A. Osama Gaber, MD, FACS, FAST

John F., Jr. and Carolyn Bookout Presidential Distinguished Chair in Surgery, Department of Surgery
Chair, Department of Surgery
Professor of Surgery, Academic Institute
Program Director, Transplant Surgery Fellowship, Department of Surgery
Houston Methodist
Weill Cornell Medical College


Transplantation Surgery Fellowship


Biography

Dr. Gaber serves as Chair of Houston Methodist's Department of Surgery.  He received his first academic appointment in 1987, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. He became an Associate Professor there in 1991, and received his full professorship and was named to the Baptist Memorial Health Care Foundation chair of excellence in transplantation in 1994. While at the University of Tennessee, Dr. Gaber also held professorships in the Departments of Pharmacy and in the College of Nursing. He was also the Medical Director for the University of Tennessee Bowld Hospital, and the Methodist University Transplant Institute.

Dr. Gaber is a prolific researcher and has authored over 300 scientific papers, as well as more than 340 abstracts and numerous book chapters, and his research has been funded by numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and several national and local foundations. Dr. Gaber assumed his positions at the Houston Methodist Hospital and Research Institute in Houston in 2006.

Description of Research

While also conducting transplant immunotherapy research for liver and kidney whole organ transplants and allografts, the main focus of Dr. Gaber´s research is in the transplantation of islets to alleviate diabetic complications. He and his collaborators have developed the protocol for long term islet culture and described the clinical transplantation of islets through the intestinal veins. Dr. Gaber´s current studies center on the testing of gene therapy and other approaches to test for islet viability and assist the transplanted islets to develop a sustaining blood supply and resist rejection by the recipient's immune system.

Areas Of Expertise

Diabetes Transplant immunotherapy Islet cells Cell isolation protocols Kidney transplant Pancreas transplant Liver transplant Kidney disorders
Education & Training

Residency, Boston University Medical Center
Internship, Washington Hospital Center
MD, Ain Shams University School of Medicine
Clinical Fellowship, The University of Chicago
Publications

Characterizing Rational Transplant Program Response to Outcome-Based Regulation
Mildebrath, D, Lee, T, Sinha, S, Schaefer, AJ & Gaber, AO 2024, , Operations Research, vol. 72, no. 4, pp. 1421-1437. https://doi.org/10.1287/opre.2018.0721

The Impact of Kidney/Pancreas Transplantation on Peripheral Arterial Disease
Knight, RJ, Ye, Y, Graviss, EA, Nguyen, DT, Garami, Z, Yi, SG, Hobeika, M, Bavare, CS, Sadhu, AR & Gaber, AO 2024, , Clinical Transplantation, vol. 38, no. 7, e15413. https://doi.org/10.1111/ctr.15413

Osteocalcin protects islet identity in low-density lipoprotein receptor knockout mice on high-fat diet
Beamish, CA, Lee, YK, Gaber, AO, Chanana, P, Graviss, EA, Kloc, M, Gaber, MW, Hsueh, WA & Sabek, OM 2024, , Journal of Endocrinology, vol. 261, no. 1, e230352. https://doi.org/10.1530/JOE-23-0352

Single-center Outcomes After Liver Transplantation With SARS-CoV-2–Positive Donors: An Argument for Increased Utilization
Connor, AA, Adelman, MW, Mobley, CM, Moaddab, M, Erhardt, AJ, Hsu, DE, Brombosz, EW, Sanghvi, M, Lee Cheah, Y, Simon, CJ, Hobeika, MJ, Saharia, AS, Victor, DW, Kodali, S, Basra, T, Graviss, EA, Nguyen, DT, Elsaiey, A, Moore, LW, Nigo, M, Drews, AL, Grimes, KA, Arias, CA, Li, XC, Gaber, AO & Ghobrial, RM 2024, , Transplantation Direct, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. E1590. https://doi.org/10.1097/TXD.0000000000001590

Isatuximab Monotherapy for Desensitization in Highly Sensitized Patients Awaiting Kidney Transplant
Vincenti, F, Bestard, O, Brar, A, Cruzado, JM, Seron, D, Gaber, AO, Ali, N, Tambur, AR, Lee, H, Abbadessa, G, Paul, JA, Dudek, M, Siegel, RJ, Torija, A, Semiond, D, Lépine, L, Ternes, N, Montgomery, RA & Stegall, M 2024, , Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 347-360. https://doi.org/10.1681/ASN.0000000000000287

CD4+ T cell immunity is dependent on an intrinsic stem-like program
Zou, D, Yin, Z, Yi, SG, Wang, G, Guo, Y, Xiao, X, Li, S, Zhang, X, Gonzalez, NM, Minze, LJ, Wang, L, Wong, STC, Osama Gaber, A, Ghobrial, RM, Li, XC & Chen, W 2024, , Nature immunology, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 66-76. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-023-01682-z

Generating strategies for a national comeback in pancreas transplantation: A Delphi survey and US conference report
Workshop Participants 2024, , American Journal of Transplantation, vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 1473-1485. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajt.2024.03.010

