Scott A. Smolka 1LDS 102, S02 1/29/08

Scott A. SmolkaDepartment of Computer Science

Stony Brook Universityhttp://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~sas/

Scott A. Smolka 2LDS 102, S02 1/29/08

Course Description

The number of people needing a transplant continues to rise faster than the number of donors. About 3,700 transplant candidates are added to the national waiting list each month. Each day, about 77 people receive organ transplants. However, 18 people die each day waiting for transplants that can't take place because of the shortage of donated organs.

The focus of this LDS 102 course will be two-fold: (1) students in the course will learn the facts and issues surrounding organ and tissue donation in the United States; and (2) they will help establish, plan, implement and carry out various projects aimed at increasing organ and tissue donation awareness within the University and the surrounding community.

Scott A. Smolka 3LDS 102, S02 1/29/08

Please Introduce Yourselves

•Name

•Major

•Why you enrolled in this course

•Anything else you want to tell us

Scott A. Smolka 4LDS 102, S02 1/29/08

Who Am I?

• Professor of Computer Science at Stony Brook University since 1983

• President and Co-Founder of Reactive Systems, Inc.

• PhD from Brown University in 1984

• Heart transplant recipient: 7/14/2003 (Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy)

• Research Interests: Formal Methods, Computer-Aided Verification, Systems Biology, Networking & Security

Scott A. Smolka 5LDS 102, S02 1/29/08

Who Am I? (continued)

Scott A. Smolka 6LDS 102, S02 1/29/08

Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy

• Heart muscle disease characterized by replacement of heart muscle by fibrous scar and fatty tissue. Right ventricle tends to be most affected.

• ARVC is often patchy in its distribution so abnormal areas may be surrounded by normal ones.

•Certain areas of the world have higher rates than elsewhere, such as the area around Venice in Italy, and parts of Greece.

Scott A. Smolka 7LDS 102, S02 1/29/08

ARVC (continued)

Figure 1a.Organised rows of heart muscle cell.

Figure 1b.Muscle cells become disorganised and are replaced by fibrous and fatty tissue.

http://www.cardiomyopathy.org/html/which_card_arvc.htm

Scott A. Smolka 8LDS 102, S02 1/29/08

What is the Cause of ARVC?

Family tree shows four generations affected by ARVC. Condition transmitted from one generation to the next without skipping. Child of an affected person has 50:50 chance of inheriting condition.  This is called autosomal dominant inheritance.

Scott A. Smolka 9LDS 102, S02 1/29/08

My Organ & Tissue Donation Activities

• Volunteer for the New York Organ Donor Network: http://donatelifeny.org/

• At their web site, one can enroll online in the New York State Organ and Tissue Donor Registry

• I participated in 2004 and 2006 US Transplant Games

Helped enroll SBU in Sec. of Health Tommy Thompson's Workplace Partnership for Life program: offers employees of participating organizations opportunity to learn about, discuss, and make decisions concerning donation of organs, tissue, marrow and blood

Scott A. Smolka 10LDS 102, S02 1/29/08

My Organ & Tissue Donation Activities

• Faculty advisor to ODAC (Organ Donation Awareness Club)

• Student club with funding available from Division of Student Affairs

• Sruthi Devarinti is club president

• ODAC is a facebook group with 54 members!

Scott A. Smolka 11LDS 102, S02 1/29/08

Course Projects

• I will ask you to design, plan and implement course project focused on raising awareness about organ & tissue donation on campus and surrounding community

• Will probably take the form of Donate Life Walk for organ & tissue donation awareness (around campus mall)

• Probably to be preceded by registration events where we set up tables in SAC or University Hospital lobby to register people for Walk and/or NYS Organ and Tissue Donor Registry

Scott A. Smolka 12LDS 102, S02 1/29/08

Other Ideas for Course Projects

• An Oprah-style show on organ & tissue donation

• Bring Dr. Oz to campus

• Organize Legislative Day at Albany (Mar. 4?)

• And many many more!

Scott A. Smolka 13LDS 102, S02 1/29/08

More Ideas for Course Projects

•Analyze the depiction of organ donation in movies: John Q, 24 Grams, others (view in class)

•Develop website to link to SBU main website

•One-Act play/esssay from perspective of donor family

•Awareness events – potluck, play, etc.

•Research different types of transplants

Scott A. Smolka 14LDS 102, S02 1/29/08

Things to Do this Week

• Spend some time at http://donatelifeny.org/

• Enroll at least one person in the New York State Organ and Tissue Donor Registry

• Join ODAC group on Facebook

• Discuss organ and tissue donation with your family

•Think about what you would like to do for term project