Colorado Transplant Nurses Society (CTNS)

Colorado Transplant Nurses Society

Professional Nursing Group

Colorado Transplant Nurses Society was organized to enhance the professional and social development of transplant nurses in the state of Colorado. It provides educational offerings quarterly for its members and other transplant professionals. We engage in networking to promote increased learning and advancement in organ transplantation. CTNS Bylaws

Join International Transplant Nurses Society

Sign up and receive opportunities for more education and to connect with other transplant professionals from around the world!

Membership (itns.org)

CTNS Email List Serve Form

CTNS Database Form

CTNS Membership Dues

CTNS Membership

Upcoming Events

A New Year Ahead: A Time to Reflect & Celebrate!

Looking Back on 2025...

Children's Hospital Colorado

16 heart transplants

15 liver transplants

8 living liver donors

11 kidney transplants

4 living kidney donors

Presbyterian St. Luke's

36 liver transplants

53 kidney transplants

Congratulations to:

Speakers at the National Kidney Foundation's First Steps to Transplant events:
- Gina Hilcher
- Christine Opp
- Sarah Kinder
New transplant surgeon, Dr. Matthew Winn

AdventHealth Porter

26 liver transplants

104 kidney transplants (40 living donor recipients)

51 living kidney donors

Congratulations to:

Buffy Cass, RN - earned her CCTC
Sarah Brantley, RN -presented at the Southwest Surgical Congress
Karin Kowalski, RN - attended the 2025 ITNS Symposium and shared her experience at the October 2025 CTNS meeting
Dr. Hunter Moore - named Surgical Director of Kidney and Living Donor Transplant
Dr. Hunter Moore - living kidney donor robotic program

UCHealth

71 heart transplants

42 lung transplants

Celebrated 1000th lung transplant

220 kidney transplants (61 living donor recipients)

Celebrated 5000th kidney transplant

6 pancreas transplants

137 liver transplants (11 living donor recipients)

Celebrated 3000th liver transplant

Congratulations to:

Dr. Trevor Nydam - named Chief of the Division of Transplant Surgery and Clinical Director of the UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital Transplant Center
5 New Lead Coordinators - This role provides Transplant Coordinators with a career progression pathway, supporting professional development and clinical advancement by following the ITNS standards of practice for Transplant Coordinators
- Jaime Cisek, Living Donor Coordinator
- Amy Huntsman, Liver Transplant Coordinator
- Abby Lantz, Liver Transplant Coordinator
- Kelsey Anilionis, Kidney Transplant Coordinator
- Will Hart, Organ Offer & Triage On-Call Coordinator

Looking Ahead: 2026 Meetings

January: HIV & Transplant - Dr. Brian Montague

April: Thoracic topic - TBA

July: Floor Nurse topic - TBA

October: Living Liver Donor/Recipient

*Meeting topics are subject to change

Elections results are in!

Welcome our newest board Members:

Abby Lantz (President Elect)

Sarah Brantley (Secretary)

ITNS Education & CEs Available

Please see the link below to the ITNS Education Center. Here you can find CEs and classes.

ITNS Education Center

CTNS Dinner Price

The CTNS board has met and has voted to increase the quarterly dinner meeting prices starting July 2025.

New prices effective July-

$20 (includes dinner, drinks, and a CE)

***active CTNS members will utilize a $10 coupon code to redeem each dinner***

Membership Price-

CTNS membership is $25 per year!

NATCO 51st Meeting 2026

The 51st NATCO Annual Meeting is scheduled for February 15-18, 2026, at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas.

Join us for a landmark gathering where donation and transplant professionals unite to tackle today’s most pressing challenges and spark innovative solutions. Our goal for this meeting is to inspire donation and transplant teams to make a difference as we collaborate and develop improvement processes that will result in more lives saved!

NATCO will provide nursing contact hours and CEPTC for the Annual Meeting.

Registration Information

17th Annual Living Donation Conference
Innovate, Integrate, and Inspire
Advancing Team Collaboration in Living Donation and Transplantation
March 18-20, 2026
Wyndham Grand Bonnet Creek, Orlando, FL

Now encompassing the full spectrum of living donation care! Bringing together multidisciplinary living donor teams — both living donor and recipient coordinators, social workers, donor advocates, donor champions, and all professionals who support patients throughout their living donation and transplant journey.

Future Educational Offerings

Learning

ITNS Conference 2026

Dates to be announced

ITNS will be hosting their annual symposium in Cleveland, OH.

Past CTNS Events

October 2025 Meeting

October 8, 2025

Living Donor and Recipient Experience
Our dinner will be sponsored by Natera.

July 2025 Meeting

July 9, 2025

Bridging Young Hearts: The Evolving Role of Ventricular Assist Devices in Pediatric Heart Transplantation, speaker Angeal Reichold MSN, APRN, CPNP-AC/PC
Our dinner will be sponsored by Care Dx.

