The Transplant Surgeons

University Hospital's Transplant Program team is led by regionally and nationally recognized transplant surgeons, from the Department of Surgery of the S.U.N.Y Upstate Medical University, chaired by Paul R.G. Cunningham. M.D.

Amy L. Friedman, MD, is Director of the Transplant Program and Professor of Surgery in the College of Medicine. Dr. Friedman joined SUNY Upstate from the Yale University School of Medicine where she served as a member of the surgery faculty since 1994. Prior to joining Yale, Dr. Friedman served on the faculty of the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania, including as transplant surgery fellow.

Dr. Friedman specializes in live donor kidney transplantation, laparoscopic kidney donation and pancreas transplantation. She has served as principal investigator for numerous drug trials and led a $1.5 million NIH-study on using the Web to educate kidney transplants recipients on drug regimens. Dr. Friedman is editor in chief of the Journal of Patient Safety and Adherence and serves as an article reviewer for Archives of Surgery, American Journal of Transplantation, Transplantation and the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.

She earned her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University in 1979 and her medical degree from SUNY Downstate in 1983, where she served as a postdoctoral fellow in surgery and where she completed her residency in general surgery. Dr. Friedman has been recognized for her medical care and research efforts by numerous organizations, including the U.S. Department of Commerce, with the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, the American Association of Kidney Patients and the American Transplant Congress.

Dilip Kittur, MD, ScD, is Professor of Surgery in the College of Medicine. Prior to joining University Hospital, Dr. Kittur was Associate Professor of Surgery and Director of the Pancreas Transplant Program at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

A native of Kolhapur, India, Dr. Kittur graduated from Grant Medical College at Bombay University. His surgical training included internship and residency at Sir J. Jeejebhoy Hospital of University of Bombay, India; followed by residency at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. He completed a fellowship in transplant surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital and a post-doctoral fellowship in the immunology and endocrinology at the Johns Hopkins University.

Dr Kittur is board certified in general surgery. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and an active member of the Association for Academic Surgery, the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and the American Association of Immunologists. He is a past director of the United Network for Organ Sharing and has been a reviewer of the surgical study section of the National Institutes of Health since 1994.