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Faculty Detail    
Name ROBERT S GASTON
Professor of Medicine and Surgery
Director, Comprehensive Transplant Institute
Medical Director, Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation
Robert G. Luke Endowed Chair in Transplant Nephrology		  
Campus Address ZRB 637 Zip 0007
Phone  (205) 934-7220
E-mail  rgaston@uab.edu
Other websites Physician Profile
     

Education
Undergraduate  University of Arkansas (Fayetteville)    1975  BA 
Medical School  Saint Louis University    1979  MD 
Residency  University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences    1982  Medicine 
Fellowship  University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences    1986  Nephrology 
Fellowship  University of Alabama at Birmingham    1988  Transplantation 

Certifications
American Board of Internal Medicine - Medicine  1982 
American Board of Internal Medicine - Nephrology  1986 


Faculty Appointment(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Primary  Med - Nephrology  Med - Nephrology Professor Emeritus
Center  Nephrology Research & Training Center  Nephrology Research & Training Center Professor Emeritus

Biographical Sketch 
Dr. Gaston, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Arkansas, received his MD degree from St. Louis University School of Medicine, and trained in medicine and nephrology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. The first fellow trained in Transplant Medicine at UAB, Dr. Gaston joined the faculty in 1990. He is the inaugural holder of the Robert G. Luke Chair in Transplant Nephrology, and is Director of the Comprehensive Transplant Institute (2015). A prolific contributor to the scientific literature, Dr. Gaston serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Previously, he was an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Transplantation (2002-2006), and coedited (with Swedish transplant surgeon Jonas Wadstrom) the 2005 book “Living Donor Kidney Transplantation: Current Practices, Emerging Trends and Evolving Challenges.”

Society Memberships
Organization Name Position Held Org Link
American Society of Nephrology     
American Society of Transplant Surgeons     
American Society of Transplantation  President, 2011-12  www.myast.org 
The Transplantation Society     
 



Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Description
Pathogenesis of chronic graft dysfunction after kidney transplantation; Clinical immunosuppression after kidney transplantation; Minority access and outcomes in kidney transplantation; Living donor kidney transplantation

