R. Mark Ghobrial, MD, PhD

J.C. Walter Jr. Presidential Distinguished Chair, Director, J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center
Professor of Surgery, Academic Institute
Houston Methodist
Weill Cornell Medical College


Sherrie and Alan Conover Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation


Biography

After receiving his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees from Cairo University Medical School in Cairo, Egypt, Dr. Ghobrial completed several surgical residencies in the United Kingdom and the United States. While a surgery resident at University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, Texas, he completed a PhD in Immunology at the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in 1994. After residency, he accepted a position as clinical instructor in the Department of Surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and was awarded a Dumont-UCLA Transplant Fellowship. He received his full professorship in 2005 and served as Director of the Pancreas Transplant Program and Living Donor Liver Transplantation, and Service Director for Liver, Pancreas, and Small Bowel Transplantation. He was recruited to the Houston Methodist Hospital in 2008.

Description of Research

One of the primary goals of Dr. Ghobrial´s research is to increase donor tolerance to organ transplants and allografts. Dr. Ghobrial has shown in preclinical studies that tolerizing the host to dominant donor epitopes induces tolerance in the recipient. By engineering chimeric proteins, or proteins that contain sequences from both donor and recipient, and exposing the recipient to these proteins prior to tissue graft, peripheral, long-term tolerance is induced. Dr. Ghobrial also has a long-standing interest in the effects of Hepatitis (B and C) on transplantation patients.

Areas Of Expertise

Liver resection Transplantation Hepatocellular carcinoma Liver transplant Liver disease
Education & Training

Clinical Fellowship, Dumont-UCLA Transplant Center
MD, University of Cairo Medical School
Residency, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
PhD, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Publications

Genome-wide association study identifies high-impact susceptibility loci for HCC in North America
Hassan, MM, Li, D, Han, Y, Byun, J, Hatia, RI, Long, E, Choi, J, Kelley, RK, Cleary, SP, Lok, AS, Bracci, P, Permuth, JB, Bucur, R, Yuan, JM, Singal, AG, Jalal, PK, Ghobrial, RM, Santella, RM, Kono, Y, Shah, DP, Nguyen, MH, Liu, G, Parikh, ND, Kim, R, Wu, HC, El-Serag, H, Chang, P, Li, Y, Chun, YS, Lee, SS, Gu, J, Hawk, E, Sun, R, Huff, C, Rashid, A, Amin, HM, Beretta, L, Wolff, RA, Antwi, SO, Patt, Y, Hwang, LY, Klein, AP, Zhang, K, Schmidt, MA, White, DL, Goss, JA, Khaderi, SA, Marrero, JA, Cigarroa, FG, Shah, PK, Kaseb, AO, Roberts, LR & Amos, CI 2024, , Hepatology, vol. 80, no. 1, pp. 87-101. https://doi.org/10.1097/HEP.0000000000000800

Utilization of Immunotherapy as a Neoadjuvant Therapy for Liver Transplant Recipients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Abdelrahim, M, Esmail, A, Divatia, MK, Xu, J, Kodali, S, Victor, DW, Brombosz, E, Connor, AA, Saharia, A, Elaileh, A, Kaseb, AO & Ghobrial, RM 2024, , Journal of Clinical Medicine, vol. 13, no. 11, 3068. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm13113068

Macrophage niche imprinting as a determinant of macrophage identity and function
Kloc, M, Halasa, M & Ghobrial, RM 2024, , Cellular Immunology, vol. 399-400, 104825. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cellimm.2024.104825

Reunited: A vision for the future
Brown, RS & Ghobrial, RM 2024, , Liver Transplantation, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 460. https://doi.org/10.1097/LVT.0000000000000347

Proceedings of the 28th Annual Congress of the International Liver Transplantation Society
Shaji Mathew, J, Shingina, A, Khan, MQ, Wilson, E, Syn, N, Rammohan, A, Alconchel, F, Hakeem, AR, Shankar, S, Patel, D, Keskin, O, Liu, J, Nasralla, D, Mazzola, A, Patel, MS, Tanaka, T, Victor, D, Yoon, U, Yoon, YI, Vinaixa, C, Kirchner, V, De Martin, E, Ghobrial, RM & Chadha, R 2024, , Liver Transplantation, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 544-554. https://doi.org/10.1097/LVT.0000000000000330

Effect of a Hispanic outreach program on referral and liver transplantation volume at a single center
Kodali, S, Mobley, CM, Brombosz, EW, Lopez, A, Graves, R, Ontiveros, J, Velazquez, M, Saharia, A, Cheah, YL, Simon, CJ, Valverde, C, Brown, A, Corkrean, J, Moore, LW, Graviss, EA, Victor, DW, Maresh, K, Hobeika, MJ, Egwim, C & Ghobrial, RM 2024, , Transplant Immunology, vol. 84, 102034, pp. 102034. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trim.2024.102034

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

Update on the Screening, Diagnosis, and Management of Cholangiocarcinoma
Kodali, S, Connor, AA, Brombosz, EW & Ghobrial, RM 2024, , Gastroenterology and Hepatology, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 151-158.

