Abigail M. Welder, PA-C, MSPAS

Kidney transplant and pancreas transplant services at Lehigh Valley Institute for Surgical Excellence When you choose the Institute for Surgical Excellence for transplant care, you benefit from our: Institute model of care Lehigh Valley Institute for Surgical Excellence brings together accomplished specialists with different areas of expertise. This institute approach to care helps us offer you the highest quality of surgical care across our entire network. Transplant expertise We’ve performed more than 1,300 transplants since our program started in 1991. Our surgeons are board-certified in general surgery and have deep experience performing complex transplant surgeries with excellent results. Our program routinely uses steroid-free immunosuppression. We also have exceptional results of highly sensitized (high cPRA) recipients. Shorter wait times Our expertise allows us to use donor kidneys that other centers don’t. This approach helps us offer lifesaving transplant surgery to more people, faster. Our transplant wait times are almost half that of centers in New Jersey and southern New York. Care customized to your needs Each member of our transplant team is dedicated to providing you the highest level of care in a way that’s customized to your needs. We work hard to exceed your care expectations – from the moment we meet you through your follow-up care after transplant surgery. Living kidney donor services Our living kidney donor program offers friends and family wishing to donate a kidney: -Medical expertise -Education -Emotional support We use laparoscopic techniques in living donor surgery, so donors experience less pain and a shortened recovery time. Apply to Become a Living Donor Extensive support Our team of knowledgeable and caring specialists gets to know you on a personal level. We offer a range of education and support resources to meet your physical and emotional needs before and after surgery. We do everything we can to help you find a suitable living kidney donor in your family, neighborhood or network, and we can get single-case agreements for all insurances, even if they are out of network. Our transplant services We offer comprehensive care for kidney and pancreas transplant needs, guiding you through the evaluation process to post-surgery follow-up care. Based on biannual Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipient (SRTR) reports, time on our wait list is significantly lower than at other centers. We specialize in: -Kidney transplant -Pancreas transplant -Combined kidney-pancreas transplant -Pancreas after kidney transplant -Living kidney donation surgery ,