The study, “Examining the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Access to Liver Transplantation: A Retrospective Analysis," was selected by the ACLP Research Committee as a one of the finalists for the 2023 Dlin/Fischer Clinical Research Award of the Academy of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry.
Aniruddha Deka, MD, a graduating Consultation Liaison Psychiatry fellow in the Yale Psychological Medicine section of the Yale Department of Psychiatry, led the project, in collaboration with Destiny Pegram, MD, a graduating Addiction Psychiatry fellow. Senior authors were Paula Zimbrean, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and surgery (transplantation), and Michael Schilsky, MD, professor of medicine.
The study underlines the challenges that non-white patients have in accessing organ transplantation and explores the role of mental health problems as a barrier to receiving needed liver transplantation in certain ethnic groups.