Surgery

Overview

Our Mission

  • To provide excellence in care for abdominal transplant and transplant-related general surgery patients
  • To train students, residents, and fellows
  • To conduct state-of-the-art research in transplant immunology, organ preservation, and immunosuppression to improve the quality of care and life for our patients

Our ongoing goal is to continue developing into a multi-organ transplant program. We plan to expand our transplant service to other university-affiliated hospitals and give patients additional options for care.

Our Expertise

Our faculty performs transplant-related surgical services at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital, Children’s Health℠, Parkland Hospital, and the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

The Division of Surgical Transplantation is an exciting and growing division with leading surgeons, clinicians, and professionals working together to improve patient care. The Division provides consultative and follow-up care for patients with all types of kidney and liver disease. In addition, our faculty participates in a full range of academic activities as we strive to be one of the leading institutions for training future transplant surgeons. View the Living Donor Program Annual Report.

Liver Transplant Surgery | Living-Donor

Behind the scenes to see a living donor liver transplant being performed at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Inside the OR: Liver Transplant Surgery

Join Dr. Parsia Vagefi, Chief of Surgical Transplantation, as he grants unprecedented access to the OR while performing a liver transplant surgery.

Experience a Kidney Transplant

Go inside the OR with Dr. Parsia Vagefi, chief of the Division of Surgical Transplantation, to experience a kidney transplant surgery.

2025 Kidney Transplant Symposium

Register for the 2025 Kidney Translplant Symposium on Zoom

Join us on Thursday, November 6, 2025, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., for the 2025 UT Southwestern Kidney Transplant Symposium, designed for nurses and social workers involved in pre- and post-transplant care. CEUs will be offered, including 1 hour of ethics credit for social workers. PCTs and dietitians may submit for CE via nursing credits.

UT Southwestern’s expert team will share updates on kidney transplant trends, surgical advances, and educational resources.

Important Information

For the day of the symposium, each attendee will be required to log in individually to confirm their attendance. Group logins or shared registrations will not be accepted for participation credit. Be sure to register and log in using your own credentials to ensure your attendance is properly recorded.

Division Highlights

Adult Highlights

  • Performed the first donor-after-cardiac-death liver transplant in Dallas-Fort Worth
  • First lung-liver in North Texas
  • First site in North Texas to participate in a trial of normothermic liver perfusion for organ preservation
  • Leader in improving surgical outcomes as a pilot site for TransQIP (Transplant specific NSQIP program)

Pediatric Highlights

The nation’s first pediatric transplant program to utilize Proteus Discover™, a digital medicine offering (DMO) from Proteus Digital Health® to monitor medication adherence in pediatric transplant patients.

One of 5 centers in the nation and only center in Texas with over 1,000 pediatric abdominal transplants.

1 of 4 hospitals in the U.S. to have the best pediatric liver transplant outcomes (Becker’s Hospital Review).