Expert Details
Hepatology, Hepatobiliary Surgery, Liver Cancer, Liver Transplantation, Immunology & Clinical Trials
ID: 740863
Florida, USA
Expert’s clinical work spans liver transplantation, hepatobiliary surgery, acute liver failure, cirrhosis, portal hypertension, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Expert has overseen transplant programs achieving nationally recognized outcomes, including superior long-term survival compared with peer institutions. Over the course of practice, Expert has evaluated more than 5,000 liver cancer patients and performed extensive surgical and perioperative management within high-volume academic centers and federal healthcare systems.
Expert is an active clinical researcher, serving as principal investigator or co-investigator in over 60 clinical trials involving liver transplantation, immunosuppression, hepatitis B and C, NASH/MASH, liver cancer therapeutics, and acute liver failure. Expert has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and abstracts and has presented nationally and internationally. Academic appointments include professorial roles with medical schools, along with extensive CME teaching and advisory work for industry, national transplant committees, and multidisciplinary cancer programs.
Expert’s experience includes long-standing service to UNOS review boards, transplant committees, and hospital governance groups. This background provides deep expertise in transplant standards, quality metrics, candidacy determinations, multidisciplinary care models, and outcomes evaluation. Expert also brings experience mentoring graduate and undergraduate researchers and contributing to the development of clinical education programs.
With broad clinical, academic, administrative, and research experience, Expert provides authoritative perspective on liver transplantation, hepatobiliary surgery, liver oncology, transplant immunology, and standards of surgical care.
Education
| Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year: 1996 | Degree: Fellowship | Subject: Transplantation & Hepatobiliary Surgery | Institution: Harvard Department of Surgery, New England Deaconess Hospital |
| Year: 1991 | Degree: Clinical & Research Fellowship | Subject: Organ Transplantation | Institution: Hartford Hospital / University of Connecticut School of Medicine |
| Year: 1994 | Degree: Chief Surgical Resident | Subject: Surgery | Institution: St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center |
| Year: 1992 | Degree: Residency | Subject: Surgery | Institution: Nassau County Medical Center |
| Year: 1989 | Degree: Residency | Subject: Surgery | Institution: St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center |
| Year: 1987 | Degree: MD | Subject: Medicine | Institution: Ponce Health Sciences University, School of Medicine |
| Year: 1983 | Degree: BS | Subject: Biology | Institution: Boston College |
Work History
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years: 2020 to 2025 | Employer: Bay Pines Veterans Administration Health Care System / Lee County Health Care Center | Title: Lead Surgeon | Department: Surgery |
Responsibilities:Liver surgeon with 24 years of liver transplant experience at a quaternary care, 1,010 bed teaching hospital.*New contract processing underway with Bay Pines Veterans Administration Healthcare System to start 2026 |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2011 to 2020 | Employer: Tampa General Medical Group | Title: Multi-Organ Transplant Surgeon | Department: Hepatobiliary Surgery, Liver Transplantation & Liver Cancer |
Responsibilities:• Hepatobiliary Surgeon and Liver Transplantation: 2011-2020.• Directed Liver Cancer Program: 2007-2019 |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1996 to 2011 | Employer: LifeLink HealthCare Institute / Tampa General Hospital | Title: Multi-Organ Transplant Surgeon | Department: |
Responsibilities:• Director, Liver Transplantation, LifeLink HealthCare Institute/Tampa General Hospital 2007-2018• Assoc. Director 2002-2006. • Interim Director 1999-2001 |
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Additional Experience
| Expert Witness Experience |
|---|
| Expert has comprehensive medico-legal experience spanning surgical complications, hepatology, liver transplantation, liver oncology, bile duct injuries, drug-induced liver injury, and life-expectancy determination in liver disease. Expert has consulted on matters involving retained foreign bodies; misdiagnosis of liver and bile duct cancers; bile duct injuries following cholecystectomy, including multiple fatal outcomes for which Expert provided courtroom testimony; and complications arising from robotic and urologic surgeries. Expert has also been retained in several federal Correctional Medicine cases involving hepatitis C and liver cancer in incarcerated patients. Additional engagements include complex transplant-related complications, unexpected surgical deaths, causation analyses in drug-induced liver injury with more than 60 such cases reviewed, assessments of surgical disability for transplant surgeons, and causation evaluations related to accidents and mortality in patients with chronic liver disease. |
Career Accomplishments
| Associations / Societies |
|---|
| • American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, Fellow, 2019–present • American Hepato-Pancreatic Biliary Association, Member, 2013–present • The Transplantation Society, Member, 2006–present • American College of Surgeons, Fellow, 1999–present • American Society of Transplant Surgeons, 1999–present • International Liver Transplant Society, 1997–present • Colegio de Medicos y Cirujanos de Puerto Rico, Member, 2003 |
| Licenses / Certifications |
|---|
| • Medical License, Florida (active), 1996–present • Medical License, Puerto Rico, 2001–2013 • American Board of Surgery Certification, 1995; Recertified 2005 and 2013 • Certified Wound Care Professional – Evergreen, 2025 |
| Awards / Recognition |
|---|
| • Compassionate Doctor Award – multiple year honoree (five-year honoree repeated multiple times) • On-Time Doctor Award – multiple years • Patients’ Choice Award – multiple years • Castle Connolly Regional Top Doctor • Top 10 Doctor – City • Tampa Top Doctors • Chairman of the Board Award, LifeLink Foundation • American Liver Foundation Gulf Coast Chapter Award • Ludwig J. Pyrtek, M.D. Award for best manuscript |
| Publications and Patents Summary |
|---|
| Extensive academic and research record that includes more than 29 refereed journal publications, over 9 additional non-refereed articles, and numerous national and international abstract presentations focused on transplantation, hepatology, liver cancer, and immunosuppression. Expert has served as principal or co-investigator in more than 60 clinical trials spanning liver and renal transplantation, acute liver failure, hepatocellular carcinoma, viral hepatitis, NASH, immunosuppressive therapies, and oncology. He has delivered national CME lectures in hepatology and transplantation, participated on advisory boards for medical and pharmaceutical organizations, contributed to national task forces including the UNOS Liver Intestinal Committee, and mentored undergraduate, graduate, medical, and doctoral trainees. |
Fields of Expertise
liver transplantation, hepatology, liver cancer, liver cirrhosis, Drug-induced liver injury, liver disease, cancer causation, accident causation, causation analysis, medical causation, abdominal surgery, hepatobiliary surgery, hepatitis C, organ transplantation, surgical transplantation, transplant hepatology, transplantation, life expectancy determination, physician life care planning, catastrophic injury, hydrazine, mucormycosis, portal hypertension, NASH, Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, transplant surgery, transplant immunosuppression, acute liver failure, hepatocellular carcinoma, transplant program management, MASH, VA surgery, academic surgery, surgical oncology (liver), transplant complications, transplant survival metrics, transplant clinical outcomes, transplant program performance, Transplant eligibility, Post-transplant management, Access-to-care disputes, transplant candidacy, hepatitis B/C