April 2026
End-Stage Renal Disease Treatment Choices Model and Use of Home Dialysis and Kidney Transplant
Publication: JAMA Health Forum
The Transplant Research for Enhancing Access Team (TREAT) is a multidisciplinary collaborative team of clinicians, biostatisticians, epidemiologists, behavioral scientists, and data scientists from the Regenstrief Institute, Indiana University, and Emory School of Medicine’s Department of Surgery. TREAT has two main areas of research interest, including one in 1) transplant health services and outcomes research, and one more broad interest in 2) supporting health services research in general through our collaborative work across various institutions and organizations.
Our Mission
The main mission of TREAT is to improve access to each step of the transplant process. We study how people move through each step, identify structural and social barriers, and translate high‑quality data into tools, interventions, and policies that support patients, providers, health systems, and communities.
Our Core Strategic Goals
- Leading Data Infrastructure: Establishing TREAT as the national and international leader for pre-waitlisting data, measurement, and quality reporting through the Early Steps to Transplant Access Registry (E-STAR) and related analytic infrastructure.
- Rigorous Discovery: Using mixed-methods research to pinpoint patient-, provider-, system-, and policy-level barriers and facilitators to transplant access.
- Intervention & Implementation: Developing and testing the efficacy of scalable, sustainable interventions to reduce disparities that are informed by community engagement and data.
- Policy & Metrics: Designing quality metrics for dialysis facilities and transplant centers that prioritize and incentivize patient access.
- Community Partnership: Cultivating deep, sustained engagement with patients, communities, health systems, and industry partners to ensure our research and findings translate into real-world change.
Collaboration & Dissemination
Fundamental to our success is our commitment to partnership. We cultivate long-term relationships with patients, industry leaders, and the scientific community. By communicating our research findings to the scientific community (e.g., via peer-reviewed publications) and to patients, the community, and the public (e.g., via community-based meetings such as the Southeastern Kidney Transplant Coalition and Ohio River Valley Transplant Coalition), we aim to transform the transplant landscape for good.
Helpful Links:
E-STAR Website
E-STAR dashboard
Transplant Referral Maps
