Chief, Pediatric Transplantation UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh

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George Mazariegos is Chief of Pediatric Transplantation at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Professor of Pediatric Transplantation Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He has served as President of the Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant Association (IRTA) and current serves as chair of the Starzl Network, a learning health system focused on innovation and improvement in liver transplantation.

Professor and Chairman, Department of Pediatric Surgery and Transplantation
Kumamoto University Graduate School of Medical Sciences

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Taizo Hibi is the Professor and Chairman of the Department of Transplantation and Pediatric Surgery, Kumamoto University (Kumamoto, Japan). He graduated from Keio University (Tokyo) and completed his surgical residency and fellowships at National Cancer Center Hospital (Tokyo) and Keio University, and University of Miami (Florida, U.S.). Prof. Hibi has extensive experience both in surgical oncology, particularly in the hepatobiliary and pancreatic field, and abdominal organ transplant surgery. He and his international colleagues have established the concept of “Transplant Oncology,” a fusion of transplantation medicine and oncology, for eradication of cancer. Prof. Hibi has published over 170 peer-reviewed articles. He serves as an editorial board member of internationally recognized surgical journals and as a councilor of multiple national/international academic associations and societies in the field of hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery and organ transplantation.

Medical Director, Adult and Pediatric Intestinal Transplant
Medical Director, Pediatric Intestinal Rehabilitation
Miami Transplant Institute/University of Miami

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Jennifer Garcia MD is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Miami School of Medicine, the Medical Director of the Adult and Pediatric Intestinal Transplant and Pediatric Intestinal Rehabilitation Programs at the Miami Transplant Institute, Miami, FL, USA.

Associate Professor of Surgery
Director, Gastrointestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant Center
Center for Translational Transplant Medicine
Starzl Transplantation Institute
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

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Ruy J. Cruz Jr., MD PhD is presently Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh and Director of the Gastrointestinal Rehabilitation and Transplantation Center at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Hepatopancreatobiliary and Transplant surgeon
Director of intestinal Failure and Transplant unit

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Dr. Nikoupour is an assistant professor of surgery at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. His research is mainly focused on transplantation, especially intestinal transplants associated with intestinal failure. Currently, he is working at Abu Ali Sina Transplant Center as the Head of the Intestinal Transplant Unit. He trains surgical residents and transplant fellows in reconstructive surgeries and different types of visceral transplantations. This intestinal transplantation unit is one-of-a-kind in the region as it provides patients with intestinal failure different types of treatment up to intestinal transplantations. By founding a multidisciplinary team including surgeons, clinical pharmacists, infectious specialists, dieticians, psychologists, and expert colostomy care nurses, a new admired model was established based on his experience in Argentina. With more than 200 autologous gastrointestinal reconstructive surgeries and twenty intestinal and multi-visceral transplants, they recorded a remarkable achievement in service delivery. De. Nikoupour became a member of the intestinal rehabilitation and transplantation association in 2021 and has shared his experiences with the management of intestinal failure in multiple publications published in world-renowned journals.