Dr. Martinez has found a partner Dr. Tomoaki Katoin 2011, co-founded an organization called. fundahigado americais a group created to increase access to pediatric liver transplants in Latin America and the Caribbean by helping improve hospital infrastructure and providing training and education to local medical staff.
Dr. Kato, director of transplant surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, has already Working to expand pediatric liver transplant treatment in Venezuela With Venezuelan surgeon Dr. Pedro A. Rivas Vettencourt, founder of Fundahigado, a nonprofit organization dedicated to treating patients with liver disease.
Dr. Martinez has flown to Venezuela several times to oversee the medical management of young patients. For many years, the Fundahígado America team has sought to replicate the success it had in Venezuela by offering training programs in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and El Salvador.
Access to health care is diverse in Latin America, but some regions have limited infrastructure and resources to provide surgical treatments such as liver transplants and the detailed follow-up care that comes with them. According to a 2023 study, there is only one active liver transplant center in the Dominican Republic, compared to 78 in Brazil and 27 in Argentina.
After nearly nine years of working with medical institutions, government officials, and local stakeholders in the Dominican Republic, Dr. Martinez participated in the organization's first living donor pediatric liver transplant in the Dominican Republic in 2021.
Since then, she and her colleagues (including members of NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center's Pediatric Liver Transplant Program and many members from Fundahigado's Venezuelan and Dominican teams) have performed four pediatric liver transplant surgeries. went. living donor Liver transplant. Through our charitable foundation, patients and families receive free surgery and post-transplant support.
“It’s great to be able to go home and see my kids doing well and spend time with them,” she says.
During the visit, she will meet with the clinical team and provide guidance. Back in New York, she continues to be involved in the postoperative care of her patients, often speaking with the international team multiple times a day.
“This is a significant investment, but the goal is to train and support local medical teams in their own environments until they are able to take on cases themselves,” Dr. Martinez says.
In addition to patient care, she continues to speak at educational events to share her hepatology expertise.
“I speak in many different places, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak in Spanish because it allows me to connect with people in their native language,” she says. “I am proud to be part of a culture of giving back and to work with physicians around the world who are looking to improve and reach the next level.”
Thanks to the Plaza de la Salud affiliated hospital in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, the additional education and technological advancements the program provides will allow her to expand her services to a broader patient population. I rate it as such.
“Children continue to be at risk, and we want to raise awareness among more people around the world who want to actively invest in missions like this,” says Dr. Martinez. “I am honored to donate my time and knowledge to work with others to help people more than a thousand miles away. One child at a time, things can change.”
