Dr. David Weill: An Author and Transplant Advocate
A crucial part of organ donation and transplantation is the healthcare workers that make it possible, one of those being Dr. David Weill. Dr. Weill is the former Director of the Center for Advanced Lung Disease and Lung and Heart-Transplant Program at Stanford University Medical Center and is a leader in the field of organ donation and transplantation. Dr. Weill is also a long time advocate for pulmonary health and organ donation and has worked with and is on the board of many nonprofits and institutions and has even testified in front of the US Senate and several state legislatures. In his leisure time he likes exercising in the form of cycling, playing tennis, and spending time with his daughters. Outside of the hospital, he runs a consulting company that aims to help coordinate transplants across the nation, and he also writes in his free time.
ODAC recently got the chance to sit down with him in an interview, and discuss his work in organ donation and the healthcare sector overall. Dr. Weill detailed his advocacy in organ donation. He explains that his work ranges from visiting high schools to raise awareness and talk to students about organ donation, to working with companies that are trying to make organ donation more equitable. As a transplant specialist Dr. Weill also oversaw the organ donation and transplantation process for many patients and worked with many committees and organ procurement organizations. He would interact with patients and their families and help as a sounding board when making decisions in terms of organ donation and transplantation. While at Stanford Dr. Weill also got the chance to teach dozens of students about pulmonary health and the organ procurement process. When asked what drove him to this line of work Dr. Weill answered:
“The main thing was understanding how important it is for our waiting patients to have a chance. One of the things I write in my book is how frustrating it is when we cannot find organs in time for our patients so they never get the chance to make the transplant successful. One thing I also preach is making sure we use every organ that's out”
In his book “Exhale”, Dr. Weill details his experience in the healthcare field, and his advocacy work, and he is currently writing a second one as well looking at the desensitization and loss of humanity in the healthcare sector. He and his family have all committed to being organ donors and often discuss organ donation together.
Weill later on also says:
“I did Lung because I was interested in transplants, especially Kidney. But I wanted to be a lung doctor - my father was a lung doctor/researcher - he mainly did scientific research. I wanted to do pulmonary medicine and back in the 90s, lung transplant was becoming a thing and that's where I found my specialty”
One of the most crucial parts of the organ transplantation process is often reassuring the patients and easing their anxiety. Dr. Weill spoke to this as he described how he communicated to his patients.
“They want to know we’re doing everything we can to find the organ and the patients have to trsut us and trust is earned. What I try to do is let patients and parents know how committed I am trying to help them. A Lot of good things in this line of work. Mostly having our patients go back to the life they wanted – playing golf, working, being a better spouse, you name it. All they really want is to get their life back - it was taken from their diseases and they just want their life back. We transplanted kids all the way down to Age 10. Youngest I worked with was a lot of teenagers in the course of my years. I tried to speak plainly to them (not using a lot of medical jargon) and try to explain it to them as much and also make sure it's okay to be scared – it's a reasonable emotion but we are here to make sure they are safe and going to make it okay.”
Dr. Weill also explained how he communicates with high schoolers, when asked what he would say to a current teenager he explained:
“Put yourself in the shoes of someone waiting for the transplant. There's about 110,000 waiting for an organ and 17 will die everyday waiting. You have to put yourself in their shoes and it's important how organ donors can save multiple lives and it's a way to make an impact if tragedy strikes. Important thing is think of beyond yourself especially for younger people”
Dr. Weill and other doctors and healthcare workers like him are crucial in the journey towards better and more equitable organ donation and transplantation. His work as a doctor and as an advocate has benefited many patients and has educated hundreds of people on the organ donation process.