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Faculty Amy Doggette Waterman, PhD Although living kidney donation results in better graft survival, lower rates of acute rejection, and improved long-term functioning, many kidney recipients choose to wait for a kidney from someone who has died rather than face the discomfort and guilt of asking or accepting a living donor kidney from their friends or family. Dr. Waterman is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Social Psychologist in the Division of General Medical Sciences. Her research focuses on how renal patients make decisions about transplant and whether lack of transplant knowledge, fears about transplant, and disparities in care limit interested patients from obtaining transplants. Based on her research with over 1,000 renal patients and living donors and collaborations with other dialysis and transplant health professionals, Dr. Waterman also has written and designed patient health education materials, including brochures and videos, to address key transplant barriers. She has received funding for several randomized controlled education trials from the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases and from Health and Human Services Division of Transplantation. She also received an American Society of Transplantation Faculty Grant. Recent accomplishments: Dr. Waterman hosted an Organ Donation Intervention and Methodology Conference in 2008 to identify successful interventions for increasing organ donation rates and to recommend areas for future organ donation research. Funding was obtained from HRSA and the American Society of Transplantation for this conference. Dr. Waterman developed two Explore Transplant web education modules, "Kidney Transplantation" and "Living Donation," that were invited to be posted on the National Library of Medicine's health education website, Medline Plus. These modules were formulated for patients with low health literacy and who are blind or hearing impaired. Dr. Waterman is conducting a quality improvement initiative with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Network 12 - the Heartland Kidney Network overseeing the care of 19,000 dialysis patients in 270 dialysis centers in Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas. Dr. Waterman's team will be training dialysis providers at 250 centers how to administer the Explore Transplant educational program with their own patients. Many of Dr. Waterman's educational resources for prospective kidney recipients and living donors are available for purchase through the Missouri Kidney Program:http://som.missouri.edu/mokp/Fpub.htmDr. Waterman's area of expertise includes kidney disease, physician error disclosure, social psychological and health behavior theories, and survey design. Other Publications 1. Waterman AD, Duhig S (2001). "The Living Gift: Education for Prospective Living Kidney Donors." Brochure published by the Missouri Kidney Program for distribution nationally to kidney donors. 2. Waterman AD, Soderlund S, Duhig S, Covelli T (2004). "Keeping an Open Mind: Learning about Living kidney Donation." Brochure published by the Missouri Kidney Program for distribution to kidney recipients. 3. Waterman AD, Whitlock B (2005). "Racial Difference in Knowledge and Attitudes about Diabetes and Organ Donation." Brochure published by the Missouri Kidney Program for distribution to Missouri Public Health workers. 4. Waterman AD and HRSA Grand Advisory Board (2007). "Explore Transplant" Education Program for prospective kidney recipients and living donors. Includes four 25-minute videos, four brochures, and fact sheets outlining answers to common transplant questions and sharing kidney recipients' and living donors' personal stories. 
National Kidney Foundation 2006 Meeting  Dr. Waterman and her research team celebrate winning Best Poster at the National Kidney Foundation 2006 Meeting.
Dr. Waterman's dialysis patient video program, Explore Transplant, won a Telly Award for Video Excellence in 2008.
Division of General Medical Sciences
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