Learning Center

Your central location for online learning and education surrounding all aspects of tissue donation, tissue banking, research and transplantation.

2021 Individual Webinar Subscription

  • Registration Closed

Take advantage of the AATB Annual Subscription providing individual access to the entire year of educational programming

With the Webinar Subscription Program, you can now have year-round access to subject matter experts and industry-leading education delivered right to your desk, conference room or smart phone. 

The Webinar Subscription Program gives you and your entire company access to 40 60-minute webinars a year and addresses key areas such as regulatory updates, surgical application, donor screening, and regulatory pathways. This content has been developed to support the diverse roles, and experience levels of thr tissue community. 

What's Included in the Subscription

  • Access to 40 live presentation
  • Recorded, on-demand access to each program
  • Educational credits including CTBS, CEBT, RN and more!
  • Contains 4 Component(s), Includes Credits

    Join Bioprinting Field Application Specialist Nicole Diamantides for a webinar on using 3D Bioprinting for COVID-19 research.

    Join Bioprinting Field Application Specialist Nicole Diamantides for a webinar on using 3D Bioprinting for COVID-19 research.

    Sign-up to learn more about:

    ·       The COVID-19 global pandemic

    ·       Study of lung or any lung-related diseases using 3D Bioprinting.

    ·       Drug screening application of 3D Bioprinting.

    ·       How we can apply 3D Bioprinting technology for COVID-19 study or research.

    Nicole Diamantides, Ph.D.

    Nicole Diamantides is a Bioprinting Field Application Scientist at CELLINK, a leading bioprinting company. She joined CELLINK in 2019 after completing her PhD at Cornell University. At Cornell, Nicole worked on the development of novel collagen bioink formulations for bioprinting cartilage and collaborated with Histogenics Corp. to mechanically characterize their investigational cartilage tissue implant. Nicole received her BS in Biomedical Engineering from Bucknell University and her MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Cornell University.

  • Contains 3 Component(s), Includes Credits

    This presentation will provide a greater understanding of the importance of photographic documentation beneficial to the medical examiner and coroner systems. It will also offer best practices for photographic documentation of decedents before organ and/or tissue donation through hands-on demonstration and application of the photographic methodology, full-body photography, photo scaling, photography of injuries, and more.​

    This presentation will provide a greater understanding of the importance of photographic documentation beneficial to the medical examiner and coroner systems. It will also offer best practices for photographic documentation of decedents before organ and/or tissue donation through hands-on demonstration and application of the photographic methodology, full-body photography, photo scaling, photography of injuries, and more.

    Jennifer Snippen, BSN, RN, MA, F-ABMDI

    Jennifer is a Board Certified Fellow with the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators and past Chief Deputy Medical Examiner for Linn and Benton Counties in Oregon. She is an American Association of Forensic Sciences Fellow and serves on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners. Jennifer is also a registered nurse with extensive critical care/neurotrauma experience. She is an Adjunct Faculty member of the Lane Community College Science Department where she teaches Human Anatomy and Physiology.  She has instructed for the Linn Benton CC Criminal Justice program, Lane CC Criminal Justice Program, UC Riverside Forensic Nursing Program, Oregon State Medicolegal Death Investigator Program & the Oregon State University eCampus Anthropology program.   She received a Master’s in Applied Biomedical Anthropology from Oregon State University with a minor focus on Physiology. Her thesis research project was a multijurisdictional study of law enforcement experiences related to infant death investigations.  Jennifer is currently a PhD Student at Oregon State University studying the process of death investigation as a scientific endeavor.

    Jennifer began her medical training as an EMT in Kenai, Alaska in 1991.  She then earned an RN BSN in Bismarck, ND and worked for years in neurotrauma critical care before receiving Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner training and eventually moving full time into death investigation.  She is the past Chief Deputy Medical Examiner for two Oregon counties and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners. Jennifer has earned Board Certified Fellow status from the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators and is an American Academy of Forensic Sciences Fellow.  She holds a masters in Medical Anthropology from Oregon State University and is currently a PhD student in their Comparative Health Sciences program.  She is a regularly invited speaker and on the topics of strangulation investigation, infant death investigation, and forensic photography.

    Jennifer is an experienced critical care nurse and medicolegal death investigator with decades of experience in photography. She is a regularly invited speaker on the subject of practical forensic photography and enjoys helping non-photographers obtain the best possible photographs using the (often) limited resources and time available to them.

  • Contains 4 Component(s), Includes Credits

    This presentation will provide a detailed review in the evaluation of tissue bank risk assessments in regard to auditing and inspection.

    This presentation will provide a detailed review in the evaluation of tissue bank risk assessments in regard to auditing and inspection.

