For media interested in covering tomorrow night's panel presentation on the organ transplant experience (release sent last week), we have obtained the speaker bios. The event will cover most aspects of the journey, from prospective donors and recipients to the surgeons who perform the intricate surgeries and those involved in the recovery process. It will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8, in 1100 Jamrich Hall. It is presented by the Northern Center for Lifelong Learning, MGH-Duke LifePoint and NMU's School of Nursing. 

Here are the speakers: 

1.      Doug Knauer: local, husband of transplant recipient

2.      Wendy Mardak: She has been a hospital development specialist with University of Wisconsin Organ and Tissue Donation (UW OTD) for the past five years. Prior to this she was a Grant Coordinator and Data Analyst for a federally funded grant designed to identify motivations and barriers to organ donation among college and university students and helped to design a nationally recognized social media campaign to increase the number of registered donors within that demographic. Marquette General Hospital is one of 17 hospitals she works with to promote organ donation efforts and in training hospital staff on the organ donation process. 

3.      Samantha Taylor: She has been a hospital development specialist with the University of Wisconsin Organ and Tissue Donation for the past three years. Her role as a hospital development specialist with facilities in Wisconsin is integral in promoting organ donation and training hospital staff about the process.

4.      Mike Armbrust: clinical director, UW Health Abdominal Transplant Program.

5.      Dr. Arjang Djamali: Transplant Physician, Chief of the Division of Nephrology and the Medical Director of the Pancreas Transplant Program at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. He was recently named one of the "Best Doctors in America" and one of the "Top Docs in Madison."

6.      Gail Brandly, RN,BSN: Hospital Supervisor and Organ Donation Liaison at Marquette General Hospital (MGH). 

7.      Veronica Lawrence: Registered nurse and certified procurement transplant coordinator at UW OTD. Her experience ranges from senior leadership to medically managing donors and coordinating donation cases on the front line. 

8.      David Sohl: Served in the US Army from 2008 - 2012 as an Airborne Combat Medic and was deployed to Afghanistan with the 772nd Forward Surgical Team. He has been an Emergency Medical Technician for over seven years riding on ambulances in Washington, D.C., Tennessee and overseas in Israel. For the past two years, David has been working for University of Wisconsin Organ and Tissue Donation (UW OTD) as a Surgical Recovery Coordinator.