History of Transplantation at UCSF

History of Transplantation at UCSF

The Abdominal Transplant Fellowship Program was founded in 1981 and is is certified by the American Society of Transplant Surgeons for training in kidney, liver and pancreas transplantation.

As one of the oldest and most respected transplant programs, UCSF has served as a watermark for numerous transplant centers around the world. Our liver transplant program is one of the nation's largest and achieves excellent results even with high-risk patients.  The UCSF kidney transplant program, also one of the nation's largest, was established in 1964 and has completed more than 8,300 such procedures.

Abdominal transplantation at UCSF has a long and rich history and has been led by several distinguished Division Chiefs: 

John Najarian, MD (1963-1966) 
Folkert Belzer, MD and Samuel Kountz, MD (1967-1974)
Oscar Salvatierra, MD (1974-1991)
Nancy Ascher, MD, PhD (1991-1998)
John Roberts, MD (1999-2017)
Chris Freise, MD, FACS (2017-)

 Program Firsts