Sukru H. Emre, MD, FACS
Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics
Director, Yale-New Haven Transplantation Center
Chief, Section of Transplantation and Immunology
Department of Surgery
Yale University School of Medicine

Dr. Sukru Emre oversees the activities of Yale-New Haven Transplantation Center and its multidisciplinary group of physicians and caregivers, and continues to offer his specialty, adult and pediatric liver transplantation. Dr. Emre is section chief of transplant surgery and immunology in the department of surgery at Yale School of Medicine.

Dr. Emre received his medical degree from the University of Istanbul where he also completed a residency in general surgery. His clinical post-doctoral training includes completion of a hepatobiliary surgery fellowship at the University of Istanbul and a transplant fellowship at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. He also completed two transplantation research fellowships, one at SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn and another at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York. He holds a foreign board certification in general surgery and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Emre is an expert in adult and pediatric liver transplantations. He has performed more than 1,500 liver transplants, of which the youngest patient was 16 days old and the oldest was 75 years old. His special interests are performing split-liver transplants (dividing a liver between two recipients thus saving two lives) and living donor transplants which involves transplanting a portion of a donor’s healthy liver. He is also expert in hepato-biliary surgery including resection for liver cancer, portal hypertension surgery, repair of complex bile duct injuries and Kasai procedure for biliary atresia. Dr. Emre’s research interests include acute liver failure, biliary atresia and rare cholestatic diseases in children, and transplanting adult patients with hepatitis B, C and liver cancer.

Antonios Arvelakis, MD, received his medical degree from the University of Athens Medical School in Athens, Greece. Afte

r serving his general surgery residency at First Surgical Clinic of the University of Athens, Dr. Arvelakis joined the faculty of the Recanati-Miller Transplantation Center at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York as a multi-organ transplant sureon.

Dr. Arvelakis specializes in liver, kidney and pancreas transplantation, as well as hepatobiliary surgery. He has high interest in living donor liver transplantation, split liver transplantation and pediatric liver transplantation.

Margaret Bia, MD, received her medical degree from Cornell University Medical College. She completed her residency in internal medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and fellowship training in nephrology at the University of Pennsylvania and Yale School of Medicine, where she currently serves as professor of internal medicine and nephrology with over 25 years of experience in transplant medicine.

Dr. Bia is the former director of transplant nephrology at Yale-New Haven Hospital. While she still an active member of the transplant team, she is also in charge of clinical skill training at the medical school. She is actively involved in evaluating many kidney donors and transplant recipients and cares for many patients after transplant.

Dr. Bia’s areas of interest include post-transplant complications with emphasis on post-transplant bone disease.

She has been honored by the Connecticut branch of the National Kidney Foundation as a “Pioneer in Transplantation,” and has authored over 90 original publications as well as many book chapters in the area of nephrology and transplant.

Dr. Bia served for six years as the transplant expert on the American Board of Internal Medicine, developing examinations for certification in nephrology; she continues to serve on the board today writing material for recertification.

Thomas Eisen, MD

Richard N. Formica, Jr., MD, is director of Transplant Nephrology and Outpatient Transplantation Service at Yale-New Haven Hospital and an associate professor of medicine and surgery at Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Formica also serves as the primary United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) physician for the kidney and pancreas transplantation service, and primary renal consultant for the liver transplantation service.

Dr. Formica’s clinical activity is entirely focused on the care of patients with kidney and pancreas transplants. He evaluates patients to determine medical suitability for organ transplantation as well as medical suitability for organ donation. He provides the medical follow up and immunosuppression maintenance for over 1,000 kidney transplant recipients. He is also responsible for developing the outpatient clinic and the new outpatient treatment facility.

Dr. Formica is chairman of the donor advocacy panel and is co-chairman of the medical review board at Yale School of Medicine. He is a member of the board of directors for the Connecticut chapter of the National Kidney Foundation where he also serves as a member of its medical advisory board. Dr. Formica is also a member of the medical advisory board of the Connecticut Chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America.

Dr. Formica is the principle investigator of both National Institutes of Health and pharmaceutical industry-sponsored clinical research trials. His current research interests are in the area of immune monitoring.

He received his B.A. from Boston University and M.D. from Boston University School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Boston University Hospital/Boston City Hospital. He served as a chief medical resident at Boston City Hospital prior to his fellowship in nephrology at Yale School of Medicine.

Sanjay Kulkarni, MD, is a multi-organ transplant surgeon specializing in kidney, pancreas and liver transplants. He is the current director of kidney transplant, pancreas transplant and dialysis access services at Yale-New Haven Transplantation Center (YNHTC).

Dr. Kulkarni has developed a multidisciplinary approach to the complete management of the end-stage renal disease (ESRD) population, starting with close communication with referring physicians regarding dialysis access needs, through patients transplant evaluation and ultimately their transplant.

Dr. Kulkarni is responsible for the total laparoscopic kidney donation program at Yale-New Haven Hospital –the only center in Connecticut to provide this service, regardless of kidney anatomy.

Dr. Kulkarni received his M.D. from Medical College of Wisconsin and completed his general surgery training at the University of Chicago, followed by two additional years of transplant research involving single-chain antibody formation and programmed cell death. Dr. Kulkarni served a two-year fellowship in multi-organ transplant surgery at the University of Chicago, with additional living donor liver transplantation experience at the renowned University of Essen Transplant Program. During his transplant surgery fellowship he was accepted into an NIH-funded clinical research training program.

Dr. Kulkarni is a member of the Vascular Biology & Transplant consortium at Yale University and is a participant in investigations looking at animal models of vascular remodeling following ischemic injury. These studies have important implication to kidney transplant patients and how their transplants change over time.

David M. Rothstein, MD, is a transplant nephrologist and internationally recognized investigator in transplant immunology. He received his B.A. in cellular and molecular biology at State University of New York, Buffalo , and medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania . He completed his internal medicine residency training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and subspecialty training in nephrology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School , where he was actively involved in acute and longitudinal care of renal transplant recipients. Dr. Rothstein served an additional fellowship in transplant immunology at Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

In 1992, Dr. Rothstein was recruited to Yale to establish his laboratory and participate in the care of multi-organ transplant recipients at Yale-New Haven Transplantation Center . An associate professor of medicine and immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Rothstein runs a National Institutes of Health-funded laboratory studying regulation of the immune system in hopes of preventing rejection without the need for long-term immunosuppression.

Dr. Rothstein is a member of the board of directors of the American Society of Transplantation and chairman of the transplant advisory board for the American Society of Nephrology. He is the recipient of the 2003 American Society of Transplantation Fujisawa Achievement Award.

Douglas Smith, MD