    Michelle Lewis, BA, ASQ CBA, RAC, CTBS

    Michelle has 20+ years in biologics, drugs, medical devices, and HCT/P’s.  Currently, she is the Accreditation Assessment Manager for AATB providing post-inspection support for CAPA responses and inspection reports; serves as the primary liaison with the Accreditation Committee and the NonTransplant Anatomical Donation Council; a key member of the Standards committee and helps drive policy changes within the Accreditation and Standards department. Michelle came to the association after many years of building her expertise in the field of regulatory compliance and auditing. 

    Sabrina Qualley, BA, MLT(ASCP), CTBS, CQA (ASQ)

    Sabrina has 30 years of experience in blood and tissue banking.  She is a Certified Quality Auditor, a Certified Tissue Banking Specialist and has a Medical Laboratory Technician degree.  Sabrina has been performing accreditation inspections as an independent contractor for AATB for 9 years.  Prior to that, she was the Quality Program Manager for the tissue program at LifeCenter Northwest, the QC Specialist at Northwest Tissue Center, the Lead Operational Tech for the Islet and Cell Processing Laboratory at Puget Sound Blood Center, and started her career in the transfusion service (cross-match and red cell reference laboratories) of Puget Sound Blood Center.   

  • Contains 4 Component(s), Includes Credits

    This presentation will review practices in remembrances and celebrations of life through the COVID pandemic.

    Amid the COVID-19 pandemic honoring our donors and donor families has never been more challenging. This session highlights meaningful online tributes and key takeaways.

    Kristen Tomlinson, BA, CTBS, GC-C

    Kristen has worked in the Organ and Tissue donation field for the last 5 years. She has mostly been in the Donor Referral Center screening donors and approaching families, currently, she is the department Supervisor. Kristen is a Certified Grief Counselor and studying to get her Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She is passionate about donation, working with donor families, mental health, and helping combat mental health issues for those in the donation world, first responders, hospital workers, etc.

    Christina Godfrey

    Christina Godfrey is the Life Anew Program Coordinator for Carolina Donor Services, providing aftercare to organ and tissue donor families. She has been with Carolina Donor Services for over six years, following time spent in the fields of Clinical Research and Event Planning. Christina works with donor families to provide donation outcomes, grief resources, facilitate communication between donor families and recipients, and plans annual donor remembrance events. She is a University of Florida graduate and lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her husband and two young boys.

    Lisa A. Colaianni

    Lisa has served as WRTC’s Donor Family Advocate since 1990. She has developed an aftercare bereavement program for families of all tissue and organ donors in the Washington metropolitan area. Lisa provides bereavement support and advocacy services to donor families. She is Past Chair of the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) Donor Family Services Council. Lisa served as a Professional Editor for the National Donor Family Council newsletter and was a member of the National Donor Family Council’s Executive Committee. She received a Death and Dying Certificate through Colorado State University and the Center for Loss and Dying in 2009. Lisa became a non-directed kidney donor in 2011, resulting in an eight recipient chain.

     Lisa came to the DC area in 1977 to work for her congressman from Vermont, James Jeffords. She spent 15 years as a Congressional Aide to various Congressmen and Senators. Lisa resides in McLean, VA.

    Erin Bauer, MA

    Erin Bauer is the events coordinator at The Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland (The LLF). Erin joined The LLF team in 2013 and supports the organization’s community outreach and public education efforts by planning mission-driven events to celebrate the lives of donors and recipients. Her versatile range of planning experience includes conferences, galas, 5K races, fundraisers, and specialized donor memorial services. She is dedicated to creating unique and meaningful experiences that inspire Marylanders to register as organ, eye, and tissue donors. Erin additionally shares her event expertise with other Baltimore based non-profit organizations, dedicating over 100 hours of volunteer time annually to TRIO Maryland (Transplant Recipients International Organization) and the Junior League of Baltimore.

    Allison Coleman, MA

    Allison Coleman is the public relations and media coordinator at The Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland (The LLF). Allison has over ten years of experience in public relations, communications, and social media. She joined The LLF team in 2015 and works to support organ, eye, and tissue donation through news coverage, social media, educational and promotional materials, special events, and awareness campaigns. Allison is passionate about remembering the “donor” in donation and works closely with donor families and recipients to share their stories.

  • Contains 3 Component(s), Includes Credits

    This presentation will review practices of sample transportation during the COVID pandemic.

    •                COVID-19 and the global need for efficient testing

    •                Using the I-DOT for noncontact low-volume liquid handling

    •                How the I-DOT can help with COVID-19 qPCR testing?

    •                Other I-DOT application

    Indira V. Chivukula, Ph.D.

