Texas Children's Hospital receives $2 million gift to establish the JLH Foundation Chair in Transplant Surgery

HOUSTON - (July 17, 2013) -Texas Children's Hospital announces the establishment of the JLH Foundation Chair in Transplant Surgery with a $2 million gift from the foundation created in memory of John L. Hern, who was hospitalized for 252 days awaiting a heart transplant. The endowment will support transplant surgery at the nationally ranked pediatric hospital. Dr. John Alan Goss, medical director of transplantation and surgical director of liver transplantation at Texas Children's Hospital and professor of surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, will serve as inaugural appointee to the endowed chair.

Transplant Services at Texas Children's Hospital is one of the largest pediatric transplant centers in the United States. The hospital performed one of the nation's only three triple transplants of heart, lungs and liver in one procedure, and also performed the first pediatric lung-kidney transplant in the United States. Since 2004, nine patients have been transplanted at Texas Children's Hospital with double organs, including liver-kidney, liver-lung, heart-lung, heart-kidney and lung-kidney.

"I'm honored to be appointed as the first chair of this endowment and look forward to the incredible strides we can make in our groundbreaking work for transplant surgery," said Goss. "This generous and compassionate gift from the JLH Foundation will support transplant services in continuing its mission to heal sick children."

The JLH Foundation was established as a result of Hern's experiences while awaiting a transplant. He realized that some other patients he came in contact with could not afford the associated costs of a transplant, such as temporary housing, prescriptions, restaurant meals and hospital parking. As a result, the JLH Foundation's mission is to support the financial needs of transplant patients and their families, to promote the need for organ donation and to support transplant programs such as the one at Texas Children's Hospital.

For more information on transplant services at Texas Children's Hospital, visit www.texaschildrens.org/Locate/Departments-and-Services/Transplant-Services/About-Us.

About Texas Children’s Hospital

Texas Children’s Hospital, a not-for-profit health care organization, is committed to creating a healthier future for children and women throughout the global community by leading in patient care, education and research. Consistently ranked as the best children’s hospital in Texas, and among the top in the nation, Texas Children’s has garnered widespread recognition for its expertise and breakthroughs in pediatric and women’s health. The hospital includes the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute; the Feigin Center for pediatric research; Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women, a comprehensive obstetrics/gynecology facility focusing on high-risk births; Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus, a community hospital in suburban West Houston; and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands, a second community hospital planned to open in 2017. The organization also created the nation’s first HMO for children, has the largest pediatric primary care network in the country and a global health program that’s channeling care to children and women all over the world. Texas Children’s Hospital is affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine. For more information, go to www.texaschildrens.org. Get the latest news by visiting the online newsroom and Twitter at twitter.com/texaschildrens.