Dr. Ronald W. Busuttil, Dumont Professor in Transplantation Surgery and chief of the Division of Liver and Pancreas Transplantation at UCLA, has been appointed chairman of the department of surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, effective Jan. 1.

“Dr. Busuttil is an internationally recognized transplant surgeon who has invested his entire professional career at UCLA, starting as a faculty member in our department of surgery in 1978,� said Dr. Gerald Levey, dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and provost of medical sciences. “Throughout his career, Dr. Busuttil has demonstrated a commitment to excellence combined with a high-energy approach to problem-solving, which I believe will lend itself to the task of ensuring that we retain our position as one of the premier departments of surgery in the world.�

Busuttil graduated magna cum laude from Loyola University in New Orleans and earned both his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at Tulane University. He served his surgical residency at UCLA under Dr. William Longmire, the founding chairman of the department of surgery at UCLA. After completing his surgical residency, Busuttil joined the faculty in UCLA’s department of surgery in 1978 as a general and vascular surgeon.

His devotion to liver transplantation was spawned from his focus on treating patients with liver disease who suffered from portal hypertension, a condition that causes bleeding in patients who have cirrhosis or scarring of the liver. Although the operations to control bleeding were successful in the short term, many patients progressed to end-stage liver disease and died. Replacing the diseased liver was the logical solution and Busuttil focused his attention on liver transplantation. He trained in transplantation with Dr. Thomas Starzl at the University of Pittsburgh.

In 1984 when Busuttil established UCLA’s Liver Transplant Program, it was the first on the West Coast. As the 20th anniversary of the first successful liver transplant performed at UCLA approaches, he has developed the program into one of the largest liver transplant centers in the world. For the last 10 years, UCLA has performed more liver transplants in adults and children than any other program.

“Liver transplant is the most significant advancement in the treatment of end-stage liver disease in the history of medicine,� Busuttil said. “It is miraculous to see the transformation of a
patient who is literally dying into a productive, contributing member of society after a transplant is performed.�

In addition, Busuttil’s lifelong commitment to training medical students, residents and surgical fellows is evident in his liver transplantation-training program. It is recognized as one of the foremost training programs in the world. Many of the nearly 150 transplant surgeons, both national and international, who have trained with him are now leading liver transplant programs of their own.

Busuttil, who has performed more than 3,000 liver transplants and served as co-editor for the definitive text on liver transplantation, continues to look for ways to increase the donor pool, which is the rate-limiting step in expanding liver transplantation. Pioneering, innovative clinical research at UCLA allowed him to expand the donor pool by performing split-liver transplants, which involves dividing one liver into two halves to transplant into two patients, and living donor liver transplants. The UCLA program in split-liver transplantation is the largest in the world.

Through novel techniques, established in his basic science laboratory, Busuttil also has increased the use of suboptimal, or marginal, donor organs. His current research is focused on developing a means to manipulate the cells within the liver so they can resist injury that occurs during the procurement or recovery of the donor organ. This breakthrough potentially will increase useable donor livers by 30 percent. His laboratory is recognized internationally for this work.

As chairman, Busuttil is committed to continuing his vigorous surgical practice and research program. He believes that in order to be an effective surgical leader, one must influence and mentor young surgeons by example, which means to be active in the operating room, involved in research and engaged in the challenging health-care socioeconomic environment that exists today.

Busuttil has held key positions in many national and international surgical and transplantation societies. He is a past president of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and currently serves on the board of directors as the medical scientific representative for UNOS, the United Network for Organ Sharing, and the International Transplant Society.