Division of Abdominal Transplant Surgery
Saint Louis University School of Medicine’s Division of Abdominal Transplant Surgery provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary transplant services for patients in need of kidney, kidney-pancreas, pancreas-after-kidney and liver transplants.
Offering Specialized Transplant Care
The Division of Abdominal Transplant Surgery offers advanced liver and kidney transplantation in a highly coordinated, academic medical center setting, combining cutting-edge surgical expertise with truly personalized, compassionate care. Its multidisciplinary team — including transplant surgeons, hepatologists, nephrologists, anesthesiologists, intensivists and more — partners with patients and referring providers from evaluation through long-term survivorship, providing clear communication, rapid access and evidence-based protocols at every step.
As a university-based program grounded in SLU's Jesuit tradition, the division treats each patient as a whole person, striving to restore health, quality of life and hope. Mission-focused services include:
- Provide holistic, integrated care through every phase of organ failure and transplantation.
- Foster innovative clinical research and training for the next generation of transplant specialists.
- Offer access to emerging therapies and complex transplant solutions not widely available in community settings.
- Provide public policy leadership related to the failure, donation and allocation of organs.
Historic Milestones
University surgeons have a history of significant contributions to transplant medicine, including:
- 1970: Performed the first kidney transplant in St. Louis
- 1999: Performed the first simultaneous liver-kidney transplant at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital
- 2018: Played a leading role in developing international guidelines for living donor kidney transplantation