Profile image of Lloyd E. Ratner, MD

Lloyd E. Ratner, MD

Director, Renal and Pancreatic Transplantation, Department of Surgery
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Expertise:

Dialysis Access Procedures
Kidney Transplant Surgery
Kidney Transplantation
Laparoscopic Living Donor Nephrectomy
Living Donor Transplantation
Organ Transplant, Pediatric
Pancreas Transplantation
Pediatric Kidney Transplantation
Renal Transplant
Robotic Surgery
Surgery
Transplant Surgery

About:

Dr. Ratner is Professor of Surgery and Director of Renal and Pancreatic Transplantation at Columbia University. Prior to joining the faculty at Columbia, Dr. Ratner was on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and served as the Chief of Solid Organ Transplantation at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Dr. Ratner was responsible for dramatic growth of the kidney transplant program at CUIMC. He also established the pancreas transplant program, and the Kidney Autotransplant Program. He introduced robotic surgery to our kidney transplant program.

Access to organ transplantation has been Dr. Ratner's major academic interest. Dr. Ratner has been a leading innovator in transplantation for over two decades. In 1993, he performed the world's first dual renal transplant. In 1995 (with Dr. Louis Kavoussi) he performed the first laparoscopic donor nephrectomy, and set the stage for its widespread adoption, which resulted in a profound increase in living donor kidney transplantation. Dr. Ratner has made significant contributions in overcoming immunologic incompatibilities that prohibited transplantation. He devised the plasmapheresis/IVIg protocol for alloantibody desensitization in 1998. In 2001, Dr. Ratner orchestrated the second paired-kidney exchange in the U.S. Subsequently, he arranged the first paired kidney exchanges in both Pennsylvania and New York. More recently Dr. Ratner has been a leading proponent of including compatible donor/recipient pairs in kidney exchanges. And, his more contemporary work has looked at the organizational and regulatory barriers to access to care. All of these strategies have increased organ availability and access to transplantation. Additionally, he has made important contributions to improve living donor safety. For his work, Dr. Ratner has received numerous awards and honors. And, he has been invited to speak and operate at various venues around the world.

Dr. Ratner has authored or co-authored over 240 peer-reviewed publications, and has been a federally funded investigator. His publications have been cited over 20,000 times. He served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the LiveOnNY (formerly the New York Organ Donor Network), and has served on numerous national committees including the Board of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). He recently completed a term as the President of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, and previously served as that Society's Treasurer.

Dr. Ratner originally hails from Brooklyn, NY. He received his undergraduate education at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He received his M.D. from Hahnemann University. His general surgery training was obtained at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. He completed a Fellowship in Transplantation Surgery and Immunology at Washington University. In 2011 Dr. Ratner completed a Master of Public Health with a focus on health care policy, administration and management.

Honors:

2005~2024 Castle Connolly, “Top Doctors New York Metro Area – Surgery”

2019 President, American Society of Transplant Surgeons

2019 Dr. Andre Crotti Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession of Surgery, International College of Surgeons

2019 Honorary Fellow, International College of Surgeons

2018 Chimera Chronicles (video-taped oral history project), American Society of Transplant Surgeons

2016 Academy of Clinical Mentoring and Excellence, Columbia University Medical Center

2009 Transplant Recipients International Organization (Manhattan Chapter) – Triangle Award Honoree

2009 Drexel University College of Medicine Alumni Association Outstanding Clinician Award

2007 New York Resident Magazine, “New York’s Top Doctors”-Surgery

2006 National Medical Award in Transplantation, Kidney and Urology Foundation of America

2006 Residents’ Teaching Award, Department of Surgery, Columbia University

2006 Best Abstract: Quality Assurance/Improvement, UNOS 14th Annual Transplant Management Forum, San Francisco, CA

2004 Elpis Service Award, Nephcure Foundation

2002 Philadelphia Magazine, “Top Docs” – Renal and Pancreatic Transplantation

Interests:

Living donor kidney transplantation
Overcoming humoral immune responses
Increasing the organ supply
Minimally invasive surgery
Avoidance of surgical complications

Publications:

Emmons BR, Adler JT, Sandoval PR, King KL, Yu M, Cron DC, Mohan S, Ratner LE, Husain SA. Association between donor kidney cysts and donor and recipient outcomes after living donor kidney transplantation. Clin Transplant. 2024 Jan;38(1):e15242. doi: 10.1111/ctr.15242. PMID: 38289895.

