Diane Bickford has a master's degree in social work and has maintained her ASQ certification in Quality Management and Organizational Excellence since 2000. She received her Six Sigma Black Belt in 2010.  She has over 20 years of  quality management and operations experience in a variety of healthcare settings including adult MH/MR, skilled nursing facilities and children's psychiatric care. Diane received her training in Professional Coaching from Duquesne University and is certified through the International Coaches Federation.

Diane's leadership experience has been in both for and non-profit organizations. At the Center for Organ Recovery and Education, Diane oversees regulatory affairs, human resources/organizational development and all process improvement functions. Diane has developed and implemented quality management and process improvement programs throughout organizations. She has designed and presented numerous training courses to include: advanced level leadership training, communication skills, time management, team building, supervision, quality management and process improvement. Diane also functions as an internal professional coach. Diane is actively involved in several quality initiatives in the OPO community and is currently serving as member of the UNOS Operations & Safety Committee.

As Exsurco’s leader of their Amalgatome devices, Codi helps burn clinicians solve challenges in excision and skin grafting.  Codi is available to assist surgical and burn centers in clinical evaluations, data collection, training labs and to provide support during burn and trauma procedures.

Codi has performed over 2,000 tissue recovery procedures resulting in life-saving allografts used in burn and trauma, cardiac and vascular applications.  He is sitting for the Certified Wound Care Specialist (CWS) this summer, adding that certification to his credentials. 

Adam helps maximize clinician experience with the Exsurco’s burn and surgical applications.  He leads training labs for our customers, conducts in-services, attends initial cases, assists in clinical evaluations of the system, works closely with Sterile Processing Departments and compiles documentation to support Value Analysis requirements. 

Adam has recovered over 16,000 life-saving skin allografts in his 11+ years as a Certified Tissue Banking Specialist (CTBS).  He plans to add Certified Wound Care Specialist (CWS) to his credentials soon.

Ryan’s passion is for training customers to ensure Exsurco products and services add value to the work they do every day.  In this role, he provides hands-on training programs, conducting in-services, providing product troubleshooting support regarding safety, handling, operation, and maintenance of the products in tissue banks.

Ryan understands the value of fostering a team approach to recovery based on his 14 years of experience in the Tissue Banking industry.  His guidance helps significantly increase split-thickness skin recovery yields at every site visited.

With Exsurco since its inception in 2010, Amber led the company’s growth into tissue and surgical settings to redefine excision science.  She supports Exsurco’s community of healthcare professional customers who are advancing the healing power of skin to patients who need it the most.

Uncovering customer needs, problem-solving, and providing solutions is nothing new to Amber who started her career as a Surgical Technician and Combat Medic in the U.S. Army.  After completing active duty, she remained in the reserves and found her home in the transplant industry at Lifeline of Ohio.  Her second day on the job was the September 11^th attacks on our nation and Amber knew then saving lives would become her lifelong passion.

Amber worked with the team of engineers that developed the Amalgatome MD for skin grafting procedures in tissue donation, which since 2010 has resulted in over half a million life-saving dermal allografts for burn survivors.

Exsurco is proud to be a partner of the Phoenix Society and The Spiegel Burn Foundation for Burn Survivors and an advocate for Tissue Donation Across America through Donate Life America and the American Association of Tissue Banks.

Craig Thomsen is currently the Director of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance for Eurofins DPT Laboratories, servicing the North American transplant community with its Infectious Disease and Microbiological testing. Craig’s strength is in process mapping, restructuring, and optimizing Quality Management Systems by developing streamlined, scalable quality processes that facilitate a positive ‘user experience’, all while ensuring that Federal, State, International, and voluntary regulatory expectations are being met.

Craig has held various Quality and Regulatory roles in tissue banking and Medical Devices over the last 25 years. He has participated in several councils and committees in the AATB community, including the Accreditation, Nominating, and Standards Committees, and the Birth Tissue Work Group. He is currently vice-chair for the Quality Council. Craig has also had the privilege to be a speaker, panelist, and moderator for AATB QDEW & Annual conferences and FDA Pharmaconference. 

Patricia Darrigan is the Director of Public Relations and Communications at Legacy Donor Services Foundation. Her role with the Foundation is to develop and lead a communication and relationship-building plan that supports tissue donation activities in areas served by the organization. Some examples include donor memorials, bereavement/aftercare, donor awareness events, professional education for nursing and medical examiner staff, and public & media relations. 

 Ms. Darrigan has over 27-years of tissue donation experience. Prior to her career in tissue donation, she worked in the operating room for 13 years with a specialty in Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, and Open Heart, where human tissue grafts were often used to treat patients. Her love in caring for donor families has always been held in high regard, and she does what it takes to assure that the needs of donor families are met.

