A World Leader in Kidney Transplants

The Transplant Center—Doctors, kidney

Arthur Matas M.D.

For the last 25 years Dr Arthur Matas, surgical director of kidney transplant, has been doing research to improve outcomes for kidney transplant recipients. He has numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and private corporations, and has published over 500 papers related to kidney transplantation outcomes.

Named director of the kidney transplant program at the University of Minnesota in 1988, Dr. Matas has pioneered numerous advancements in patient care. Most recently, the kidney transplant program at University of Minnesota Medical Center’s Transplant Center adopted a steroid-free protocol for maintaining kidney transplants. Over 300 patients have been weaned from steroids within days of an initial or re-transplant with excellent outcomes and without developing Prednisone-related side effects.

Other advancements help recipients whose antibody levels are high. Treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) lowers a recipient’s antibody level, which may turn a previous positive into a negative cross-match--increasing the odds of finding a match.

Paired exchange and blood-type compatibility programs at University of Minnesota Medical Center are making it possible for living donor/recipient pairs to proceed with transplant because of Dr. Matas’ leadership.

Dr Matas is also the director of the transplant fellowship – a program where surgeons from around the world come for extra training in transplantation. Graduates from this program currently are doing transplants in over 30 states.

Specialties

• Kidney Transplant

Academics

• Graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1972
• Completed his Surgical Residency at the University of Minnesota in 1979
• Completed the Transplant Fellowship at the University of Minnesota in 1980
• Asst. Professor at SUNY-Downstate and then Montefiore MED Center 1980 - 1986
• 1988, Director of Kidney Transplant Program, University of Minnesota
• 1988, Director of Transplant Fellowship, University of Minnesota
• Professor of Surgery since 1990
• Assoc. Professor, Montefiore Med. Center, 1996

Organizations

• Current Secretary of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons
• Associate Editor of the American Journal of Transplantation
• On the editorial board: Transplantation, Clinical Transplantation, Pediatric Transplantation, Frontiers in Bioscience, Transplantation Science, Transplantation and Immunology newsletter