uzanne Ball, RN, MHS, nPOD Director

Suzy brings twenty years of experience in the field of donation and transplantation. She has worked as the Director for both organ and tissue organizations. She has also served as two-term Chair of the National Donor Family Executive Council for the National Kidney Foundation. Suzy is a Registered Nurse, with a Master’s degree in Health Science. Suzy will be serving as the Director of nPOD and can be reached by email atsuzanneball@pathology.ufl.edu or by phone at (352) 273-9268. Jayne Moraski has resumed her position as Assistant Director of nPOD and can still be reached at jmoraski@pathology.ufl.edu or by phone at (352) 273-9271.

Irina Kusmartseva, PhD, OPPC Lab Manager

Irina is an immunologist with over 11 years of research experience. Prior to joining the University of Florida, Dr. Kusmartseva worked at Duke University Medical Center, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Mount Sinai Medical School. She has unique experience with the molecular and primary cell culture techniques and is an author of several articles published in the Journal of Immunology, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, and the Journal of Leukocyte Biology. She received her PhD in Immunology at the Tomsk Medical University, Russia. Her key area of expertise includes mechanisms of immunoregulation in inflammation, cancer and autoimmune diseases. Irina can be reached atinkusmartseva@ufl.edu or by phone at (352) 273-7737.

Teresa Keppel Hodges, nPOD Administrative Assistant

Teresa comes to nPOD with eighteen years of administrative experience at the University of Florida. She will assist with all aspects of the program including scheduling, nPOD online pathology passwords, event planning, travel management and much more. Teresa will be taking Lindsay Kallman’s place effective August 29th. Teresa can be reached at tlkeppel@ufl.edu or by phone at (352) 273-9295.

Farewell to Lindsay Kallman, nPOD Administrative Assistant

We are sad to say goodbye to Lindsay, but wish her the best of luck in all
her future endeavors, especially as she embarks on a journey traveling across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. She and Max will be traveling entirely overland during this next year. Traveling mercies for them! We will miss her at nPOD, where she worked very hard to standardize processes, schedule meetings endlessly, lead the nPOD annual meeting negotiations and provide daily administrative support. We are excited to follow her on this next adventure and througout her bright future!