AP Biology students attended a field trip at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City on Tuesday, January 26, 2016, to witness a live stream of a donor kidney transplant performed by Stuart Geffner, MD–Director of Transplant Surgery for the Saint Barnabas Health Care System  in Livingston, New Jersey. During the procedure, the students engaged in a two-way audio/video stream from the hospital to the Liberty Science Center lecture hall that allowed them to observe the surgical team remove a donor kidney, prepare it for transplantation, take it to an adjacent operating room, and sew it into a recipient.

There were several people in the lecture hall to assist in this educational experience.  In this case, there was a host who orchestrated discussion/narration and oversaw matters, a former organ donor who gave a talk about how great it was to donate a kidney, and a couple of helpers who passed around sample surgical tools for students to handle and observe.

Senior and AP Biology student, Brandon Parker said, “It was incredibly interesting to witness something like this, knowing the importance of a procedure like this.”

Throughout the procedure, the surgeon explained step-by-step what was going on. The surgeon and Mr. Zaolino explained to the students the processes of becoming a transplant surgeon and a donor.  “This was an excellent experience for many of the students,” said Mr. Zaolino, “especially for the students who are interested in going into the medical field.”