C. Rathna Varma, MD, to lead region's first liver transplant program

 April 24, DANVILLE - Geisinger Health System officials announced the appointment of associate transplant surgeon Chintalapati Rathna Varma, MD, FRCS, FACS, to lead Central and Northeastern Pennsylvania’s first liver transplant program.

“Dr. Varma comes to us with outstanding and tremendous experience in transplant surgery and patient care,” said Santosh Potdar, MD, Geisinger’s Chief of Transplant Surgery.

“Given his experience in adult and pediatric liver transplantation and live donor liver transplantation, Dr. Varma will play a central leadership role in developing and implementing Geisinger’s liver transplant program to benefit patients and their families across the region.”

Prior to arriving at Geisinger, Dr. Varma served as a transplant surgeon at Texas Transplant Institute in San Antonio, TX. He has also served as an assistant professor of surgery and the director of the live donor liver transplant program at St. Louis University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. Dr. Varma has performed pediatric liver transplants at Cardinal Glennon Children’s hospital in St. Louis and was a consultant surgeon at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in St. Louis.

After graduating from the Armed Forces Medical College in India, he served his surgical residency in hospitals in India and the United Kingdom (as a sponsored trainee of the Royal College of Surgeons of England) and at the Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York. Dr. Varma also completed a fellowship in multi-organ transplant/hepato-biliary surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center. 

In addition to liver transplantations, Dr. Varma also performs renal and pancreas transplantations and is board certified in general surgery. Dr. Varma also has a special interest in surgery for liver tumors. He has outstanding experience in the treatment of patients with liver tumors and offers a multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of these patients with radiofrequency ablation, liver resections and liver transplantation. His research interests include steroid avoidance immuno-suppressive protocols, organ preservation, split or reduced liver and live donor liver transplantation.

Dr. Varma is certified by the American Society of Transplant Surgeons in multi-organ transplantation. In addition to his work at Geisinger, Dr. Varma is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the International Liver Transplantation Society. He has also authored numerous publications and was the recipient of the St. Luke’s Day Award from St. Louis University Hospital for being the most caring and compassionate physician in the year 2000.

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