Selected Publications 
Publication PUBMEDID
1) Gaston RS, Deierhoi MH, Patterson T, Prasthofer E, Julian BA, Barber WH, Laskow DA, Diethelm AG, and Curtis JJ. OKT3 first-dose reaction: association with T cell subsets and cytokine release. Kidney International 39: 141-148, 1991.
2) Gaston RS, Julian BA, Diethelm AG, and Curtis JJ. Effects of enalapril on erythrocytosis after renal transplantation. Annals of Internal Medicine 115: 954-955, 1991.
3) Gaston RS, Ayres I, Dooley LG, Diethelm AG. Racial equity in renal transplantation: the disparate impact of HLA-based allocation. Journal of the American Medical Association 270: 1352-1356, 1993.
4) Vincenti F, Kirkman R, Light S, Bumgardner G, Pescovitz M, Halloran P, Neylan J, Wilkinson A, Ekberg H, Gaston R, Backman L, Burdick J for the Daclizumab Triple Therapy Study Group. Interleukin-2-receptor blockade with daclizumab to prevent acute rejection in renal transplantation. N Engl J Med 338: 161-165, 1998.
5) Dooley LG and Gaston RS. Stumbling toward equity: the role of government in kidney transplantation. University of Illinois Law Review 1998(3): 703-725, 1999.
6) Gaston RS. Immunosuppressive Therapy. Part 1: The scientific basis and clinical practice of immunosuppressive therapy in the management of transplant recipients. In Extending Medicare Coverage for Preventive and Other Services. Field MJ, Lawrence RL, Zwanziger L, Eds. Washington, National Academy Press, 2000. pp 286-309.
7) Gaston RS. Immunosuppressive Therapy. Part 2: Evolution of Medicare policy involving transplantation and immunosuppressive medications: past developments and future directions. In Extending Medicare Coverage for Preventive and Other Services. Field MJ, Lawrence RL, Zwanziger L, Eds. Washington, National Academy Press, 2000. pp 310-328.
8) Young CJ and Gaston RS. Renal transplantation in black Americans. N Engl J Med 343: 1545-1552, 2000.
9) Gaston RS, Danovitch GM, Adams PL, Wynn JJ, Merion RM, Deierhoi MH, et al. The Report of a National Conference on the Wait List for Kidney Transplantation. Am J Transplant 3: 775-785, 2003.
10) Gaston RS, Cosio FG, Davis CL, Basadonna G, Kasiske BL, Larsen J, Leichtman AB, Delmonico FL. Transplantation in the diabetic patient with advanced chronic kidney disease: a task force report. Am J Kidney Dis 44: 529-542, 2004.
11) Kasiske BL, Gaston RS, Gourishankar S, Halloran PF, Matas AJ, Jeffry J, Rush D. Long-term deterioration of kidney allograft function. Am J Transplant 5: 1405-1414, 2005.
12) Gaston RS, Danovitch GM, Epstein RA, Kahn JP, Matas AJ, Schnitzler MA. Limiting financial disincentives in live organ donation: a rational solution to the kidney shortage. Am J Transplant 6: 2548-2555, 2006.
13) Abecassis M, Bartlett SA, Collins AJ, Davis CL, Delmonico FL, Eggers P, Friedewald J, Hays R, Howard A, Jones E, Leichtman AB, Merion R, Metzger RA, Pradel F, Schweitzer EJ, Velez RL, Gaston RS. Kidney transplantation as primary therapy for ESRD: proceedings of a NKF/KDOQI conference.
14) Gaston RS, Kaplan B, Shah T, Cibrik D, Angelis M, Mulgaonkar S, Meier-Kriesche H, Patel D, Bloom R. Fixed- or controlled-dose mycophenolate mofetil with standard- or reduced-dose calcineurin inhibitors: the Opticept trial. Am J Transplantation, 9: 1607-1619, 2009.
15) Gaston RS, Cecka JM, Kasiske BL, Fiebert AM, Leduc R, Cosio FC, Gourshankar S, Grande J, Halloran P, Hunsicker L, Mannon R, Rush D, Matas AJ. Evidence for antibody-mediated injury as a major determinant of late kidney allograft failure. Transplantation 90: 68-74, 2010.

16) Lee BT, Kumar V, Williams TA, Abdi R, Bernhardy A, Dyer C, Conte S, Genovese G, Ross MD, Friedman DJ, Gaston R, Milford E, Pollak MR, Chandraker A. The APOL1 genotype of African American kidney transplant recipients does not impact 5-year allograft survival. Am J Transplant 12: 1924-28, 2012.
17) Kasiske BL, McBride, MA, Cornell DL, Gaston RS, Henry ML, Irwin FD, Israni AK, Metzler NW, Murphy KW, Reed AI, Roberts JP, Salkowski N, Snyder JJ, Sweet SC. Report of a consensus conference on transplant program quality and surveillance. Am J Transplant 12: 1988-1996, 2012.
18) Tanriover B, Stone PW, Mohan S, Cohen DJ, Gaston RS. Future of Medicare immunosuppressive drug coverage for kidney transplant recipients in the United States. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 8: 1258-66, 2013. PMID: 23559679
19) Stegall MD, Gaston RS, Cosio F, Matas AJ. Through a glass darkly: seeking clarity in preventing late kidney allograft failure. J Am Soc Nephrol 26: 20-29, 2015. PMID: 25097209
20) Salomon DR, Langnas AN, Reed AI, Bloom RD, Magee JC, Gaston RS for the AST/ASTS Incentives Workshop Group. AST/ASTS workshop on increasing organ donation in the United States: creating an “arc of change” from removing disincentives to testing incentives. Am J Transplant 15: 1173-79, 2015. PMID: 25833653