Medical Director

As medical director, Dr. Metzger is responsible for serving as an expert medical and clinical resource to UNOS staff, UNOS and OPTN members, the government, and the general public in the performance of OPTN contract requirements and other UNOS corporate initiatives.

Currently the medical director of TransLife and a former OPTN/UNOS president, Metzger has been instrumental in the transplant community throughout his career. In 1972, Dr. Metzger co-founded the kidney transplant program at Florida Hospital. He served as medical advisor for the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations from 1998 to 2000, receiving the AOPO President’s Award in 2001. Dr. Metzger served in 2001 as an expert panel member for an American Medical Association study on physician involvement in the organ donation process and as an expert panel member for a Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration study of the factors contributing to high donation rates.

He also has served on a variety of OPTN/UNOS committees and played a key role in developing OPTN policy to identify extended criteria kidney donors and facilitate the placement of kidneys from these donors.

Dr. Metzger received his medical degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Neb.