Emmons BR, Batal I, King KL, Yu M, Canetta PA, Sandoval PR, Mohan S, Tsapepas D, Adler JT, Ratner LE, Husain SA. Association of Implantation Biopsy Findings in Living Donor Kidneys With Donor and Recipient Outcomes. Am J Kidney Dis. 2023 Oct 24:S0272-6386(23)00884-3. doi: 10.1053/j.ajkd.2023.08.022. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37879529.

Long JJ, Motter JD, Jackson KR, Chen J, Orandi BJ, Montgomery RA, Stegall MD, Jordan SC, Benedetti E, Dunn TB, Ratner LE, Kapur S, Pelletier RP, Roberts JP, Melcher ML, Singh P, Sudan DL, Posner MP, El-Amm JM, Shapiro R, Cooper M, Verbesey JE, Lipkowitz GS, Rees MA, Marsh CL, Sankari BR, Gerber DA, Wellen JR, Bozorgzadeh A, Gaber AO, Heher EC, Weng FL, Djamali A, Helderman JH, Concepcion BP, Brayman KL, Oberholzer J, Kozlowski T, Covarrubias K, Massie AB, McAdams-DeMarco MA, Segev DL, Garonzik-Wang JM. Characterizing the risk of human leukocyte antigen-incompatible living donor kidney transplantation in older recipients. Am J Transplant. 2023 Dec;23(12):1980-1989. doi: 10.1016/j.ajt.2023.09.010. Epub 2023 Sep 23. PMID: 37748554; PMCID: PMC10767749.

Owen-Simon NL, Dube GK, Sandoval PR, Ratner LE, McCune K. When pancreata fly: Outcomes and lessons learned from the development of a Pancreas Transplant Import Program. Clin Transplant. 2023 Oct;37(10):e15061. doi: 10.1111/ctr.15061. Epub 2023 Jul 3. PMID: 37395950.

Snyder JJ, Schaffhausen CR, Hart A, Axelrod DA, Dils D, Formica RN Jr, Gaber AO, Hunt HF, Jones J, Mohan S, Patzer RE, Pinney SP, Ratner LE, Slaker D, Stewart D, Stewart ZA, Van Slyck S, Kasiske BL, Hirose R, Israni AK. Stakeholders' perspectives on transplant metrics: the 2022 Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients' consensus conference. Am J Transplant. 2023 Jul;23(7):875-890. doi: 10.1016/j.ajt.2023.03.012. Epub 2023 Mar 21. PMID: 36958628.

McCune K, Owen-Simon N, Dube GK, Ratner LE. The best insulin delivery is a human pancreas. Clin Transplant. 2023 Apr;37(4):e14920. doi: 10.1111/ctr.14920. Epub 2023 Feb 13. PMID: 36700663.

Du W, Wang J, Kuo T, Wang L, McKimpson WM, Son J, Watanabe H, Kitamoto T, Lee Y, Creusot RJ, Ratner LE, McCune K, Chen YW, Grubbs BH, Thornton ME, Fan J, Sultana N, Diaz BS, Balasubramanian I, Gao N, Belvedere S, Accili D. Pharmacological conversion of gut epithelial cells into insulin-producing cells lowers glycemia in diabetic animals. J Clin Invest. 2022 Dec 15;132(24):e162720. doi: 10.1172/JCI162720. PMID: 36282594; PMCID: PMC9754100.

Chang CC, Vlad G, Vasilescu ER, Li P, Husain SA, Silvia EA, Cohen DJ, Ratner LE, Sun WZ, Mohan S, Suciu-Foca N. Previous SARS-CoV-2 infection or a third dose of vaccine elicited cross-variant neutralising antibodies in vaccinated solid-organ transplant recipients. Clin Transl Immunology. 2022 Aug 11;11(8):e1411. doi: 10.1002/cti2.1411. PMID: 35979345; PMCID: PMC9371857.

Husain SA, King KL, Owen-Simon NL, Fernandez HE, Ratner LE, Mohan S. Access to kidney transplantation among pediatric candidates with prior solid organ transplants in the United States. Pediatr Transplant. 2022 Sep;26(6):e14303. doi: 10.1111/petr.14303. Epub 2022 May 26. PMID: 35615911; PMCID: PMC9378581.

King KL, Chaudhry SG, Ratner LE, Cohen DJ, Husain SA, Mohan S. Declined Offers for Deceased Donor Kidneys Are Not an Independent Reflection of Organ Quality. Kidney360. 2021 Aug 24;2(11):1807-1818. doi: 10.34067/KID.0004052021. PMID: 35372993; PMCID: PMC8785847.

Lange NW, Salerno DM, Jennings DL, Choe J, Hedvat J, Kovac DB, Scheffert J, Shertel T, Ratner LE, Brown RS Jr, Pereira MR. Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir use: Managing clinically significant drug-drug interactions with transplant immunosuppressants. Am J Transplant. 2022 Jul;22(7):1925-1926. doi: 10.1111/ajt.16955. Epub 2022 Jan 19. PMID: 35015924.

