CIGNA HealthCare announced the appointment
of Dr. Stephen Crawford as Medical Director for
the CIGNA
LIFESOURCE Transplant Network®,
one of the largest programs of its kind in the
nation.
The CIGNA LIFESOURCE organ and tissue
transplantation program offers members who have
life-threatening illnesses access to 96 LIFESOURCE
Centers of Excellence, quality independent transplant
facilities that have demonstrated quality in transplant
medicine.Dedicated transplant case managers assist
members facing bone marrow/stem cell, heart, lung,
heart/lung, kidney, liver, pancreas, or intestinal/multivisceral
transplants to maximize their transplant benefits
and are a resource to them as they journey through
the transplantation process.
"Dr. Crawford's experience working
at the bedside at a leading transplant facility
has afforded him a deep understanding of the needs
of people going through these difficult and potentially
life-saving procedures. He has been on the front
lines providing critical care to transplant patients.
The insight he has gained there will help the CIGNA
LIFESOURCE team as we work to offer the best service
possible to our members facing transplantation," said
Dr. Dick Salmon, CIGNA senior national medical
director for specialty case management.
Dr. Crawford has been in transplant
medicine for most of his career. For 12 years he
served as Critical Care Director at the Seattle
Cancer Care Alliance in Seattle, Washington, the
world's largest bone marrow/stem cell transplant
center. There he worked closely with hematologist/oncologists
to help them prepare patients for transplants,
deal with complications post- transplant, and in
long term follow-up care.
Following his service at Seattle
Cancer Care Alliance, Dr. Crawford became a Professor
of Medicine at University of California, San Diego
in San Diego, Calif. In 2001 Dr. Crawford joined
the U.S. Navy where he served as a Commander in
the United States Navy Medical Corps, for which
he will remain on Individual Ready Reserve until
November 2009.
Dr. Crawford received his M.D. from
St. Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri; his
post-graduate training at the University of Tennessee
in Memphis, and the University of Washington in
Seattle. In accepting the position, he said, "This
new position allows me to affect more people facing
transplantation and to have a broader impact on
their health and the health care system."
