NYU Langone’s Transplant Institute offers a two-year surgical fellowship in liver, kidney, and pancreas transplantation through NYU Grossman School of Medicine. This American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS)–accredited fellowship is awarded to one applicant each year.

As a fellow, you are an integral part of our transplant team and play a role in all aspects of patient care. Throughout your time here, you alternate through four-month blocks of kidney–pancreas and liver transplantation, while also cross-covering other fellows to ensure appropriate time off.

While on the kidney–pancreas block, you focus on the comprehensive care of kidney and pancreas transplant patients and participate in deceased- and living-donor kidney transplantation and multiorgan procurement from deceased donors. During the liver block, you care for liver transplant patients and take part in deceased- and living-donor liver transplantation and laparoscopic living-donor nephrectomy. Throughout your training, you participate in a broad range of general surgical and hepatobiliary procedures in transplant and nontransplant patients.

Although our program is clinically focused, we suggest you take part in the multiple research opportunities our institution provides. These include outcomes research, basic science and translational research, and ongoing multi- and single-center clinical trials. We also strongly encourage you to prepare abstracts and papers for presentation at scientific meetings. Time and travel expense for these meetings are paid for by the Transplant Institute.

This fellowship provides you with extensive exposure to transplantation immunology, immunogenetics, and pathology, all of which is bolstered by our program’s strong focus on human leukocyte antigen– and ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation. Fellows are similarly exposed to a wide range of hepatobiliary pathology.

Inpatient Responsibilities

Training to become a competent transplant surgeon requires much more than operative experience. As a fellow in our program, you are the point person for the postoperative care of patients both in the intensive care unit (ICU) and on the clinical ward. Working closely with ICU teams and nurse practitioners to coordinate care with transplant attendings, you round daily, present patient cases at our multi-disciplinary morning rounds, and participate in all aspects of immunosuppression management. Throughout your fellowship, you are supported by a strong inpatient team of transplant nurse practitioners, transplant physicians, and residents.

Outpatient Responsibilities

As a fellow on the Transplant Institute team, you take part in outpatient clinics with both kidney–pancreas and liver transplant patients. You also work with transplant attendings and nurse practitioners to evaluate postop patients’ progress and adjust medications, as well as participate in living-donor kidney and liver evaluation clinics to gain experience in the unique workup of the living donor.

The Operating Room

Spending time in the operating room is a priority during the fellowship, and you take part in as many transplant cases as possible. Over the course of the fellowship, you perform surgery with progressive degrees of autonomy. After two years, you gain the skills to confidently perform deceased-donor kidney and liver transplantation, deceased-donor procurement, fully laparoscopic living-donor nephrectomy, and liver resection.

Meetings and Conferences

Meetings and conferences with colleagues around NYU Langone enhance your Transplant Institute experience and include the following:

• monthly renal pathology meetings to review and discuss renal biopsies with our pathologists
• monthly liver pathology meetings to review and discuss liver biopsies of explants and pre- and postoperative biopsies with our pathologists and hepatologists
• weekly liver tumor radiology conferences attended by surgeons, hepatologists, diagnostic and interventional radiologists, oncologists, and pathologists
• weekly surgical morbidity and mortality (M&M) conferences, as well as monthly transplantation M&M conferences
• weekly educational meetings covering transplantation topics and papers, with themes that change monthly
• weekly liver and kidney recipient selection meetings

Time Off

Fellows receive two weekends off per month and two weeks’ paid vacation per year. Time spent at scientific meetings does not count as vacation.

Related Programs

NYU Grossman School of Medicine offers an Advanced Fellowship in Transplant Hepatology, which is administered through the Department of Medicine’s Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. NYU Grossman School of Medicine also offers a Transplant Nephrology Fellowship at the NYU Langone Transplant Institute.

How to Apply

We accept applications only through SF Match Residency and Fellowship Match Services. View that site for important dates.

Contact Us

For questions about the Transplant Surgery Fellowship, contact Jeffrey Thomas at Jeffrey.Thomas@NYULangone.org.