    Indira V. Chivukula is a liquid handling/bioprocessing Field Application Scientist at CELLINK, a leading bio-convergence company. She joined CELLINK in 2020 after completing her post-doctoral research using single-cell RNA-sequencing at the Karolinska Institutet/AstraZeneca Integrated Cardio Metabolic Centre. Indira has worked in academia and industry on 3 continents, investigating breast cancer biology, 3D organoid models, and cell-based assay development. She received her BS in Biology from The Ohio State University and her PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from Karolinska Institutet.

  • Contains 4 Component(s), Includes Credits

    This presentation will review the structure of coroner systems throughout the United States.

    This presentation will review the structure of coroner systems throughout the United States. 

    John Fudenberg, D-ABMDI

    John is the Executive Director of the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners (IACME) and has over 30 years of public service, 17 of which was with the Clark County Coroner's Office in Las Vegas. Along with serving as a past President of the IACME and on the Executive Committee for over a decade, he represented the IACME as a Commissioner on the US Department of Justice National Commission of Forensic Science and chaired the National Institute of Justice Scientific Working Group In Medicolegal Investigations. (SWGMDI). John has also been a leader in the Medicolegal Profession for many years. John is very passionate about the Medicolegal field as well as the IACME. John is an active donation advocate who promotes collaboration between donation and death investigation institutions. 

  • Contains 4 Component(s), Includes Credits

    The Donate Life America Funeral Services Committee and the Funeral Liaisons from LifeSource will be presenting embalming and restorative techniques post tissue recovery. The session will include practical and innovative ideas on the care of a tissue donor and necessary supplies to provide to the funeral home. You will also learn the importance of surgical technique during the recovery and how it can impact the embalming process. This session aims to share the concerns of the funeral service partners and ways to improve the relationship through education, training, and support.​

    The Donate Life America Funeral Services Committee and the Funeral Liaisons from LifeSource will be presenting embalming and restorative techniques post tissue recovery. The session will include practical and innovative ideas on the care of a tissue donor and necessary supplies to provide to the funeral home. You will also learn the importance of surgical technique during the recovery and how it can impact the embalming process. This session aims to share the concerns of the funeral service partners and ways to improve the relationship through education, training, and support.

    Melinda Van Waus, BS, CTBS, CFSP

    Lead Partner Liaison

    Melinda received her Mortuary Science degree from the University of Minnesota. Following graduation, Melinda was employed by the Benson Funeral Home before transitioning to her role at LifeSource where she has been instrumental in many areas of the organization since 2005. One of those areas was as a Surgical Recovery Technician, recovering tissue from donors who have so generously given the gift of life. Melinda is active on several committees within the organization which help provide opportunities of improvement with the goal for enhanced performance, greater customer and partner relationships while meeting the needs of those we serve. Melinda primarily oversees LifeSource’s relationship with Medical Examiner/Coroner offices, Funeral Service Providers and Hospice facilities.  She is a licensed funeral director and embalmer in Minnesota. Melinda continues to provide part-time service to local funeral homes and is an active member of the Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota Funeral Director Associations; the Arrowhead Funeral Directors Association; a Certified Tissue Bank Specialist; and a Certified Funeral Service Practitioner which is the highest professional designation you can achieve in funeral service.


    Kelley Romanowski, BS, CTBS

    After earning a Bachelor of Science in Mortuary Science degree from the University of Minnesota, Kelley worked in a Twin Cities funeral home for nearly 11 years prior to joining the LifeSource Team. She also worked with our local transplant centers to facilitate donor organ transportation and became a Certified Tissue Bank Specialist. She continually attends education sessions and seeks out process improvement ideas in partnership with funeral director partners to better support the families we jointly serve.

    Kelley is an active member of the Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota Funeral Director Associations, the Arrowhead Funeral Directors Association and leads a Funeral Home Advisory Board.

  • Contains 4 Component(s), Includes Credits

    Join Field Application Specialist Erik Patak for an insightful webinar on using 3D bioprinting for cancer research. Sing up to learn more about: • Physics of cancer • 3D approach to study cancer • Application of bioprinting in cancer research

    Join Field Application Specialist Erik Patak for an insightful webinar on using 3D bioprinting for cancer research.

     Sing up to learn more about:

    ·       Physics of cancer

    ·       3D approach to study cancer

    ·       Application of bioprinting in cancer research

    Erik Patak, BS

    Erik Patak is a member of the Training and Installations team at CELLINK, with primary expertise in bioprinting. He joined CELLINK full-time in 2020 after completing a previous internship at CELLINK and graduating from the University of Rochester. At Rochester, Erik studied the modification of collagen by metastasizing breast cancer cells to help predict future patient outcomes in triple-negative breast cancer cases. Erik graduated with a BS in biomedical engineering with a primary focus on tissue engineering.

