Our Team
Your diabetes care is mainly up to you, but your health care team is important. While in the transplant process, you have a large health are team to help you. It is important for you to utilize them when needed.
Remember that your team works for you. Here is a look at some of the key players, and how they can assist.
Anna Simos, MPH, CDE
Anna has always believed that individuals should take an active role in their healthcare choices. In this spirit, Anna has worked to develop a team-based, patient focused program of diabetes care through the Transplant Diabetes Program.
As a native of the San Francisco Bay area, she graduated in 1996 from San Jose State University with a Master's in Public Health that focused in health education and research. In 1997 she came to Stanford to pursue her post-graduate work in diabetes education, while she helped to research and formalize a program of individualized care for transplant patients with diabetes.
In 2000, Anna became a Certified Diabetes Educator. With Patsy Obayashi and other team members, she continued the development of what would become the first diabetes program for transplant recipients in the nation. Anna has authored and co-authored abstracts and articles, helping to bring the Transplant Diabetes Program into national awareness. Presently she divides her time between program development, diabetes education and her role as research coordinator assisting in the development of study protocols conducted through the School of Medicine.
Anna has spoken at national meetings and symposia regarding the importance of interdisciplinary diabetes care for those in the transplant process, and the impact immunosuppression and glycemic control has on individuals with pre-existing or post-transplant diabetes.
She enjoys working with her team at Stanford along with people who have diabetes. Her other interests are hiking, music, dancing, and gardening.
Patsy Obayashi, MS, RD, CDE
Patsy began working as a Clinical Dietitian at Stanford in 1977. She completed her B.S. in Nutrition from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. She completed her nutrition internship and Master's degree at the University of Arizona. She became a Certified Diabetes Educator in 2000.
Patsy has been working with the Multi-Organ Transplant Program since it's beginning in 1991 providing nutrition assessment pre-transplant, nutrition care and education pre- and post-transplant to the kidney, liver, and pancreas programs. Since 1995, this care has been expanded to include education and care of pre- and post-organ transplant patients through the Transplant Diabetes Program.
Along with Anna Simos, she has co-authored abstracts detailing Transplant Diabetes research presented nationally at the 2003 and 2005 American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions. Patsy has written a chapter on Nutrition Care of the Pancreas Transplant Recipient in the Handbook of Transplant Nutrition, written a review article for the Nutrition Support Newsletter on Transplant Diabetes in 2002, and will be presenting a poster session on Transplant Diabetes Education at the 2005 Food and Nutrition Expo and Conference.
Patsy grew up in Arroyo Grande on a strawberry farm, on the Central Coast of California.
Uerica Wang, PharmD., BCPS
Uerica Wang came to Stanford in 2007, after completing her residency and degree at University
of California, San Francisco. Uerica is currently a clinical transplant pharmacist and helps manage medications for liver and kidney transplant recipients. She has great enthusiasm for her patients. As part of a multidisciplinary team, Uerica helps optimize patient medication regimen and enjoys teaching her patients how to properly take their transplant and diabetes related medications.
In her spare time, Uerica enjoys spending time with her family, dancing, reading, and traveling to places she has not seen before.
Noriko Okada, Pharm.D., BCPS
Noriko serves as a liaison for diabetes transplant clinic as she coordinates pharmacy residents and students' rotation activities. She obtained her pharmacy degree at University of Maryland. She has held various positions including a clinical pharmacist at Stanford, a clinical educator and an assistant professor at a pharmacy school in Tokyo. She currently works as the Pharmacy Practice Residency Director. She enjoys her interactions with patients and their family members.
Pharmacy Residents
Pharmacy residents are very much an integral part of the transplant diabetes clinic. They participate in clinic activities and follow patients from when they are inpatients to when they return to the clinic as outpatients. The residents are committed to provide quality clinical and educational services to meet the needs of the patients and their family members.
Tracey McLaughlin, MD, MS
Dr. McLaughlin is an endocrinologist who specializes in diabetes in the transplant population. She has seen patients with diabetes in the transplant process for approximately seven years at Stanford Hospital and Clinics. Meet with her in a coordinated effort with your transplant team, to help maximize your diabetes management and optimize your metabolic control. Her other areas of interest are focused in clinical research and include the following areas: obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.