Pereira MR, Dube GK, Tatem L, Burack D, Crew RJ, Cohen DJ, Ratner LE. HIV transmission through living donor kidney transplant: An 11-year follow-up on the recipient and donor. Transpl Infect Dis. 2021 Aug;23(4):e13691. doi: 10.1111/tid.13691. Epub 2021 Jul 23. PMID: 34265862.

Tanriover B, Lingvay I, Ahmed F, Sandikci B, Mohan S, Cremers S, Karmally W, Mohan P, Newhouse J, Ragunathan S, AbdulRahim N, Ariyamuthu VK, Ratner LE, Cohen DJ. Insulin Sensitivity After Living Donor Nephrectomy. Transplant Proc. 2021 Jul-Aug;53(6):1858-1864. doi: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2021.06.007. Epub 2021 Jul 8. PMID: 34246476; PMCID: PMC8384711.

Batal I, Serban G, Mohan S, Husain SA, Vasilescu ER, Crew RJ, Dube G, Sandoval PR, Coley SM, Santoriello D, Stokes MB, D'Agati VD, Cohen DJ, Markowitz G, Hardy MA, Ratner LE. The clinical significance of receiving a kidney allograft from deceased donor with chronic histologic changes. Mod Pathol. 2021 Sep;34(9):1795-1805. doi: 10.1038/s41379-021-00815-9. Epub 2021 May 13. PMID: 33986461.

Mahajan RG, Chang JH, Runge B, Carpenter C, Sandoval PR, Ratner LE, Uy NS, Jain NG. Considerations for utilizing medullary sponge kidney allografts in pediatric patients. Pediatr Transplant. 2021 Jun;25(4):e13992. doi: 10.1111/petr.13992. Epub 2021 Apr 3. PMID: 33813776.

Motter JD, Jackson KR, Long JJ, Waldram MM, Orandi BJ, Montgomery RA, Stegall MD, Jordan SC, Benedetti E, Dunn TB, Ratner LE, Kapur S, Pelletier RP, Roberts JP, Melcher ML, Singh P, Sudan DL, Posner MP, El-Amm JM, Shapiro R, Cooper M, Verbesey JE, Lipkowitz GS, Rees MA, Marsh CL, Sankari BR, Gerber DA, Wellen JR, Bozorgzadeh A, Gaber AO, Heher EC, Weng FL, Djamali A, Helderman JH, Concepcion BP, Brayman KL, Oberholzer J, Kozlowski T, Covarrubias K, Massie AB, Segev DL, Garonzik-Wang JM. Delayed graft function and acute rejection following HLA-incompatible living donor kidney transplantation. Am J Transplant. 2021 Apr;21(4):1612-1621. doi: 10.1111/ajt.16471. Epub 2021 Feb 27. PMID: 33370502; PMCID: PMC8016719.

Witkowski P, Philipson LH, Kaufman DB, Ratner LE, Abouljoud MS, Bellin MD, Buse JB, Kandeel F, Stock PG, Mulligan DC, Markmann JF, Kozlowski T, Andreoni KA, Alejandro R, Baidal DA, Hardy MA, Wickrema A, Mirmira RG, Fung J, Becker YT, Josephson MA, Bachul PJ, Pyda JS, Charlton M, Millis JM, Gaglia JL, Stratta RJ, Fridell JA, Niederhaus SV, Forbes RC, Jayant K, Robertson RP, Odorico JS, Levy MF, Harland RC, Abrams PL, Olaitan OK, Kandaswamy R, Wellen JR, Japour AJ, Desai CS, Naziruddin B, Balamurugan AN, Barth RN, Ricordi C; “Islets for US” Collaborative. The demise of islet allotransplantation in the United States: A call for an urgent regulatory update. Am J Transplant. 2021 Apr;21(4):1365-1375. doi: 10.1111/ajt.16397. Epub 2021 Feb 10. PMID: 33251712; PMCID: PMC8016716.

Kudose S, Batal I, Santoriello D, Xu K,Barasch J, Peleg Y, Canetta P, Ratner LE, Gharavi A, Stokes MB, Markowitz GS, D’Agati VD: Kidney biopsy findings in patients with COVID19 infection. JASN 2020, https://doi.org/10.1681/ASN.2020060802.

Brennan C, Sandoval PR, Husain SA, King KL, Dube GK, Tsapepas D, Mohan S, Ratner LE: Impact of warm ischemia time on outcomes for kidneys donated after cardiac death post-KAS. Clin Transplantation 2020, July12, https://doi.org/10.1111/ctr.14040.

