Richard A. Demme, M.D.

About Me

Dr. Richard Demme received BA degrees in Biology, and Greek and Roman Civilization at SUNY at Buffalo. He attended medical school at SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse on a scholarship from the US Air Force. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency training at Wilford Hall US Air Force M...

Dr. Richard Demme received BA degrees in Biology, and Greek and Roman Civilization at SUNY at Buffalo. He attended medical school at SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse on a scholarship from the US Air Force. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency training at Wilford Hall US Air Force Medical Center, followed by Nephrology training at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, in the Harvard program.

Dr. Demme has been a board certified nephrologist for over 20 years. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine, Humanities and Bioethics at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). His outpatient care focuses on treatments for kidney transplant and dialysis patients. Dr. Demme recently completed 6 years on the national UNOS transplant ethics committee.

Dr Demme is the Director of the Strong Memorial Hospital Clinical Ethics Consult Service, the URMC Bioethics Program Director, and has been Chair of the University of Rochester Medical Center Ethics Committee since 2002. He is Co-Director of the Division of Medical Humanities and Bioethics.

Areas of interest include ethical issues in transplantation, decision-making at the end of life, forensic Nephrology, medical history, and the use of movies in education.

Over the past several years, he has collected over 350 movies that mention or demonstrate issues about organ retrieval and transplantation. He uses clips from these movies to introduce transplant topics for conversation and education.

Faculty Appointments

Professor Emeritus - Department of Medicine, Nephrology (SMD)

Professor - Department of Health Humanities and Bioethics (SMD) - Joint

Credentials

Post-doctoral Training & Residency

AMA-MCW Online Fellowship in Physician Ethics and Professionalism 2004 - 2005

Nephrology Fellowship (Clinical and Research)
Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, MA
Harvard Medical School 1990 - 1993

Internal Medicine Residency, Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland AFB, TX 1987 - 1990

Education

MD | SUNY Upstate Medical Center. Medicine. 1987

BA | St Univ at Buffalo. Biology. 1983

Awards

1979-$10,000 Westinghouse Family Scholarship (one of four national recipients).

1983-Honors Biology Research Program.

1983 Summa cum laude, State University of New York at Buffalo.

1983-Phi Beta Kappa.

1983-Alpha Epsilon Delta.

1983 Air Force Health Professions Scholarship Program.

1996 Air Force Commendation Medal.

1996 David Grant Medical Center Nominee for the Archie Hoffman award for Academic Medicine Excellence in Internal Medicine.

1999 Air Force Commendation Medal, Oakleaf Cluster.

Publications

Journal Articles

When There Are No Good Choices: Illuminating the Borderland Between Proportionate Palliative Sedation and Palliative Sedation to Unconsciousness. Pain Manage.,

Reid T, Demme RA, Quill T.

2011; 1(131-40).

Wrong to Force Organ Donations.

Demme, RA. Rochester.

Democrat and Chronicle. Opinion page. 2011; .

Ethical Concerns About an Organ Market.

Demme RA.

J Natl Med Assoc. 2010; 102: 46-50.

Demme, RA.

Decisions Faced by Hospital Ethics Committees.

Qualitative Report of Dual Palliative Care/ Ethics Consultations: Intersecting Dilemmas and Paradigmatic Cases. J Clin Ethics,

Childers J, Demme R, Greenlaw J, King DA, Quill T. A.

2008; 19(3): 204-13.

Ethical Issues in Palliative Care.

Demme RA, Singer EA, Greenlaw J, Quill TE.

Anesthesiology Clinics of North America . 2006; : 129-144.

Home Glucometer Monitoring Markedly Improves Diagnosis of Post Transplant Diabetes Mellitus in Renal Transplant Recipients.

Shah A, Kendall G, Demme RA, Taylor J, Bozorgzadeh A, Orloff M, Jain, A, Abt, P, and Zand, M.

Transplantation. 2005; 80: 775-781.

Treatment of C4d-positive acute humoral rejection with plasmapheresis and rabbit polyclonal antithymocyte globulin. .

Shah A, Nadasdy T, Arend L, Brennan J, Leong N, Coppage M, Orloff M, Demme R, Zand MS.

Transplantation. 2004; 77(9): 1399-405.

Truth and Consequences in an Era of "Unsurance."

Demme,RA.

AJOB Fall. 2004; 4: 69-71.

Zand MS, ;and Demme,RA.

Halt the Bidding: A Response to Dr. Kevorkian's Proposal.

Organs for Undocumented Aliens- Another Look: Response to

Demme,RA.

Distributing

Renal Disease and Rickets.

Demme,RA. Tiny Tim, Dickens.

AJDC. 1993; 147: 819-820.

Long-Term Management of Post-Transplant Anemia and Erythrocytosis

.

Books

The Ethics of Xenotransplantation (2001)

Authors: Demme,RA

Publisher: Elsevier Science Inc, ISBN: 07623-0764-1 2001