who is unable to afford his son's transplant takes an emergency room hostage in an attempt to save his son's life. Local political representatives also have recognized Lowell's efforts and expertise. During the anthrax scare this year, Lowell casually commented to a friend at the Post-Dispatch that St. Louis is ill-prepared to deal with potential threats. Eventually, his quote found its way to St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, who in turn appointed Lowell to spearhead a new disaster-response program. Lowell now is chief of St. Louis' Metropolitan Medical Response System, dedicated to better preparing and coordinating the St. Louis region's medical response system in the event of any disaster, natural or man-made. The team already has repaired and replaced all of the emergency radios in hospitals in the metropolitan area and is in the process of developing a mutual-aid agreement between area hospitals in the event of a disaster. The program even caught the attention of Sen. Jean Carnahan, who commended Lowell and the program's success in a recent speech in the U.S. Senate. Timothy J. Eberlein, M.D., the Bixby Professor of Surgery and chair of the department and the director of the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at the School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, said, "Jeffrey Lowell is one of those rare individuals who is able to do everything extraordinarily well. All his pursuits are done both energetically and meticulously. There truly are few people like him at any institution." |
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