Deborah has been with LifeNet Health since 2011 beginning her career as a Family Support Coordinator, working with families in the hospital at the time of their loved one’s death. She approached families for donation, provided education on donation, completed all necessary paperwork, and supported the family until their loved one went for procurement. In 2014 Deborah became the Manager for Donor Family Services and was promoted to Director of Donor Family Services in 2015. Prior to coming to LifeNet Health, Deborah served as Director of Children’s Ministries Family Ministries at two local churches and led a team of consultants in direct sales as an Advanced Director. Prior to that, she was an elementary guidance counselor with Norfolk Public Schools implementing the guidance program, writing curriculum, and securing grants to provide additional services to students within the school.

Deborah earned her Master of Science in Education from Old Dominion University and her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Radford University. She is an active member of the AATB Donor Family Services Council and the AOPO Donor Family Services Council. 

Michael leads the organization that provides pharmaceutical consulting service solutions to our clients including GMP and Quality Management services, validation services, business transformations, risk analysis, resource management, quality compliance audits. Michael has nineteen years of Quality Management experience within pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing to support company and client leadership including development, implementation and management of core Quality Management Systems (QMS).

Prior to joining IQVIA, Michael was a Sr. Consultant at Sequence Inc. Michael earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Indiana Wesleyan University and an Associates Degree in Criminal Justice from Cuyahoga Community College.

Jo Grubman has been working in tissue recovery since 2014, initially operating as a Tissue Surgical Recovery Coordinator and Team Leader at New England Donor Services, and later as National Trainer for LeMaitre Vascular. She is currently the National Trainer/Donor Services Account Manager for LeMaitre Vascular.

She received her bachelor’s degree in English Language/Communications from University of Rochester, and has a background as a paramedic in Boston and the surrounding area. Her training focuses heavily on hands-on, in-person instruction, which she believes to be the most effective tool in helping those in tissue recovery learn and grow, with a secondary emphasis on creating videos, presentations, and other materials that aim to supplement hands-on case training. She also believes that trainer presence in the operating room/recovery suite setting is essential in connecting with staff and the donation community.

Her ultimate goal as a trainer in the field of donation is to support field staff in any way possible, including assisting and training in a physical sense, but also answering questions and discussing the stresses of working in the donation field in an attempt to prevent burnout. If you have any questions regarding the materials presented here, or about tissue recovery in general, please reach out to jgrubman@lemaitre.com.   

Christian has been in the tissue banking industry for over 17 years, eight of which were at AlloSource, in various roles including National Allograft Manager. Christian possesses a B.A. and M.A. in Political Science and German from California Lutheran University and Bowling Green State University, respectively. He recently finished his Executive M.B.A. program from the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver.

Dr. Spalding's specialist interests are reconstructive knee surgery including; meniscal transplantation, articular cartilage repair, ligament reconstruction including multi-ligament injuries, and osteotomy. Dr. Spalding trained at Oxford and at Royal Hospital Haslar, prior to a specialist arthroscopy and knee surgery fellowship in Toronto.

He qualified in 1982 from Charing Cross Hospital, London and spent the first part of his medical career with the Royal Marines and the Royal Navy.

He joined Coventry in 2000 after five years as a Consultant in the Armed Forces. He has a busy sports knee surgery practice, runs a knee fellowship program and continues to be very active in teaching and research, pioneering several new techniques. His hobbies are his family and his competitive sailing.

Charles is a graduate of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary with a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Sacred Theology where he focused on American Religion and Culture. He has previously served as a Family Advocate and the Religious Affairs Coordinator for Southeast Tissue Alliance. Charles currently serves as a Hospital Development Coordinator for HonorBridge, formerly Carolina Donor Services, where he focuses on rural and smaller urban hospitals. Charles has worked in the tissue banking and OPO industries for 19 years.

On a more personal note, Charles' mother was a tissue donor early in his tissue banking career. Charles serves as a chaplain for his local Cub Scout pack and is a published fiction author.

Dr. Sharon Castellanos is an expert nurse practitioner in the field of Maternal-Fetal Medicine with a strong internal medicine background. She has spent the last 25 years as a champion in the field of diabetes, developing, implementing and deploying innovative curriculums within Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara and Kaiser San Jose. Her goal is to improve access, value and meaningful care to obstetrical patients. She recently retired from Kaiser and returned to practice within Santa Clara County Valley Medical Center, serving her community as a Maternal Fetal Medicine Nurse Practitioner. She has received many awards for her contributions in nursing clinically and within the community. Her life shifted in 2006 when she became a donor mom. This loss exposed her to the increasing health disparities around tissue and organ donation. To bridge this gap, she founded Brandon’s Crossroads Foundation Inc., a non-profit foundation whose mission is to educate adolescents on tissue and organ donation. She obtained her Doctorate from Northern Consortium of Nursing Practice, in June 2014 and has continued research in this field of tissue and organ donation education.