ASTS-Approved Multiorgan Transplantation Fellowship

Pediatric Liver Transplantation Program

The Pediatric Liver Transplantation Program at Mount Sinai is under the umbrella of the Transplant Institute. The Pediatric Liver Transplant Program is one of the leading centers in the world, with 95 percent 1-year and 92.2 percent five-year patient survival rates. Besides cadaveric whole liver transplantation, innovative surgical techniques such as living donor liver transplantation and split liver transplantation are routinely performed. In addition, the surgical staff perform a variety of pediatric hepatobiliary cases such as liver resections, various porto-caval shunt procedures, and complex biliary reconstructions. The surgical staff and pediatric hepatology staff work together to provide the best health care to children with liver disease.

The director of the Pediatric Liver Transplant Program is Sukru Emre, M.D., Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics. Dr. Emre is a graduate of the University of Istanbul, and he completed his surgical and hepatobiliary surgery training at the same institution. His major academic interests are solving complex clinical problems in liver transplantation and maximizing the availability of donor organs. He has a particular interest in the application of split-liver and living-related techniques and in 1997 hosted a major national split-liver workshop. Dr. Emre has published seven book chapters, over 140 peer-reviewed papers, and is a member of numerous societies and editorial boards.

The chief of the Division of Pediatric Hepatology is Benjamin Shneider, M.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics. Dr. Shneider attended medical school at The University of Chicago, residency at Children's Hospital, Boston, and fellowship at Yale University. Dr. Shneider is a dedicated pediatric hepatologist and has authored in excess of 60 peer-reviewed articles covering a range of both clinical and basic science topics. His clinical interests include cholestatic and autoimmune liver disease, and inherited defects leading to hepatic disorders. He is funded by the National Institutes of Health for basic investigations of the regulation of intestinal bile acid transport and for clinical investigations of biliary atresia.

Gonzalo Rodriguez-Laiz, M.D. has rejoined the Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute after a four-year stay in his native Spain. Dr. Rodriguez-Laiz graduated from the University of Granada Medical School, in Granada, Spain. He moved to the United States for further training and did two years of Anatomical Pathology at UMDNJ in Newark, NJ, meeting AP requirements. Then he decided to pursue his career in General Surgery, joining the Surgical Residency Training Program at the same institution, where he became Instructor in Surgery in 1996, and Chief Resident in 1997. He was named Surgical Resident of the Year at Hackensack University Medical Center in 1997. After completing his Surgical Residency, he joined the Mount Sinai family entering the Abdominal Organ Transplantation Fellowship in 1998, where he was trained in the complex management of the transplant patient, including liver, kidney, pancreas and intestinal transplantation. During his training at Mount Sinai, he was bestowed the Physician of the Year Award in 1999.

Pediatric Liver Transplant is one of the core rotations for transplant fellows during their training. The educational activities include assisting/performing pediatric liver transplants, cadaveric, and living donor operations and hepatobiliary cases. They take care of in-house pre and post-transplant patients and participate in pre- and post-transplant outpatient clinic activities.