Bloodstream infections after solid organ transplantation: clinical epidemiology and antimicrobial resistance (2016–21)
Adelman, MW, Connor, AA, Hsu, E, Saharia, A, Mobley, CM, Victor, DW, Hobeika, MJ, Lin, J, Grimes, KA, Ramos, E, Pedroza, C, Brombosz, EW, Ghobrial, RM & Arias, CA 2024, , JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance, vol. 6, no. 1, 158, pp. dlad158. https://doi.org/10.1093/jacamr/dlad158

Invertebrate Immunity, Natural Transplantation Immunity, Somatic and Germ Cell Parasitism, and Transposon Defense
Kloc, M, Halasa, M, Kubiak, JZ & Ghobrial, RM 2024, , International journal of molecular sciences, vol. 25, no. 2, 1072. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25021072

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

Degree of Discordance Between FIB-4 and Transient Elastography: An Application of Current Guidelines on General Population Cohort
Chang, M, Chang, D, Kodali, S, Harrison, SA, Ghobrial, M, Alkhouri, N & Noureddin, M 2024, , Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, vol. 22, no. 7, pp. 1453-1461.e2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2024.02.008

Gadolinium retention effect on macrophages — a potential cause of MRI contrast agent Dotarem toxicity
Halasa, M, Uosef, A, Ubelaker, HV, Subuddhi, A, Mysore, KR, Kubiak, JZ, Ghobrial, RM, Wosik, J & Kloc, M 2024, , Cell and Tissue Research, vol. 397, no. 1, pp. 51-60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-024-03885-8

The Survival Benefit of Re-abstinence After Harmful Alcohol Use Following Early Liver Transplant for Severe Alcohol-Associated Hepatitis: A Multi-Center ACCELERATE Study
Dukewich, M, Dodge, JL, Lucey, MR, Rice, JP, Shetty, K, Jakhete, N, Im, GY, Weinberg, EM, Hsu, C, Smith, C, Mark Ghobrial, R, Therapondos, G, Shoreibah, M, Aryan, M, Eswaran, S, Fix, OK, Maddur, H, Terrault, N & Lee, BP 2024, , American Journal of Gastroenterology. https://doi.org/10.14309/ajg.0000000000002956

ASO Visual Abstract: Treatment Disparities Partially Mediate Socioeconomic- and Race/Ethnicity-Based Survival Disparities in Stage I-II Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Swords, DS, Newhook, TE, Tzeng, CWD, Massarweh, NN, Chun, YS, Lee, S, Kaseb, AO, Ghobrial, M, Vauthey, JN & Tran Cao, HS 2023, , Annals of Surgical Oncology, vol. 30, no. 13, pp. 8019-8020. https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-023-14229-1

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

Treatment Disparities Partially Mediate Socioeconomic- and Race/Ethnicity-Based Survival Disparities in Stage I–II Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Swords, DS, Newhook, TE, Tzeng, CWD, Massarweh, NN, Chun, YS, Lee, S, Kaseb, AO, Ghobrial, M, Vauthey, JN & Tran Cao, HS 2023, , Annals of Surgical Oncology, vol. 30, no. 12, pp. 7309-7318. https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-023-14132-9

Management of Established Small-for-size Syndrome in Post Living Donor Liver Transplantation: Medical, Radiological, and Surgical Interventions: Guidelines from the ILTS-iLDLT-LTSI Consensus Conference
Kirchner, VA, Shankar, S, Victor, DW, Tanaka, T, Goldaracena, N, Troisi, RI, Olthoff, KM, Kim, JM, Pomfret, EA, Heaton, N, Polak, WG, Shukla, A, Mohanka, R, Balci, D, Ghobrial, M, Gupta, S, Maluf, D, Fung, JJ, Eguchi, S, Roberts, J, Eghtesad, B, Selzner, M, Prasad, R, Kasahara, M, Egawa, H, Lerut, J, Broering, D, Berenguer, M, Cattral, MS, Clavien, PA, Chen, CL, Shah, SR, Zhu, ZJ, Ascher, N, Ikegami, T, Bhangui, P, Rammohan, A, Emond, JC & Rela, M 2023, , Transplantation, vol. 107, no. 10, pp. 2238-2246. https://doi.org/10.1097/TP.0000000000004771

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

Development and validation of a REcurrent Liver cAncer Prediction ScorE (RELAPSE) following liver transplantation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: Analysis of the US Multicenter HCC Transplant Consortium
Tran, BV, Moris, D, Markovic, D, Zaribafzadeh, H, Henao, R, Lai, Q, Florman, SS, Tabrizian, P, Haydel, B, Ruiz, RM, Klintmalm, GB, Lee, DD, Taner, CB, Hoteit, M, Levine, MH, Cillo, U, Vitale, A, Verna, EC, Halazun, KJ, Tevar, AD, Humar, A, Chapman, WC, Vachharajani, N, Aucejo, F, Lerut, J, Ciccarelli, O, Nguyen, MH, Melcher, ML, Viveiros, A, Schaefer, B, Hoppe-Lotichius, M, Mittler, J, Nydam, TL, Markmann, JF, Rossi, M, Mobley, C, Ghobrial, M, Langnas, AN, Carney, CA, Berumen, J, Schnickel, GT, Sudan, DL, Hong, JC, Rana, A, Jones, CM, Fishbein, TM, Busuttil, RW, Barbas, AS & Agopian, VG 2023, , Liver Transplantation, vol. 29, no. 7, pp. 683-697. https://doi.org/10.1097/LVT.0000000000000145