Dr. Santiago Vera | Medical Director
Dr. Vera, MD, FACS, a graduate of the Central University of Venezuela Medical School, completed his surgery residency and transplantation fellowship at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis (UTHSC). For 20 years, he worked as a transplant surgeon at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute. In addition to his role as Medical Director, Dr. Vera is Professor Emeritus of Surgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) and recently retired as Assistant Chief of Surgery and General and Hepato-Pancreato Biliary Surgeon at the Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Dr. Vera has published and presented more than 100 papers on organ transplantation.
Since 1982, he has treated more than 1,000 liver and 1,000 kidney transplant recipients through his practice at the University of Tennessee Bowld Hospital, Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center, and Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute. Dr. Vera is a member of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, the American Society of Transplant Physicians, a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and a member of the American Medical Association and the Harwell Wilson Surgical Society. He has served on the United Network for Organ Sharing national board and has worked passionately to help shape organ allocation policy on a national level. Dr. Vera says he has been invigorated by his practice, his colleagues, and, most importantly, his patients.
