Dr. Suzanne McDiarmid, distinguished professor of pediatrics and surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Liver Health Foundation. The professor, who is also UCLA Health’s division chief of pediatric gastroenterology and hepatology, is being recognized for her clinical and administrative successes.
McDiarmid’s research centers on outcomes and complications after pediatric liver transplantation, and clinical development of new immunosuppressive drugs. McDiarmid has served as director of the Pediatric Liver Transplant Program at UCLA since 1994, during which time she’s cared for over 1,200 children who have undergone liver transplantation at UCLA.
Since many of these patients underwent transplants as infants, McDiarmid says has been able to see many of them become adults — fulfilling their dreams and even becoming parents themselves. Her career has included leadership roles in medical societies such as the International Liver Transplantation Society, the United Network of Organ Sharing and the Organ Procurement Transplant Network.
