Management Team

Helen

Helen Newman, PhD, CTBS

President & CEO

Since 1989, she has been involved in tissue banking at the American Red Cross Tissue Services and the Northwest Tissue Center, both nationally-known human tissue banks that are accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB). She served as Technical Supervisor and Associate Director, and was responsible for donor recruitment, procurement, processing, and cryopreservation of all types of allografts.

Prior to founding Veterinary Transplant Services, Dr. Newman was a Research Scientist at the Northwest Tissue Center. She is currently an Affiliate Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics at the University of Washington in Seattle and a Certified Tissue Banking Specialist (CTBS). Her research centers around tissue banking issues, including: cryopreservation of allografts (cartilage, heart valves, skin, and hematopoietic stem cells), viability assessments, clinical allograft outcome studies, and quality assurance validation studies. She now maintains consulting activities for a number of human tissue banks.

She has actively served the American Association of Tissue Banks as a member of the Standards and Procedures Committee, as a tissue bank inspector, and as an elected member of the Board of Governors and Chair of the Tissue Bank Council of that organization. She was the principal author of the AATB Technical Manual for Cardiovascular Tissues (1992) and a co-editor of the AATB Standards for Tissue Banking (1993 and 1996) as well as other publications related to cell and tissue banking.

To see a list of selected abstracts and articles by Dr. Newman, please click here.

(+1) 253-520-0771
EB

EB Okrasinski, DVM, DACVS

Medical Director

Dr. EB Okrasinski has been a highly respected surgeon in the Puget Sound area since 1992 when he created Veterinary Surgery Services, a fully equipped mobile surgery practice and the only one of its kind in the region. In 2009, he helped create Summit Veterinary Referral Center in Tacoma, WA where he now practices.

Dr. Okrasinski earned his DVM degree at the University of Georgia in 1984. Following 2 years of practicing in Chattanooga, TN, returned to the University of Georgia for an internship followed by a 3 year residency at the University of Tennessee. He achieved his board certification in surgery by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1992.

Dr. Okrasinski has published research on fracture repair, the nutritional support of critically ill animals, and new approaches to the treatment of hemorrhagic shock. He is a charter member of the Society for Veterinary Soft Tissue Surgery, and has been an active member of the Veterinary Orthopedic Society for 14 years. He has lectured at numerous conferences around the country.