Dube GK, Husain SA, McCune KR, Sandoval PR, Ratner LE, Cohen DJ: COVID19 infection in pancreas transplant recipients. Trans Inf Dis 2020, e1335

Husain SA, Chang JH, Cohen DJ, Crew RJ, Dube GK, Fernandez HE, Morris HK, Aaron JG, Miko BA, Pereira MR, Hardy MA, McCune KR, Ratner LE, Sandoval PR, Weiner J, Tsapepas D, Mohan S: Early Description of Coronavirus 2019 Disease in Kidney Transplant Recipients in New York. J Am Soc Nephrol 2020, 31(6):1150-1156.

Yu K, King K, Husain SA, Dube GK, Stevens JS, Ratner LE, Cooper M, Parikh CR, Mohan S: Kidney nonprocurement in solid organ donors in the United States. Am J Transplant 2020 May, (epub ahead of print doi:10.1111/ajt.15952

Pereira MR, Mohan S, Cohen DJ, Husain SA, Dube GK, Ratner LE, Arcasoy S, Aversa MM, Benvenuto LJ, Dadhani D, Kapur S, Dove LM, Brown RS, Rosenblatt RE, Samstein B, Uriel N, Farr MA, Satlin M, Small CB, Walsh T, Kodiyanplakkal RP, Miko BA, Aaron JG, Tsapepas DS, Emond JC, Verna EC: COVID-19 in solid organ transplant recipients: initial report from the US epicenter. Am J Transplant 2020, (epub ahead of print doi:10.1111/AJT.15941)

Batal I, Vasilescu ER, Dadhania DM, Adel AA, Husain SA, Avasare R, Serban G, Santoriello D, Khairallah P, Patel A, Moritz MJ, Latulippe E, Riopel J, Khallout K, Swanson J, Bomback AS, Mohan S, Ratner L, Radhakrishnan J, Cohen DJ, Appel GB, Stokes MB, Markowitz GS, Seshan SV, DeSerres SA, Andeen N, Loupy A, Kiryluk K, D’Agati VD: Association of HLA typing and alloimmunity with posttransplantation membranous nephropathy: a multicenter case series. Am J Kid Dis 2020, (epud ahead of print doi 10.1053/j. ajkd.2020.01.009)

Jackson KR, Long J, Motter J, Bowring MG, Chen J, Waldram MM, Orandi BJ, Montgomery RA, Stegall MD, Jordan SC, Benedetti E, Dunn TB, Ratner LE, Kapur S, Pelletier RP, Roberts JP, Melcher ML, Singh P, Sudan DL, Posner MP, El-Amm JM, Shapiro R, Cooper M, Verbesey, Lipkowitz GS, Rees MA, Marsh CL, Sankari BR, Gerber DA, Wellen J, Bozorgzadeh A, Gaber AO, Herer E, Weng FL, Djamali A, Helderman JH, Concepcion BP, Brayman KL, Oberholzer J, Kozlowski T, Covarrubias K, Desai N, Massie AB, Segev DL, Garonzik-Wang J: Center-level variation in HLA-incompatible living donor kidney transplantation outcomes. Transplantation 2020, (epub ahead of print March 30).

Rice TC, Kassam AF, Lewis HV, Hobeika M, Cuffy MC, Ratner LE, Diwan TS: Changing education paradigms: training transplant fellows for high stake procedures. J Surg Ed 2020, (epub ahead of print Feb 14).

Smith M, Lazar A, Morrissey N, Ratner L: Laparoscopic nephrectomy with ex vivo repair of aneurysm and autotransplantation. J Vasc Surg Cases and Innovative Tech 2020, 6(1):24-26

Husain SA, King KL, Batal I, Dube GK, Hall IE, Brennan C, Stokes MB, Crew RJ, Carpenter D, Verduzco HA, Rosen R, Coley S, Campenot E, Santoriello D, Perotte A, Natarajan K, D’Agati VD, Cohen D, Ratner LE, Markowitz G, Mohan S: Reproducibility of deceased donor procurement biopsies. CJASN 2020, Feb; 15(2):257-264. (epub ahead of print) doi:10.2215/CJN.09170819

Diwan TS, Lee TC, Nagai S, Benedetti E, Posselt A, Bumgardner G, Noria S, Whitson BA, Ratner L, Mason D, Friedman J, Woodside KJ, Heimbach J: Obesity, Transplantation, and Bariatric Surgery: An evolving solution for a growing epidemic. Am J Transplant 2020 (epub ahead of print) doi:10.1111/AJT.15784.