April 2025 Meeting

April 9, 2025

Dr. Jason Wellen from Barnes discussing Frailty Sponsored by Veloxis, Michelle Miles
Sheri Bodenstein, LCSW, CAC, CCM and Adrienne Johnson, LCSW, CCTP discussing Alcohol in Transplant

January 2025 Meeting

January 8, 2025

Gilead will be sponsoring our January dinner. Gilead's speaker will be Hepatologist, Dr. Apurva Modi. Brian Eller and Zach Heath from Aveo Capital will speak about Financial Retirement 101.

October 2024 Meeting

October 9, 2024

Dr. Nydam presented on robotic surgery.

July 2024 Meeting

July 10, 2024

Dr. Wiseman presented on PTLD.

April 2024 Meeting

April 10, 2024

Shereena Slyvester presented on Sexual Health in Transplant.

January 2024 Meeting

January 31, 2024

Dr. Pshak presented on his experience learning robotic surgery techniques in the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia.

October 2023 Meeting

Octoberl 11, 2023

Opioid Crisis in Transplant and a Transplant Panel

July 2023 Meeting

Julyl 12, 2023

Dr. Yanik Bababekov presented on Normothermic Regional Perfusion (NPR) and the advanced techniques of increasing the donor pool population in cardiac death donors. He discussed surgical techniques and the outcomes for the transplant centers using this innovative procedure.

April 2023 Meeting

April 12, 2023

AlloSource provided a wonderful tour of their facility where they are one of the largest tissue donation centers in the United States. We learned the amazing impact they provide to the donation process and heard a speaker share their personal story on donation.

January 2023 Meeting

January 11, 2023

Angela Miskolci will present on "The Transgender Living Donor: Acknowledgement, Acceptance, and Challenges"

October 2022 Meeting

October 12, 2022

Sanofi is hosting at Maggiano's in the Denver Tech Center. Dr. Shahib will present on "Frailty and Kidney Transplant" and Gladiz Martinez presented on UCHealth's Transplant Hispanic Clinic Development.

About CTNS

The Colorado Transplant Nurses Society, Chapter of the International Transplant Nurses Society is committed to the promotion of excellence in clinical transplant nursing through the provision of educational and professional growth opportunities, interdisciplinary networking, collaborative activities and nursing research

Our goals are:

A. To provide a network for communication among nurses and associated transplant professionals with a focus and commitment to transplantation.

B. To provide a means of continuing education for nurses and associated transplant professionals with a focus in transplant nursing.

C. To examine trends in all types of transplantation affecting patient care and role of the transplant professional.

D. To promote and support research in transplant nursing.

E. To discuss the results of scientific investigations among

nurses and associated transplant professionals.

F. To foster an awareness of ongoing ethical considerations in procurement, donation, and recipient selection.

G. To maintain fiscal responsibility and establish financial stability in order to support the objectives of the Colorado Transplant Nurses Society Chapter and the International Society.

H. To do all that is necessary and proper for the accomplishment of all of the foregoing or other proper and lawful purposes and objectives of the Society.

Transplant Hospitals

Children's Hospital

When transplantation is the best option for your child to have as healthy a life as possible, the experts at Children's Hospital Colorado are here to help. Our transplant program has been changing lives for 25 years. We have the only pediatric transplant program in the region with this magnitude of experience and expertise. Our unique multidisciplinary approach to care offers patients excellent outcomes and hope for a better, healthier life. We achieve some of the best outcomes in the nation by working with every medical and surgical specialty in the hospital to reimagine children’s lives.

Presbyterian St. Luke's Hospital

HealthONE has adopted a shared mission, values and standards of behavior that brings out the best in us individually and collectively.

We offer these as principles for all of us to live by every day, use in all our decisions, and to guide our daily behavior.

Mission

Above all else, we are committed to the care and improvement of human life.

Values

Integrity – We do the right thing, even when no one is watching.
Compassion – We are empathetic to the needs of others and sympathize with their situation.
Accountability – We take ownership for how actions impact outcomes.
Respect – We value others and embrace diversity.
Excellence – We take personal pride in exceeding expectations.

AdventHealth Porter

Extending the healing ministry of Christ. Our faith-based mission is the foundation for everything we do. We believe health should be measured in terms of the whole person — body, mind and spirit. And it’s our promise to you to help you feel whole. With world-class expertise and uncommon compassion, we're here for you through every phase of life.

Quality & Service Excellence: We consistently deliver exceptional whole-person care and strive for excellence in all we do.
Community Well-Being We are committed to improving the health, prosperity and well-being of the communities we serve.
High Ethical Standards: We are called to uphold the highest standards, with integrity driving every decision we make and every action we take.
Stewardship: We are guided by relentless stewardship in the management of the resources entrusted to us.
Inclusiveness: We celebrate the diverse backgrounds, cultures and experiences of our patients, visitors and colleagues, and embrace opportunities to learn and grow from new perspectives.

UCHeath

UCHealth's is mission is to improve lives. In big ways through learning, healing and discovery. In small, personal ways through human connection. But in all ways, we improve lives. The Transplant Program at UCHealth is committed to becoming the largest and best in the region for organ transplantation. We provide transplant care for heart, lung, liver, kidney, and pancreas patients. We also have a robust living donor program for liver and kidney and our goal is to have the recipient and donor live the best and longest life possible.