Tomoaki Kato

Who is Tomoaki Kato?

Tomoaki Kato, M.D. is a noted pioneer in multiple-organ transplantation, pediatric and adult liver transplantation. Kato is Surgical Director of Adult and Pediatric Liver and Intestinal Transplantation at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and is a professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Kato is known for unique and innovative surgeries for adults and children, including a six-organ transplant; a procedure called APOLT that resuscitates a failing liver by attaching a partial donor liver, making immunosuppressant drugs unnecessary; and the first successful human partial bladder transplantation involving the transplant of two kidneys together with ureters connected to a patch of the donor bladder. In a highly publicized case, he led the first reported removal and re-implantation, or auto-transplantation, of six organs to excise a hard-to-reach abdominal tumor.