Elaina P. Weldon

Mrs. Elaina P. Weldon is an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and the Director of Research for the Transplant Institute and Department of Surgery at NYU Langone Health. Mrs. Weldon has worked in nursing research for over 20 years and been a study team member in over 70 clinical trials. In 2004, she graduated from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University's Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program. Mrs. Weldon received her Masters of Science in Nursing and a Nursing Education Certificate from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in 2009 and 2010. She holds a Certificate in Clinical Trials Management and Regulatory Compliance from University of Chicago. She has taught at the undergraduate and graduate level. She is an expert in abdominal organ transplantation and cardiovascular-thoracic nursing. 

Mrs. Weldon’s work has been impactful in promoting access of organs through utilization of Hepatitis C positive organs in negative recipients (organs which would previously have been discarded), exploration of alternative preservation methods for organs and implementation of crossing immunogenic barriers using novel antibody cleaving agents. She has presented on the use of A2B blood type kidney transplantation to allow African Americans an additional avenue to transplantation. She was instrumental in protocol development, advanced clinical coordination, and project management of NYU Langone Health’s xenotransplant research with pig kidneys and pig hearts as a future alternative to expanding the donor pool. Mrs. Weldon was able to present this work at the 2022 American Transplant Congress and American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) Winter Symposium. She has co-authored nine publications, with two on xenotransplant in New-England Journal of Medicine and Nature Medicine. Elaina and colleagues also published work in the American Journal of Transplantation, which examined the critical role of advanced practice providers on a multidisciplinary transplant team. She is currently Chair of the ASTS Advanced Transplant Provider Committee. 

In her doctoral studies, she would like to examine barriers to access and factors contributing to the impact of health disparities in kidney transplantation. These research interests are the culmination of her career and substantially a result of seeing rates of transplantation among African-Americans and other underrepresented minorities being lower compared to other races. Through identifying and implementing mainstay solutions, her goal is to create health equity in kidney transplantation. Mrs. Weldon is a full-time student in the Florence S. Downs PhD Program. Her advisor is Dr. Maya N. Clark-Cutaia, PhD, ACNP-BC.