Isatuximab Monotherapy for Desensitization in Highly Sensitized Patients Awaiting Kidney Transplant
Vincenti, F, Bestard, O, Brar, A, Cruzado, JM, Seron, D, Gaber, AO, Ali, N, Tambur, AR, Lee, H, Abbadessa, G, Paul, J-A, Dudek, M, Siegel, RJ, Torija, A, Semiond, D, Lépine, L, Ternes, N, Montgomery, RA & Stegall, M 2023, , Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. https://doi.org/10.1681/ASN.0000000000000287

Summary of a consensus conference on heart-liver transplantation
Consensus Conference participants 2023, , American Journal of Transplantation, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 380-390. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajt.2023.12.002

Transplant Oncology: An Emerging Discipline of Cancer Treatment
Abdelrahim, M, Esmail, A, Abudayyeh, A, Murakami, N, Victor, D, Kodali, S, Cheah, YL, Simon, CJ, Noureddin, M, Connor, A, Saharia, A, Moore, LW, Heyne, K, Kaseb, AO, Gaber, AO & Ghobrial, RM 2023, , Cancers, vol. 15, no. 22, 5337, pp. 5337. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15225337

Qualifying a novel clinical trial endpoint (iBOX) predictive of long-term kidney transplant outcomes
the Transplant Therapeutics Consortium 2023, , American Journal of Transplantation, vol. 23, no. 10, pp. 1496-1506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajt.2023.04.018

Clinical Outcomes of Heart Transplant Recipients Admitted with COVID-19 Infection in 2020: A Nationwide Analysis
Tamimi, O, Tamimi, F, Nisar, T, Gaber, AO, Lin, J, Gorthi, J & Gotur, D 2023, , Current Problems in Cardiology, vol. 48, no. 12, 101996. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpcardiol.2023.101996

Modern Outcomes After Liver Retransplantation: A Single-center Experience
Connor, AA, Saharia, A, Mobley, CM, Hobeika, MJ, Victor, DW, Kodali, S, Brombosz, EW, Graviss, EA, Nguyen, DT, Moore, LW, Gaber, AO & Ghobrial, RM 2023, , Transplantation, vol. 107, no. 7, pp. 1513-1523. https://doi.org/10.1097/TP.0000000000004500

Association between primary graft function and 5-year outcomes of islet allogeneic transplantation in type 1 diabetes: a retrospective, multicentre, observational cohort study in 1210 patients from the Collaborative Islet Transplant Registry
Collaborative Islet Transplant Registry (CITR) Investigators study group 2023, , The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 391-401. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(23)00082-7

Simultaneous Scalp, Skull, Kidney, and Pancreas Transplant from a Single Donor: Insights from a 5-Year Follow-Up
Jozaghi, Y, Chang, EI, Clemens, MW, Hanasono, MM, Klebuc, M, Yu, P, Gaber, AO & Selber, JC 2023, , Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, vol. 151, no. 6, pp. 1318-1321. https://doi.org/10.1097/PRS.0000000000010103

Factors affecting survival after liver retransplantation: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Brombosz, EW, Moore, LW, Mobley, CM, Kodali, S, Saharia, A, Hobeika, MJ, Connor, AA, Victor, III, DW, Cheah, YL, Simon, CJ, Gaber, AO & Ghobrial, RM 2023, , Frontiers in Transplantation, vol. 2, pp. 1181770. https://doi.org/10.3389/frtra.2023.1181770

Progress in Combined Liver-lung Transplantation at a Single Center
Connor, AA, Huang, HJ, Mobley, CM, Graviss, EA, Nguyen, DT, Goodarzi, A, Saharia, A, Yau, S, Hobeika, MJ, Suarez, EE, Moaddab, M, Brombosz, EW, Moore, LW, Yi, SG, Gaber, AO & Ghobrial, RM 2023, , Transplantation Direct, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. E1482. https://doi.org/10.1097/TXD.0000000000001482

Predicting Evaluation Completion and Donation by Relationship Type: Identifying Opportunities for More Donors: American Transplant Congress, May, 2023, San Diego, CA.
Meinders, AM, Graviss, E, Gaber, AO & Waterman, AD 2023, .

Deceased donor vein extension grafts for right living donor kidney transplantation
Meinders, AM, Knight, R, Eagar, TN, Hobeika, M, Podder, H, Gaber, AO & Yi, SG 2023, , Clinical Transplantation, vol. 37, no. 8, e14963. https://doi.org/10.1111/ctr.14963

Longitudinal estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) modeling in long-term renal function to inform clinical trial design in kidney transplantation
Kosinski, L, Frey, E, Klein, A, ODoherty, I, Romero, K, Stegall, M, Helanterä, I, Gaber, AO, Fitzsimmons, WE & Aggarwal, V 2023, , Clinical and Translational Science, vol. 16, no. 9, pp. 1680-1690. https://doi.org/10.1111/cts.13579