Meet Our Faculty
Statewide Leaders
As the only medical sciences university in the state, and the only center in the State of Arkansas that offers adult liver or kidney transplantation, UAMS provides state-of-the-art equipment and cutting-edge technology for patients in need of transplants. UAMS has a history of Arkansas medical firsts. We performed the state’s first kidney transplant in 1964, and in 1991, UAMS performed the first kidney-pancreas transplant in the State. We added another “first” in 2005 when UAMS performed Arkansas’ first liver transplant and we have been growing ever since. As of February 2016, UAMS is the only center in the State that is doing adult kidney transplantation. In 2018 the transplant team completed it’s 2,018th renal transplant surgery.
The Liver and Renal transplant programs are busier than ever, with increased referrals, increased national patient listing for organs, and increased transplantation. While growing, the program has maintained national outcomes, successfully transplanted higher risk patients, with significantly lower wait list times than other centers in our region. Scientific Registry for Transplant Recipients.
Gary Barone, M.D., has been a key member of the transplant team since 1991, joining UAMS after his fellowship at Ohio State University Hospital, and is the UNOS Primary Renal Transplant Surgeon. Lyle Burdine, M.D., Ph.D., is the Surgical Director for the Solid Organ Transplant Program at UAMS, UNOS Primary Liver Transplant Surgeon, and leads our team of transplant physicians and surgeons as well as continuing research in immunosuppression. He completed his transplant training at the University of California San Francisco. Emmanouil “Manos” Giorgakis, M.D., joined the team after completing fellowship in abdominal transplantation at the Mayo Clinic, Phoenix and prior senior fellowships in liver transplantation, bariatric surgery, and trauma at Royal College of UK.
The surgical team is joined in caring for the transplant patients by transplant fellowship-trained physician as well as transplant trained Advanced Practice Nurse Practitioners. Our Nephrologists are led by Sushma Bhusal, M.D.; and include Aparna Sharma, M.D., and Scott Young, M.D. The Hepatology team includes Matthew Deneke, M.D., and Mary Katherine Rude, M.D.
To make an appointment or learn more, please visit our Transplant Clinic site or enjoy these Organ Transplant Patient Stories.