Cohen Stephen, MD

Monica Velasco is certified by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners as a Family Nurse Practitioner. She received her Doctorate in Nursing Practice from Columbia University School of Nursing in New York, NY. Previously, she received her Master of Science in Nursing and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Miami, FL. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society and the Transplant Nurses Association. She earned many awards and honors during her clinical and academic career, including the Mary Dickey Lindsay '45 Nursing Scholar, 2013 from Columbia University School of Nursing. She has co-authored numerous transplant publications and has served as an international guest speaker. She is considered an expert in the field of Intestinal and Multivisceral Transplant.Monica's nursing experience spans over 25 years. She began her transplant career in 1998 at the University of Miami, where she worked for 13 years as the Program Manager for the Pediatric Liver and Intestinal Transplant Division and Senior Transplant Clinical Coordinator. During her time there, she helped grow the Liver and Intestinal Transplant Program into one of the top transplant centers in the world. In 2010, she was recruited by the Center of Liver Disease and Abdominal Transplantation at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. Currently, she is the Program Manager for the Intestinal and Ex-Vivo Transplant Division and is a Senior Transplant Clinical Coordinator. She has over two decades of clinical experience in pediatrics, taking care of complex liver and intestinal transplant patients. She has vast experience working with nutritionally challenged patients who require enteral and parenteral nutrition. She is a co-investigator on numerous research projects in the areas of liver and intestinal transplantation.She holds a Clinical Faculty Position at Columbia University School of Nursing, where she serves as an Assistant Professor of Nursing, Clinical Preceptor and Portfolio Advisor for their Doctorate Program.Fluent in SpanishVisit The Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation at columbiasurgery.org/liver

Dr. Arcasoy was recruited to Columbia University as the Medical Program Director of Lung Transplantation in 2001 from the University of Pennsylvania. After his recruitment, he completely turned around the Lung Transplantation Program to rank amongst the top 5 to 10 programs in the country with regard to volume and patient survival. Under his leadership, the Lung Transplant Program has been performing more than 80 transplants annually. In October 2019, Dr. Arcasoy and his team celebrated their 1000th lung transplant since 2001. Despite high transplant volumes and very sick pretransplant candidates, the survival of lung transplant recipients has remained stellar. Currently, 1-year survival of lung transplant recipients at Columbia University is 90%, 5-year survival 65%, and 10-year survival 42%. Dr. Arcasoy has gained national and international reputation with various leadership roles in professional organizations and scientific societies. He previously chaired the Thoracic Organ Transplant Committee of the AST and the Transplant Network Steering Committee of the ACCP. He recently served in the Thoracic Organ Transplant Committee of the OPTN to develop Continuous Distribution of Lungs. He is currently the Associate Chair for Advanced Lung Failure and Transplantation in the Standards and Guidelines Committee of the ISHLT.

Dr. Elizabeth Verna is the Frank Cardile Associate Professor of Medicine in the Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation and Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases at Columbia University, where she practices as transplant hepatologist. Dr. Verna has an active clinical research program in end-stage liver disease and liver transplantation and is the Director of Clinical Research for the Columbia UniversityTransplant Clinical Research Center. Visit The Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation at columbiasurgery.org/liver