Division of Transplant Surgery

Transplant Surgery Fellowship Virtual Tour

The Montefiore Einstein Transplant Surgery Fellowship Program is a two-year training program, accredited through the Transplant Accreditation & Certification Council (TAC) of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS). We accept one new fellow every other year.

Our program focuses on developing clinical excellence in the medical and surgical care of patients with end-stage organ disease who are candidates for organ transplantation. Fellows receive robust case volumes of transplant procedures, honing both practical and cognitive skills, gaining proficiency in multiple organ recoveries, and gaining both didactic and clinical experience.

Our fellows also have the opportunity to participate in performing living donor nephrectomies, living donor kidney transplants, living donor hepatectomies, and living donor liver transplants, as well as hepatopancreatobiliary and general surgery cases.

Hillary C. Yaffe, MD
Abdominal Organ Transplant Surgeon
Program Director Abdominal Organ Transplant Surgery Fellowship
Assistant Professor of Surgery

Why our program could be right for you

Over the course of 24 months, fellows dive into the study and treatment of end-stage organ disease, acquiring the practical and cognitive skills necessary for successful transplant surgeries, including multi-organ recoveries. Montefiore Einstein provides a comprehensive educational experience, merging formal didactics with clinical practice. Montefiore Einstein's multidisciplinary team is committed to delivering the highest quality, comprehensive care for our primarily underserved and diverse patient demographic.

Each year, our center performs approximately 50 liver transplants, 250 renal transplants, 10 simultaneous kidney-pancreas transplants, and 115 hepatopancreatobiliary surgeries. Fellows have the opportunity to participate in living donor nephrectomies, kidney transplants, hepatectomies, and liver transplants, as well as hepatopancreatobiliary and general surgery cases, offering a dynamic, hands-on learning environment.

What sets Montefiore Einstein apart

At Montefiore Einstein, we are guided by a mission to heal, to teach, to discover and to advance the health of the communities we serve. Comprising 11 member hospitals and more than 300 specialty care sites, Montefiore Health System provides highly specialized, coordinated care for diverse populations in the New York region, across the country and globally.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine, home to nearly 1,000 students in its MD, PhD and combined MD/PhD programs, is one of the nation’s preeminent centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. Through the joint efforts of Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Einstein is able to advance research and accelerate discoveries, benefiting patients and ensuring access to state-of-the-art healthcare for all.

Montefiore’s medical specialties ranked as top 1% in the nation by U.S. News & World Report
Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Einstein (CHAM) recognized as one of “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals” by U.S. News & World Report
Albert Einstein College of Medicine ranked a top 50 “Best Medical School for Research in the Country, 2023” by U.S. News & World Report
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded Einstein $192M+ in research funding in 2023, placing Einstein in the top 35 among 154 schools of medicine
850+ clinical trials

Catherine C. Skae, MD, Vice President and Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education

Graduate Medical Education at Montefiore Einstein

Representing one of the top 10 largest medical and surgical training programs in the country, Montefiore Health System and our Albert Einstein College of Medicine provide postgraduate clinical training to more than 1,400 residents and fellows per year. Clinicians across Montefiore Einstein’s numerous educational programs actively mentor and cultivate a new generation of healthcare leaders.

Our mission to improve access and quality of care for our diverse community draws residents and fellows from top medical, dental and PA schools from around the world. We develop and expand programs designed to advance teamwork, communication and decision-making, and our progressive focus on comprehensive care provides an ideal training ground for our residents and fellows.

To make the process of working and training at Montefiore Einstein more seamless, we offer a variety of services for our house staff, physician assistants and interns, including assistance with credentialing and orientation, institutional resources, visas, contracts, HR documents, payroll, notary services and specialty training and certifications.

Montefiore Einstein by the numbers

7.7 million+

patient interactions annually

1.1 million+

patients annually, representing the largest network in the Bronx, Westchester and the Hudson Valley

200+

specialty care locations, with more coming soon

40,000+

employees

Flagship hospital of the Montefiore Einstein Health System

The entirety of the Montefiore Einstein Center for Transplantation is located at the Henry and Lucy Moses Division, including the pediatric transplant program at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Einstein (CHAM). The abdominal transplant fellows complete their training at the Moses Division, including their inpatient, outpatient, and operative experiences. The transplant patients are cared for on the Transplant Unit on Foreman 7A East and in the Surgical ICU (SICU) on the third floor of the Foreman Building, which is directly across from the OR suite. The Moses Division is the flagship hospital of the Montefiore Einstein Health System. It is a tertiary care hospital and is the primary teaching hospital for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Kidney & Pancreas Transplant Program

Our transplant services are characterized by innovation and positive outcomes:

First to develop the concept of diversion of pancreatic enzymes into the urinary tract.
Since 1970, Montefiore Einstein has educated the public and professionals regarding neurologic determination of death (formerly known as brain death), then a new concept, and mounted a grassroots effort to obtain a legislative definition of it.
First to initiate a system for sharing kidneys in our region.
First to transplant machine-preserved kidneys in New York.
Participated in numerous single and multi-center studies of new immunosuppressive drugs.
Our histocompatibility laboratory has evaluated new techniques in tissue typing.

One-year patient survival with a functioning graft at Montefiore Einstein Center for Transplantation is excellent (96 percent, compared to all US one-year patient survival 94%). Adjusted 3-year survival with a functioning graft at our center is 89.9%.
Year after year, Montefiore Einstein Center for Transplantation outperforms the previous year’s number of renal transplants. In 2023, we performed 258 kidney transplants, surpassing the previous year’s 219. Our pediatric renal replacement therapy program is world-renowned, and we have done more pediatric transplants than many free-standing pediatric hospitals. The pediatric population's patient and graft survival rates for living donor transplants are superior to the national average. In addition, providing pathways to transplant for elderly patients is among our special interests.

