Surgeons transplant tissue acquired through the UT Health Science Center’s Allograft Resources Tissue Bank.
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Contact: Will Sansom, (210) 567-2579

SAN ANTONIO (Jan. 10, 2008) — The Allograft Resources Tissue Bank, part of The Transplant Center at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, was awarded the prestigious accreditation of the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) this fall, said Kelly Stutes, director of allograft resources in The Transplant Center.

The Allograft Resources Tissue Bank at the UT Health Science Center joins nearly 100 similar facilities across the United States and abroad that have earned AATB accreditation.

Accreditation follows an intensive nine-month process, including an on-site inspection by a specially trained AATB inspector. It establishes that the level of medical, technical and administrative performance within the facility meets or exceeds the standards set by the AATB.

AATB-accredited organizations are recognized as leaders in their field
AATB-accredited tissue banks are involved in the determination of donor eligibility and the retrieval, processing, storage and/or distribution of human cells and tissue for transplantation or research. AATB-accredited organizations are recognized as leaders in their field and as pivotal voices in the dialogue to demonstrate and implement consensus-based, voluntary standards.

The Health Science Center's Allograft Resources Tissue Bank is a component of one of the nation’s leading transplant program alliances, the partnership between the Health Science Center, University Health System, CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Healthcare and Wilford Hall Medical Center.

Its mission is to enhance the lives of others by providing quality human tissue grafts for transplantation, research or education through compassionate support of families and outreach and education to communities.

In 2007, the program served more than 200 families, Stutes said. These families were offered the option to donate life-saving and life-improving tissues for transplantation.

Nearly a million tissue transplants are performed each year in the U.S. Second to blood, musculoskeletal tissue is the most commonly transplanted tissue.

An allograft is tissue transplanted from one individual to another individual, either of the same family or unrelated.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $576 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $15.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $35 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to seven campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 22,000 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and allied health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, allied health, dentistry and many other fields.