Physician Bios

Care Team

Surgical Directors
– Adult
– Pediatric

Medical Directors
– Adult
– Pediatric

A Pioneering Heart Transplant Program

The Transplant Center—Doctors, heart

Kenneth Liao, M.D.

Dr. Liao is the surgical director of Heart Transplantation. Dr. Liao received his medical and surgical degrees from Hubei Medical College in Hubei, China and Beijing Medical University, Beijing, China. Following five years as a Research Fellow and an additional surgical internship at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, he completed a surgical residency and chief residency at SUNY in Brooklyn, New York. He joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in July 2002 subsequent to completing the university’s Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Fellowship. An assistant professor of surgery, Dr. Liao is board certified in General Surgery and Thoracic Surgery.

A gifted surgeon and investigator, Dr. Liao has made numerous contributions to the medical literature. He is actively involved in the ventricular assist program (VAD and LVAD), and has a special interest in cardiac robotic surgery, having performed the first such procedure in Minnesota at University of Minnesota Medical Center.