Liver Transplant Program

By combining a world-class team of specialists with a full range of standard and innovative therapies, Montefiore can offer liver transplant patients a survival rate of more than 90 percent. Our center's 1-year survival with a functioning graft is 93%, comparable to the national rate of 91%.

Additionally, we have performed multiple combined organ transplantations, such as liver-kidney and lung-liver.

In 2022, our center performed 66 liver transplants. Our team aims to provide access to transplant for our community, with an increased focus on optimizing safe transplants for patients with alcoholic hepatitis, MASH, and complex redo liver transplants.

Some points of historic interest:

The first liver transplant at Montefiore was successfully performed in a critically ill woman with fulminant hepatic failure in 2008.
Within the first year of the Liver Disease and Transplantation Program, 50 patients were on the waiting list.
In 2010, Montefiore performed its first split liver graft, in which an adult donor liver was split in the donor and offered to two recipients.
Montefiore was approved to initiate its live donor liver program in 2010.

Milan M. Kinkhabwala, MD

Chief, Transplant Surgery

Director, Abdominal Organ Transplantation

Professor, Department of Surgery

Professor, Department of Medicine (Hepatology)

Sarah Bellemare, MD

Surgical Director, Adult and Pediatric Living Donor Liver Transplant Programs

Associate Professor, Department of Surgery

Jay Graham, MD, MBA

Associate Professor, Department of Surgery

Surgical Director, Kidney Transplant Program

Marie Le, MD

Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery

Surgical Director, Living Donor Kidney Transplant Program

Hillary Yaffe, MD

Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery

Program Director, Transplant Surgery Fellowship

Nidal Muhdi, MD

Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery

Surgical Director, Pancreas Transplant Program

Dagny von Ahrens, MD

Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery

A challenging and innovative curriculum

Didactic Curriculum

The fellows participate in the weekly academic meetings of the Division, as well as specialized lectures geared toward their advancement and their preparation for the Annual Knowledge Assessment. The specialized lectures bring the fellows together with one of our multidisciplinary team members for a detailed, small group discussion about topics critical to our practice as transplant surgeons.

The weekly academic meetings schedule, as well as an example of topics from the Transplant Surgical Fellows Lecture Series, appears below.

Transplant Surgical Fellows Lecture Series, Mondays, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm, various in-person locations
Transplant Nephrology Journal Club/Core Curriculum Lecture, Mondays, 12:30 – 1:30 pm, Zoom
Kidney Transplant M&M, Mondays, 2:00 – 3:00 pm, Teams
Liver Transplant Selection, Mondays, 3:00 – 5:00 pm, TLC5
CT scan review meeting, Tuesdays, 1:30 – 2:00 pm, Transplant Conference Room
Kidney and Kidney-Pancreas Graft Loss/Mortality Review, Tuesdays, 2:00 – 3:00 pm, Transplant Conference Room
Kidney Transplant Selection, Tuesdays, 3:00 – 4:00 pm, TLC5

Hepatopancreatobiliary Tumor Board, Thursdays, 8:15 – 9:30 am, Transplant Conference Room
Department of Surgery M&M, Fridays, 7:00 – 8:00 am, Cherkasky Auditorium
Department of Surgery Grand Rounds, Fridays, 8:00 – 9:00 am, Cherkasky Auditorium
Transplant Nephrology Lunch and Learn, Fridays, 12:00 – 1:00 pm, TLC5

Raga Dilip, MD

2023-2025

Laura Niño-Torres, MD

2023-2025

Daniel Barbash, DO

2022-2024

Nidal Abdel Muhdi, MD

2019-2022

Ahmet Korkut Belli, MD

2020-2022

Juan Sebastian Malo Corral, MD

2022-2023

Gastric Bypass Prior to Simultaneous Pancreas-Kidney Transplantation for Optimization of Diabetic Management

Dapsone-Induced Methemoglobinemia in Two Renal Transplant Recipients

Young Donors with Severe Acute Kidney Injury Offer an Opportunity to Expand the Donor Pool

Intraabdominal Approach During Donation-After-Cardiac-Death Procurement May Offer a Simpler and Faster Way to Achieve Thoracic Aorta Cross-Clamp

Impact of Deceased-donor Acute Kidney Injury on Kidney Transplantation

Risks and Benefits of Kidney Transplantation during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Transplant or Not Transplant?

Risk factors associated with poor response to COVID-19 vaccination in kidney transplant recipients

We’re seeking fellows who will shape the future of healthcare.

If you would like to apply to become a Fellow at Montefiore Einstein, here’s some information to keep in mind.

January 15, 2025 – Applicant registration begins. You can submit your application starting on this date
April 1, 2025 – Application deadline to be considered for an interview at Montefiore Medical Center
Mid-April through end of May 2025 – Montefiore Medical Center Transplant Surgery Fellowship Interviews
June 11, 2025 – Program and applicant rank list submission deadline
June 18, 2025 – Match results are available
June 19, 2025 – Post-match vacancies are posted
July 1, 2026 – Training position starts

Montefiore Einstein recognizes that having a diverse and inclusive institution is critical to success, and we reaffirm our fervent commitment to fostering a culture in which diversity is a central tenet.