  • Contains 4 Component(s), Includes Credits

    The Donate Life America Funeral Services Committee will provide attendees information about the committee's vision, mission, and current benchmark project. Speakers will offer successful and proven ideas on connecting with funeral service professionals to support and promote organ, eye, and tissue donation. Creative and successful ideas on engaging your funeral service partners will include utilizing existing tools from inside and outside your tool-box. This session aims to share ways to help your organization develop positive collaboration with your funeral service partners.

    The Donate Life America Funeral Services Committee will provide attendees information about the committee's vision, mission, and current benchmark project. 

    Speakers will offer successful and proven ideas on connecting with funeral service professionals to support and promote organ, eye, and tissue donation. Creative and successful ideas on engaging your funeral service partners will include utilizing existing tools from inside and outside your tool-box. This session aims to share ways to help your organization develop positive collaboration with your funeral service partners.

    Lisa Oestreicher

    Funeral Home and Coroner Liaison

    Lisa started at Lifeline of Ohio as their first Funeral Home and Coroner Liaison. Lisa has used her time at Lifeline of Ohio to engage funeral home professionals through educational opportunities, field trips, and funeral director recognition. Lisa believes that the more the funeral home professionals know about organ, eye, and tissue donation the better they are to support our mission, care for the donor and serve the donor family’s we share. Lisa is a licensed Funeral Director in the State of Ohio and a member of the Ohio Funeral Directors Association, Donate Life America Funeral Service Committee and Donate and the Life Ohio Education Committee.

    Chris Donhost

    Chris Donhost is a second generation funeral professional with over 20 years of experience. He is licensed by California as a funeral director, embalmer, cemetery manager, crematory manager, and life insurance agent specific to pre-need funeral arrangements. Donhost last worked in the funeral profession as a multi-location manager of three funeral homes, a cemetery and crematory in the Bay Area. In July of 2013, he was appointed as funeral home and coroner liaison with Sierra Donor Services in Sacramento, where he works to establish and maintain positive relationships with funeral and coroner partners. Donhost remains active in the funeral profession as a professor at the local mortuary college, volunteers on multiple committees with the California Funeral Directors Association (CFDA), serves on advisory boards of the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau, and the American River Funeral Service program, and is a frequent lecturer on funeral/donation matters. He was recognized by the CFDA as California’s Young Funeral Director of the Year in 2012.

  • Contains 3 Component(s), Includes Credits

    We all seek to hire skilled coordinators to screen referrals and conduct DRAIs but how do you know that staff are "skilled"? Do you have a comprehensive competency assessment program at your organization? Join us as we dive into the topic of competency assessment and feedback. The Tissue Operations Department at New England Donor Services has spent the better part of the last two years developing a system of defining, scoring, and assessing competency thresholds for staff performing the critical functions of DRAI and referral screening. This webinar will explain and review these activities in detail.

    We all seek to hire skilled coordinators to screen referrals and conduct DRAIs but how do you know that staff are "skilled"? Do you have a comprehensive competency assessment program at your organization?  Join us as we dive into the topic of competency assessment and feedback.  

    The Tissue Operations Department at New England Donor Services has spent the better part of the last two years developing a system of defining, scoring, and assessing competency thresholds for staff performing the critical functions of DRAI and referral screening.  This webinar will explain and review these activities in detail. 

    Joshua Brennan, CTBS

    Director, Tissue Operations

    New England Donor Services, Inc.

    Josh Brennan spent six years as an EMS professional and was an educator for the Red Cross. Josh has been with New England Donor Services since 2008 in various roles in the Tissue Operations Department. He is currently the Director of Tissue Operations. He has published three abstract articles with the American Association of Tissue Banks and was part of the creative development team for the Hopes Heroes - Donor Family Program. He has been invited to speak at multiple workshops/conferences/webinars on various topics, including Electronic Tissue Authorization, Call Center Scheduling, Algorithmic Tissue Screening, Electronic Tissue Allocation, DRAI competency & training, and Grief Concepts. Josh is currently serving on the AATB Education Committee and was the project co-manager on the development of the Sepsis Education Online Learning Tool for the RADE Council.

    Aaron Haggerty, CTBS

    Aaron is the Tissue Operations Trainer at New England Donor Services, where he implements and oversees training development, new hire training, and ongoing performance development for operational staff. He began his career in donation at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Tissue Bank in 2014 as a Tissue Donation Management Coordinator. He relocated the following year to New England where he continue his work in the donation industry at NEDS. There he has served in several roles, including Tissue Donation Coordinator, Resource Team Lead, and his current position.