Liver Transplantation and​ Hepatobiliary Surgery

Chief

  • Martin Montenovo, MD, FACS

    Chief Division of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Liver Transplantation
    Division of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Liver Transplantation
    Surgical Director Adult Liver Transplant Program
    Surgical Director Combined Heart-Liver Transplant Program
    Associate Professor of Surgery

  • Sunil K Geevarghese, MD, MSCI, FACS

    Professor of Surgery, Biomedical Engineering, Radiology & Radiological Sciences
    Division of Hepatobiliary Surgery & Liver Transplantation
    Department of Surgery
    Vice Chair for Education
    Section of Surgical Sciences
    Medical Director, Transplant Perioperative Services
    Vanderbilt University Adult Hospital
    Phone
    (615) 936-1831
    Fax
    (615) 936-0435

    Dr. Geevarghese is a graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine where he continued with general surgery residency under Dr. John Tarpley. His fellowship training in multiorgan transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery followed at UCLA under Dr. Ronald W. Busuttil.

    The son of distinguished educators, he has made surgical education his major ongoing work. Recognizing a gap in perioperative resident education, he devised the Educational Time-Out method to formalize preoperative goal setting at the end of the surgical time-out and to provide postoperative feedback using the SIMPL app. Given the rising tide of burnout among healthcare providers, he founded the Vanderbilt Resilience Rapid Response Team, a specially trained team that facilitates early recognition and support. A founding member of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) Wellness Committee, he helped develop the ASTS Peer Support Network, designed to assist members who have suffered adverse events. This model of peer support has now been extended to other surgical societies such as the Americas Hepatopancreatobiliary Association, American Head and Neck Society and the American Pediatric Surgical Association. He leads ASTS efforts in surgical ergonomics for transplant fellows based on exercises created for Vanderbilt general surgery residents.

    A sought-after educator in transplantation and surgical education, he has lectured for nearly two decades in Vanderbilt Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Management and Engineering. More recently his research work into moral injury has garnered national attention with visiting professorships and named lectures at over 20 US institutions in the last 4 years, including the 31st Annual Dr. Ashmore Lecture at University of South Carolina Prisma Health, the 6th Annual Dr. Gordon Lecture at Houston Methodist Hospital and the 14th Annual Dr. Method Lecture at Northwestern Medicine.

    For his work in surgical resident education, he received the coveted Vanderbilt Robert S. McCleery Master Teacher Award for Surgical Resident Education in 2017. His dedication to the transplant surgical experience of medical students and residents through recruitment, research, and mentorship was recognized with the inaugural 2020 ASTS Pipeline Award. In January of 2021 he was appointed Vice Chair for Education in the Section of Surgical Sciences at Vanderbilt which allows him to advocate for all Vanderbilt surgical student, resident, and fellow training programs.

    He is active nationally in numerous roles. Among these, he serves as Councilor-at-Large of ASTS and Chair of Education & Training Committee of the Americas Hepatopancreatobiliary Association.

    Married to Dr. Liby John Geevarghese, a staff psychiatrist at the Nashville VA Hospital, they have three children and have called Nashville home for over 25 years. In his free time, he enjoys family, travel, and horology.

  • Lee D. Gorden, M.D., FACS

    Associate Program Director
    Vanderbilt ASTS Transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgery Fellowship
    Professor of Surgery, Cancer Biology and Pharmacology
    Division of Hepatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplantation
    (615) 936-2956

  • Lea K Matsuoka, MD, FACS

    Dr. Lea Matsuoka joined our surgical faculty as Associate Professor of Surgery in the Division of Hepatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplantation after holding the position of Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgery in the Division of Hepatobiliary, Pancreatic and Abdominal Organ Transplant Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine at USC, Los Angeles, CA. There she also served as the Associate Surgical Director of the Pediatric Kidney Transplant Program at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, CA.